Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey and Hafsúlan: This afternoon, we took our two boats Eldey and Hafsi out on the tour due to the high number of passengers. The sailing was not too bumpy but the sea was still covered in white-caps and very agitated. Both boats first headed towards the area, where Eldey had seen a minke whale this morning. We waited patiently and after a few minutes the minke whale surfaced only 50 m away from Eldey. We got to see it a few more times before it went for a dive. Other boats and Hafsúlan came in as well and then we saw the minke whale again about 100 m away from us and again it surfaced 5 times or so in a row before disappearing. Unfortunately, the people on Hafsúlan only got a very short look at it before they kept searching for something else. We waited a few more minutes on Eldey for the minke whale and saw harbor porpoises instead. It was 2-4 individuals that surfaced a few times only 30 m in front of us. We gave up on the minke whale and also kept searching like Hafsúlan. Eldey headed further out while Hafsúlan headed further North and stayed closer to shore. After 10-15 minutes, Eldey saw another minke whale. It was a bit erratic in its behaviour and surfaced very randomly but people on the top deck showed great spotting skills and were a big help in keeping track of the animal. At least it stayed within the same area so it was never more than 200 m away and was possibly feeding. We spent some time following this minke that was definitely not as easy to see as the first individual, before heading home. On Eldey´s way home, we came across another minke whale that surfaced 100 m away in front of the boat. And then we were blessed with the best harbour porpoise encounter in the history of Elding: A group of 4-5 individuals played around the bow of the boat and swam all around us. It was absolutely incredible as these cute porpoise did not seem to get enough of us. They stayed around us for 10 min or so and were everywhere and had a good look at the passengers that reacted with screams of joy. It was absolutely fantastic, they stayed within 10 m from the boat almost the entire time and really checked us out. In the greenish water we could even seem them under the water surface when they swam to the back to also greet our passengers in the back of the boat. A surreal encounter with porpoises that I will never forget! Unfortunately, the people on Hafsúlan only got a very short look at another group of porpoises for the rest of their tour and, since they also didn´t get a nice look at the minke whale in the beginning, they were offered complimentary tickets that are valid for two years to join us on another whale watching tour. This shows how unpredictable mother nature can be at that even for boats in the same area, a bit of good luck can sometimes make the difference!
- Hanna & Alberto
Tour at 09:00
Report from Eldey: Choppy morning out in the bay, as a result of the waves we were getting from the storm that was yesterday in the south cost of Iceland. One day more, it looks like is a day with minkes and porpoises as main characters. We saw from the distance several huge flocks of birds (mainly fulmars, kittiwakes and northern gannets) so we checked them out. Once there we spotted around 6-8 harbour porpoises swimming quite lose to the boat, so unusual for this little species of cetacean. Then they came the minke whales. We spotted at least to individuals, although they behaved rather elusive and, with the huge wind that was blowing from the east... it was a hard task to follow the individuals. We finished the tour scarcely watching a couple of times the whales, so we gave some complimentary tickets to our passengers and hopefully they will be a little bit more lucky with the wildlife next time!
- Alberto Alejandro
Bird species seen on today's tour include: northern gannet, common Guillermo, herring gull, northern fulmar, Icelandic gull, black guillemot & eider duck.
Status tour at 13:00: RUNNING
Status tour at 09:00: RUNNING
We will be sailing out from Reykjavik's Old harbour today at 9:00. We are expecting some winds today but a sunny day. Please contact +354 519 5000 or elding@elding.is for more information.
