Saturday, 12 February 2022

Today we will be operating on our lovely vessel Eldey for the 09:00 & 13:00 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 | 13:00

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. Masks are mandatory in areas where keeping 1 meter distance from others is not possible.

Report from Eldey: This morning was a strange morning. We were expecting calm conditions but once leaving the shelter of the harbour we were meeted by strong northerly winds, which meant the tour was VERY cold at least 10-15 below 0 with the winds. We gained as much shelter as we could to keep the boat sailing smoothly and only came across some larger swells as we passed Hvalfjörður (Whale Fjord), a couple of waves even splashed over the deck causing a big whoo hoo from the viking passengers at the front. We search a large area whilst photographing the large orange moon setting behind the mountains to the north and the sun rising above the mountains behind Reykjavik. Beautiful. As we sailed home the wind direction changed and once getting closer to Reykjavik we had very calm, sheltered waters. We unfortunately saw no whales or dolphins this morning so we offered our passengers complimentary tickets to come again in the next two years. Some passengers even joined us in the afternoon, which was great. Let´s hope the afternoon tour is more productive.

- Megan Whittaker

Report from Eldey: What an amazing afternoon! We decided to sail to a different area than this morning to seek shelter from the waves and to explore whether the whales and dolphins were feeding elsewhere in the bay. There were lots of different species of seabirds flying around, but we had to be patient to see the cetaceans. Our first sighting was of two harbour porpoises, who surfaced very close to our bow but unfortunately disappeared just as fast as they appeared. The next sighting, of 15 white-beaked dolphins, was much more successful: the big group displayed a range of behaviours, first travelling fast but then slowing down and socialising with each other. Many dolphins were jumping around, mothers were swimming close to their juveniles, and members of the pod were surfacing all around our boat! This was an incredible sighting, it was so special to see this large group of beautiful animals being playful in their natural habitat with in the background snow-covered mountains and bright sunshine. 

- Eline van Aalderink

Common guillemot, european shag, great cormorant, northern fulmar, northern gannet, black-legged kittiwake, black-backed gull, glaucous gull, herring gull, red throated diver, eider duck.