Monday, 6 September 2021

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

Note that the seas may be rough, so as always, we offer free dramamine tablets available at our ticket office. Join us by booking online or contact us directly for more information (elding@elding.is / +354 519 5000).

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. Masks are not mandatory but are recommended in areas where keeping distance from others is not possible.

Report from Elding: Rough seas this morning, but we braved out in search of wildlife. We headed out into the bay where yesterday we spotted some animals. On our way to that area we were delighted by the presence of a minke whale that was traveling. It did take us a little while then of searching to finally come across two humpback whales! We got an amazing look at the two individuals which seemed incredibly friendly and curious, they surfaced very close to our boat, provoking the exclamation of our passengers. At some point they looked as if they were mating. When we were on our way back, and not very far away from the two humpback whales we came to a stop as we saw another two other humpback whales together! Definitely one of the best days of the summer!

- Estel Sanchez Cami

Report from Eldey : The conditions did not look great this morning. A very dark sky covered in grey clouds, rain, swell making many passengers seasick. We looked a bit in the south of the bay without finding anything. After an hour we got the information from 2 humpback whales that were with another boat. We went and saw those two beautiful whales getting so close of the other boat, just clearly curious about it. They apparently were in a very social mood because they came at us and turned around us for about 30 minutes, spy-hoping and turning on the side to have a better look at us. It was clearly human watching for those animals. They were always very close to each other, sometimes side by side and sometime on over the other. We had to go so we slowly moved away and came back after this marking experience.

- Miquel Pons

Report from Þruma IV RIB: A long swell of 1-1.5 metres rolled through the bay from a westerly direction, providing a gentle up and down motion on our outbound journey. The wind was not as pronounced, but blew from the south east, causing a little turbid water in the middle of the bay. Weather wise, the rain fell hard and for the duration of the tour. Despite the rain and the swell, wildlife sightings were very good as a pair of humpback whales were spotted moving very slowly through the waves. They appeared to be sleeping at first due to their calm nature, surfacing many times without performing deeper dives until another vessel joined in to watch the whales. Soon after the new onlooker arrived the whales stirred into life and began lob tailing, whilst the second whale started to roll onto its side lifting the pectoral fins. This behaviour continued for a short time before transitioning into calmer, more typical surfacing behaviour. The fluke was shown on multiple times and on one close encounter the whales swam in perfect synchrony in front of our vessel and dove together.

- Mike Smith

Report from Þruma II RIB: The rain was pouring down on us and the wind was medium strong as we went out this morning. Our colleagues (not on the other Þruma, but the big Elding and Eldey boats) had told us that there were two humpback whales (different to the ones that the other Þruma had) out near Baulurif, far out in the bay. We travelled there, over steep wave tops and getting soaking wet. That was all worth it as we arrived to find the 2 humpback whales. They were so incredibly playful and curious that I've rarely seen anything like it. They came up to the boat and stayed around it for almost an hour, rolling around it, swimming under it, spyhopping to check us out and synchronously popping up side by side so close that we could have touch it (but that's a big no no!). It was truly awe-inspiring to be so close and to feel so accepted around these giant whales – an absolute privilege. We came back to the harbour as wet as anyone has ever been but with the widest smiles anyone has ever sported.

- Fróði Guðmundur Jónsson

Report from Eldey : The conditions were quite similar than this morning but getting better and better during the tour, with less wind, less rain, and swell getting a little bit better. We first spotted a fairly large group of 7-8 harbour porpoises. We continued further out were the humpback were seen earlier. We found a humpback whale quite easily. First it looked like it was feeding, but after a few minutes its dives were much shorter and it was just slowly swimming, doing very shy dives and coming back after only 3 minute dives. We stayed and observe this whale a whale until we saw dolphins jumping from far away. It was a group of 3 white beaked dolphins that came at us two times but then was playing a bit hard to get. We did not insist and went for another 2 humpback whales that were quite close. One of those humpbacks started peduncle slapping, tail-slapping and lobe slapping. We admire the show and started coming back to Reykjavik. We stopped when we found 2 minke whales ! We stopped a few minutes and continued to head back. Full house on the bay !

- Miquel Pons

Report from Þruma: Very similar conditions remained for the afternoon tour as the long swell continued to be felt, although the hard rainfall of the morning weakened and eventually ceased. A pair of humpback whales were once again seen in a very similar position to the morning tour and were sighted as one whale was breaching clear of the water numerous times. The breaching stopped as we arrived but the whales switched to lob tailing and pectoral fin slapping as more boats were attracted towards the acrobatic behaviour. The whales soon started to move more peacefully through the water, lifting their flukes for dives. We decided to leave these individuals in search of new cetacean species and came across the path of a larger humpback. We observed this whale for three complete surface sequences before heading back towards Reykjavik.

- Mike Smith