Saturday, 7 August 2021

Saturday 7 August 2021

✔ CLASSIC WHALE TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 09:00

Report from Eldey: The weather was really good this morning, the sea was perfectly calm and the sun was shining on our backs. The tour started by some 4-5 harbour porpoises coming to great us very sun after we left the harbour, they were not shy at all and very friendly at around 50-100 meters distance. We saw a large flock of feeding birds ahead and decided to check out that area, and soon enough, a humpback whale showed itself. It was quite active, slapping its tail against the surface of the ocean and swimming around rather quickly, but never really leaving the sight of our boat, always stayed very close by. Then all of a sudden, it breached next to the boat. We of course then kept on following it, it didn't breach again, but it showed us its tail quite a few times. In the surrounding areas we saw at least 2 minke whales, but kept close to the humpback. On our way back to the harbour, we found another minke whale that was pretty friendly, and about 4-5 harbour porpoises that were close by.

- Fróði Guðmundur Jónsson

✔ PREMIUM WHALE TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 10:00

Report from Þruma RIB: Amazing conditions today, no wind, sun and an extremely calm sea. We started with puffins and went out in the bay. We first so two small pods of white beaked dolphins that were very elusive. We did not insist and went to see something else. We found a very nice spot where one humpback whale was sleeping and another one was further out. We stayed with the sleepy one and we could observe it very well. We stayed with it for a while and with the sun and calm water it was easy to see it through the water. Then we went to the other humpback whale that was a bit more active. It did some side swimming and very close and nice fluke dives. We had to go back and during the trip we saw another humpback that was far away. It was to late to approach it but we could observe it going for a dive. 

- Miquel Pons 

✔ CLASSIC WHALE TOUR ON SCHEDULE 13:00

Report from Eldey: It was still very nice outside, but the wind had picked up a bit and the sky was more grey, and that came with some light drizzle in our face on the way back. We meant to go to similar areas as we did in the morning, but were thrown off our course as we saw a humpback whale in the south direction and decided to go there. That humpback was very nice and friendly, showing its tail and staying very long around the boat. It did some incredible tail-slapping as well as lunge-feeding one time. Because it was so fascinating to watch, boats in the area were quickly drawn to it so we decided to move to another direction to give it a bit more space. There we saw about 5 harbour porpoises, before finding a minke whale that was incredibly fun. It spy-hopped a couple of times before breaching almost fully out of the ocean, which is a pretty rare sight for minkes in the Faxaflói bay. It then did a few breathing surfaces around us before we headed back to Reykjavík. On our way back, we found another humpback whale that came all the way up to the boat and sent us on our way with a beautiful fluke dive. We recognised this individual humpback as the same humpback whale we saw breaching beautifully a couple of times in the evening tour yesterday. Hopefully it will stay in the bay for some time, as its always very fun encountering it.

- Fróði Guðmundur Jónsson

✔ PREMIUM WHALE TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 14:00

Report from Þrauma RIB: Such an amazing afternoon on Faxaflói Bay. First we visited the puffins at Akurey island and then on the mirror calm bay we got to see two humpback whales, one that was crowded with boats so we didn’t stay long and the other was having a snooze. An individual that has kept us entertained a lot this summer, one we named Davy Jones. We then heard about a very friendly minke whale that was AWESOME! Circling us many times, rolling and generally being super curious and interactive. The minke whale definitely stole the show this tour. If this wasn’t enough we also has a short but sweet encounter from 2-3 harbour porpoises. It was just one of those days your so happy to be out on the water.

- Megan Whittaker

✔ CLASSIC MIDNIGHT WHALE TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 19:00

Bird Species ID´d today: Northern Gannet, Atlantic Puffin, Common Guillemot, Arctic tern, Arctic skua, Northern Fulmar, Kittiwake, Eider Duck, great-black backed gull, lesser black-backed gull, herring gull.

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 of 1 metre is not possible.