Saturday, 20 July 2024

Today we will be operating our Classic Whale Watching on our lovely vessel Eldey at 9:00, 13:00, 17:00 and 20:30 and our just as lovely Hafsúlan at 11:00 and 15:00. Our Premium Whale Watching tour will operate on Þruma I-V at 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00 and 20:00.

• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 9:00; 11:00, 13:00, 15:00, 17:00, 20:30
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00, 20:00

Report from Eldey: Today was the perfect morning for sailing out at sea! The sea conditions were perfect and the sun was shining as we started our journey sailing to Faxafloi bay. We sailed for about half an hour before we spotted a group of white beaked dolphins! The group was fairly small but that didn't stop us from having a very good look at them! After a few minutes we decided to leave these dolphins and continue our trip and just a couple of minutes later we found a humpback whale! We approached it carefully and saw it quite close while it fluked down to the ocean! As we where waiting we also spotted another pod of dolphins a bit further away but we decided to stay with the whale. After a few minutes we saw another blow as we got closer we realized this was another whale in the area and it resurfaced super close to the boat multiple times!! When we though it couldn't get any better... as we were about to leave the whale said goodbye with an amazing breach followed by a head slap in the water!!! What an wonderful sighting! Eventually we started heading to the harbour but we still could see many blows at the distances (probably 6 whales)! It was a great morning once again in Faxafloi bay!

- Maria Ernesto

Report from Hafsulan: this morning the sun was shining on our faced during the whole tour! With amazing sea conditions and working on that tan, we sailed out, ready to spot our favorite animals of Faxaflói bay. Following the birds on the way, we've got to an area where we saw not one, but 2 blows in the distance! We had 2 humpback whales in the same area, not together. We checked one first, watching it going for beautiful fluke dives, showing its different pigmentation patterns under the tail. The second one wasn't far, so we went to check this one out too! Performing the same behaviour, but this time even popping up closer to us, we enjoyed these whales alone, with no other boats around. The wind was so weak that every time this individual exhaled, the blow was staying on the top of it for a few seconds before disappearing. We also saw we had a 3rd humpback, also not very far! Getting there, we noticed that this individual was spending less time under the water, and popping up quite close! We could even hear the blow and track it by its white pectoral fins. After 3 great sightings, we travelled back to the harbour slowly, listening to good music and checking if there was any other species around.

- Milla Brandao

Report from Eldey: The wind had slightly picked up since the morning, but there was still a wonderful warm sun shining over the bay. Whales were practically everywhere we looked - we could see blows spread out on the horizon every few minutes. The first humpback whale we stopped to admire was diving a bit long, but soon we focused all our attention on an individual that breached out of the water two or three times and then started slapping his tail fin. We were still far away, and by the time we got to him he had calmed down. We stayed with him for some time and then later went to check out two other humpback whales and two elusive white-beaked dolphins further West. All humpbacks seemed to be feeding, so they were moving a bit unpredictably but some of them came quite close to the boat. The closest encounter was a bonus sighting when we were already on our way back to harbour, when a humpback whale came up very close to us and gave us some last looks at their beauty. 

- Eline van Aalderink

Report from Hafsulan: The skies on the horizon were perfectly clear and the swell of the ocean was very mild this afternoon. It didn´t take us too long before we spotted our first humpback whale of the afternoon. We got to see it fluke dive multiple times and it surfaced a few times very close to the ship as well. After spending some time here, we moved on and found ourselves a minke whale. This one was however quite elusive and disappeared rather quickly. Very shortly after, we did find ourselves the sweet spot, with no less than 3 humpbacks all feeding in the same area! They were all around us so it was hard to know where to look first! These encounters concluded our trip so we headed back home, very happy about this afternoon´s trip.

- Milan Vansteelandt

Report from Eldey: Our adventure started with high hopes and blue skies! We had incredible tour during the whole day and we couldn't wait to start our next adventure! We sailed for about half an hour before we saw our first blow! As we were trying to get closer a humpback whale resurfaced on our side! We stopped the boat and out of nowhere another whale came back to the surface as well! We watched the two whales swim gently alongside us for a few minutes and we started noticing more blows in the horizon! We could see at least 5 whales at the distance but our surprise didn't end there! We decided to check out one of the whales a bit further out and as we approached it the whale swam directly to our bow and fluked!  Then unexpectedly the whale breach!!! just in front of our bow ! But the astonishment continued as the whale breached more and more!! We watched in disbelief as the whale performed a beautiful show breaching without stopping for over an hour in the sunset! As it catch it's breath the whale would flap with the pectoral fins and tail slap, then another fluke and the breaching would continued! Everyone would cheer as the whale continued one of the most extraordinary spectacles of wildlife! 

-Maria Ernesto 

Report from Elding: We set sail in absolutely perfect seas, unaware that we were approaching one of the best tours (I've ever done). Shortly after we got a little way offshore, we saw a blow in the distance and decided to approach the humpback whale. But suddenly... the whale breached right in front of us. It was... the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life... every time I close my eyes I imagine such a graceful movement of the whale. After a while we decided to go on our way, we didn't know it yet but we were at the spot! Suddenly 3 humpbacks whales feeding, two of them together and lunge feeding. But during the tour we saw up to 8 of them! We spent a long time with each of the whales we saw and many sightings were very close to the boat, one of them less than 2m from the boat. Finally, it was really funny because it occurred to me to say well let's have one last look at this whale and go back to the harbour, so jump for us!!!! And this one didn't get to jump but more or less because it came out lunge feeding with a lot of force. One of the most beautiful tours and with many sightings. Very emotional!

- Sergi Gonzalez

Arctic skua, Northern fulmar, black-legged kittiwake, black guillemot, Atlantic puffin, greater black-backed gull, lesser black-backed gull, herring gull