Monday, 30 May 2022

Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our 10:00, 12:00 and 14:00 Premium Whale tour and on our lovely vessel Eldey for the 09:00,13:00 and 17:00 Classic Whale Watching tours. Make sure to dress appropriately for the tours as it is always colder on sea than on land

• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 09:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 12:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 14:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 17:00

COVID-19: Keep in mind that passengers and crew are asked to ensure their own hygiene and safety at all times. Washing hands thoroughly with soap and using a hand sanitiser is advised.

Report from Hafsulan: today the ship sailed out to a foggy sea, which reduced the visibility a lot (around 100-200m). This made it very difficult to look out for whales, even though the very calm sea surface helped. It wasn't too windy nor too cold in the outside decks, but if someone was to stay on the outside of the ship they would have gladly accepted an overall, since the air was so humid. It took us a long while to find an humpback whale, which proved to be a nice and interesting sight - in the morning, afternoon and evening. This docile but quite big whale seemed to be resting, having a unique breathing patter: it breathed several times (other than the normal 2/3, for other individuals of the same species) to then go for a shallow dive. From time to time it was waving around the fins and the fluke, putting up a bit of a show. We then left to avoid disturbing the whale further and on the way back we spotted a harbour porpoise, which showed its dorsal fin only once before disappearing in the water again. Our sail back was smooth and enjoyable, despite the foggy sorroundings and the slight rain.

- Francesco Golin

Report from RIBs: We were surprised to see a dense fog, that came on land yesterday late afternoon, still lingering over the ocean. Despite the reduced visibility (less then 50 m), one of our colleagues from the other company, found a humpback whale! They told us they heard the whale and were trying to find it/see it, so we headed to that area as well. On our way, we passed by a smaller pod of 3-4 harbour porpoises. The sea was glassy, with no wind at all, so it was easy to observe these tiny cetaceans. We also saw few of the different species of marine birds heading out to the open ocean. When we arrived to the spot, we saw an adult fully-sized humpback whale. The individual was super relaxed, moving very slowly, just under the surface. As there was no wind, we were hearing its powerful blow every time it came up to surface. The whale soon started displaying very curious and playful behaviour, going from one boat to the other, rolling on its belly, rising its flippers high up in the air, making bubbles and even spy hopping - rising its head vertically above sea surface and just watching around, making it easy for us to see its over sized hair follicules, "bumps", on its head very clearly. Despite the boats, its remained calm, very relaxed and playful.

- Tena Sarcevic

Report from Hafsulan: Today we had a sunny sky in Reykjavik, with a fog wall looming over us at see. When we departed it felt like entering the pirating world and we couldnt see which direction we were coming from. It felt other-wordly. We soon met the same humpback whale from our previous tour! At first we saw it in the distance and made our way towards it. It was a very curious and did a lot of interesting behaviour. We stayed with this individual for a bit before running out of time and returning home through the fog. It was a truly a magical experience!

- Anna Richter

Report from the RIBs: The conditions remained quite similar - reduced visibility due to fog, though there was a bit of wind, so during the tour the fog was slowly clearing up. We went to the same spot where we were in our previous tours. This time, there were 2 humpback whales, within a dozen of meters apart. One was bigger individual and the other was a bit smaller. It was not easy to interpret their behaviour. They were having irregular dive pattern and zig-zagging in their direction. On moments it seemed like they maybe want to move away from the boats, watching them the whole day, but then they would also surface up very close to our boats, while we were with engines off. We saw flocks of birds fishing in the distance, so maybe the whales were also chasing the prey under the surface. They were both fluking up often and in few moments surfaced up very close to both of our boats. We could see their white flippers under the surface, even bumps on the head and the blowholes. On both boats we also saw a pod of around 6 harbour porpoises on our way back. 

- Tena Sarcevic

Report from Hafsulan: in the evening the fog opened up, leaving a good visibility of a few kilometres in some instances; however, we would often find ourselves in pachtes of denser fog, which decreased the visibility to few tens of metres, at times. For most of the trip, the mountains around Faxafloi and the town of Akranes were not visible from the ship. The weather was instead quite enjoyable; I was able to stay without an overall for all of my guiding, as the westerly breeze wasn't too strong. From time to time there was a very light rain, but it wasn't too inconveniening. We returned to the same spot in which we saw the whale during the morning and afternoon tours, and there we saw again the humpback whale. It looked like it was enjoying some good food, as it was diving very often and showing its beautiful fluke; however, it took the time to hang around with us, waving its tail and pectoral fins a little bit, coming very close to the ship and making some bubble trails. We were able to enjoy a close and long sighting, as the whale continued to look very comfortable around ships. It continued to have a the same very prolonged breathing pattern, taking several breaths each time it returned to the surface, for then diving down with a fluke up. It was really interesting to notice the interaction between the whale and some arctic terns: these were exitedly flying around the head of the whale, plunging into water from time to time to grab some of the fishes that were evidently slipping the whale's mouth. As usual we left this peaceful whale after a sighting that lasted about 30 minutes, but we were lucky enough to spot a small pod of harbour porpoises which were travelling in the same direction where the whale was found, and also had a storm of arctic tern fluttering around. As we saw so many cetaceans and seabirds in that area, probably it was a day plentiful of food for every animal of Faxafloi bay.

- Francesco Golin