Monday, 5 February 2024

Today we will be operating on our lovely vessel Eldey for the 9:00 and 13:00 Classic Whale Watching tour. Make sure to dress according to weather, as it is usually colder at sea than on land.

• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 9:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00

Report from Eldey: The day promised low swell, shy wind, and warm sun in our faces after 10. And so we went on into the bay looking for some cetaceans! After some 15 minutes of looking around, we spotted two blows side by side and soon we discovered 2 humpback whales helping each other feed. An amazing start to our day!! We saw them do fluke dives and come really close to us, scaring us some of those times. They were very happy to see us but so much excitement led to them resting on the surface so that we could see their enormous bodies above the water line. Great sighting but we wanted more! The Icelandic scenery was mesmerizing, snow-covered Esja, the sun hitting the slopes, looking above the horizon, and the reflection on the calm water crystalized by the sea ice. Soon enough, our engineer spotted a dark body going for a dive! We soon found out it was another humpback whale! All of the passengers ventured outside to see another amazing specimen. This one didn't like to come up for air many times and was doing several-minute dives. So we decided to let it be and we went back to the Old Harbour.

- Pedro Teixeira

Report from Eldey: Once more, we sailed out to the same area where we saw the whales in the morning, hoping they were still there. 9 min after we left the harbour, we spotted the first blow in the distance, but before we get to this one, we saw another whale in the same direction, but closer to us. We got closer to a humpback whale that was coming super close to us! A whale that we noticed it was paired up with another one for days, but now alone. This humpback, as we joked, was "bowriding", so close and sometimes popping up on the other side of the boat, still quite close. We then decided to check the other blow we saw earlier, and we got to another humpback that has the mottling pattern on the back, easily recognizable. We saw it going for deeper dives, but this one was super active and unpredictable, not having a specific diving pattern and popping up in different directions and distances - sometimes right next to the boat, sometimes a bit far away. We decided to take a loop and we saw another one that was also going for deeper dives. As we were returning to the harbour, we saw the first whale of the tour, still very unpredictable and coming very close. We watched this one and listened to its loud (and smelly...) blow! The day was beautiful and the sea conditions were still great for whale watching. Of course, the whales did not disappoint and we got back home extremely with the tour.

- Milla Brandao

Northern fulmar, great black-backed gull, lesser black-backed gull, herring gull, Icelandic gull, black-headed gull, great cormorant, eider duck, razorbill, black guillemot