Saturday, 12 August 2023

Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our 10:00, 12:00, 14:00. 16:00 and 20:00 Premium Whale tour and on our lovely vessel Eldey and Hafsúla  for the 09:00, 10:00, 13:00, 14:00 and 19:00 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
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 10:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 12:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 14:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 14:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 16:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 19:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 20:00

Report from Eldey: We sailed out in this sunny morning feeling that these perfect conditions would be to our advantage. After cruising through the bay, we finally found a pod of 6 white-beaked dolphins, with one of them being a calf. They stayed with us extensively, crossing our paths multuiple times, bowriding and jumping to check us out. Soon after these individuals deciding to go on with their path, a minke whale appeared in our sight. As we approached it, it disappeared for along time, before reappearing just in front of us, for everyone to hear its blow and see its blowhole clearly. After a couple of times resurfacing, as well as 1 other minke whale in the distance, it was joined by another pod of 5 white beaked dolphins, just as we had to sail back.

- Alexandre Paumier

Report from Hafsula: This morning we sailed out onto a beautiful sunny bay. There was little wind and we had clear blue skies. After about half an hour of sailing we spotted 2 harbour porpoises! These are tiny cetaceans and often busy feeding. We saw them twice before they continued on their breakfast quest. After a bit more sailing we started noticing more birds and saw we were in a good spot. We saw roughly 3 minke whales. Two were a bit more on the elusive side and one came up directly next to the boat - so close we could hear the blow! And smell it!! Minke whales are known for their bad breath and this one was no exception. When time was up we headed back, still enjoying the sun on our faces.

 - Marta Filippini 

Report from Eldey. Sailing out into the bay on this perfect afternoon, we aimed to repeat our morning accomplishments. Soon enough, as we started leaving the shoreline, a group of 10 harbour porpoises became visible, slowly going on their own way. We got a very nice look at them. As we sailed further, it became obvious that we had found our zone of interest: surrounded in birds, some minke whales gave us the privilege to roam around us extensively. We then carried on further and saw even more. We probably saw over 30 in total. A pair of them showing up together very close to our bow was the highlight. Right before we turned to leave, we encountered a small pod of 6 white-beaked dolphins, who turned to come and play with us, bowriding and jumping around.

- Rob Hyman

Report from Hafsula: We continued our afternoon still surrounded by blue skies and seas. The wind had dropped and the ocean calmed so we were ready for our next adventure. As we sailed out we saw 1 harbour porpoise. This one came up a few times and due to the calm sea was very easy to spot. We continued however as we know they often don't stay near us for long. After a few more minutes of sailing we saw 2 minke whales. Both a little in the distance and as we weren't very far into the bay we wanted to get just a little further in where we could see a lot of bird activity. And we were all glad we did - as we approached the area we had our eye on, we were surrounded by minke whales. It was hard to keep track of how many there were, as they were coming up at different times in different directions. In total it must have been between 10 - 15 whales. We turned our engines off and enjoyed the sunshine and listened to the blows of the minke's fill the silence. A truly peaceful and magical moment. Two minke whales even lunge fed, and when time was up we sadly had to say good bye. We sailed back very slowly as to not disturb the animals that even on our way home were still visible in all directions. 

- Anna Richter

Report from Eldey: We started the tour with a beautiful and sunny evening. It was quite warm so none of us needed to use the overalls. We headed out and it took us long time to get to the spot in which we saw the first cetacean. It was a minke whale. Then we saw a flock of birds in the distance. We got closer and they were mostly northern gannets feeding and we could also see 2 more minke whales feeding in the area ang getting quite close to the boat!! After that, we came back to Reykjavik with a beautiful sunset on our backs.

-Nicolás Corral

Artic tern, Atlantic puffin, Northern fulmar, Northern gannet, eider ducks, manx and sooty shearwater, common and black guillemot, herring gull, black backed gull, black legged kittiwake, razorbill