Sunday, 10 July 2022

Today we will be operating on our lovely vessel Eldey for the 09:00, 10:00, 13:00, 14:00, 17:00 and 20:30 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
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 17:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 20:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 20:30

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 from others is not possible.

Report from Eldey: On this grey and cosy Sunday we set sail with a small but eager group of passengers. After about an hour of sailing we found an elusive minke whale! This whale did not stick around too long so we headed on and shortly after found a humpack whale! This whale took quite long dives but came quite close to the boat. Another minke whale appeared so we knew we were in the right area. And another blow in the distance. We stayed with these whales for a while however when more boats came in we decided to slowly head back to harbour. It seemed that the whales knew and gave us a beautiful fluke dive as a send off.

- Emily Erskine

Report from Elding: After resolving some sound issues and finishing the safety chat, we very quickly found a minke whale on our journey out through the choppy waves. However as we knew there was another whale we wanted to see further out into the bay we decided to leave this animal and move on, and we spotted it surface once more in the distance as we left it. Soon after a blow appeared on the horizon by some other boats, following by a gently arched back of a humpback whale, just the animal we were looking for. This whale was very lazy, taking long dives of up to 5 minutes with only a few breathes on the surface in between. Diving and surfacing within a 500m radius made it difficult to track the animal and after over 30 minutes we decided to leave the whale alone and see if we could find anything else in the bay. Not long after on our way back tp Reykjavik we managed to find another minke whale, whom we stopped for to see if we could take some photos. This individual was also feeding, but doing so just below the surface. So despite the shy nature of the animal we were still able to witness some splashes at the surface as the animal lunge fed, before we sadly had to return to harbour.

- Liam van Walsum

Report from Eldey: This afternoon the ocean was much calmer yet still atmospheric with fog surrounding us on our outward journey. There were lots of flocks of birds which is a good sign for us whale-watchers. We saw a big very active flock of birds and waited a little to see if anyone else was enjoying their snacks. Our patience was rewarded with 3 minke whales! They were quite active and one even came fairly close to the boat. After enjoying a few moments together, we headed on. In true icelandic fashion, the weather also changed and the sun came out for us. Sunglasses on, we continued on our search and found white beaked dolphins! This pod was very calm and looked to be resting and just passed us by slowly. Therefore we decided to continue onwards. Just as we headed on, we saw a different pod of dolphins jumping in the distance! We then even saw a breaching minke whale in the distance. What a day! We watched them a little but by the time we got there they calmed down. Eventually we headed back to Reykjavik, as time ran out, still surrounded by minkes on our way home.

- Cindy Schwenk

Report from Elding: This was a perfect day for whale watching, some swell, almost no wind and grey skies that reflected on the sea surface allowing us to detect the black backs of the animals easily. We soon saw lots of seabirds and a blow in distance. When we got closer to it we saw a beautiful humpback whale that was swimming erratically probably looking for food. It went for a dive and when we saw it again we could recognize it, it was the same humpback that we saw during the morning and also on July and September last year. It spent a long time underwater between surfacing but we got a really good look at it on the tour. At least twice it appeared all out of sudden within 100 meters and swam towards us and went under the boat. Later on, and a minke whale surfaced also quite close to our boat. We could enjoy its presence for 3 more times and we continued the tour and came across a pod of white-beaked dolphins. Maybe 5-7 individuals that first came towards us and then chasing after fish, they even started body slamming the waterds surface, surfacing fast and even displayed impressive jumps and leaps. Another great adventure in the Faxaflói bay!

- Estel Sanchez

Report from Elding: Great sea conditions for this midnight tour tonight with amazing passengers that were very motivated to spot the animals. When we arrive in the area, we spotted our first blow of 1 humpback whale. But a bit further we spotted 10 individuals of white beaked dolphins swimming towards our boat. They were very playful, did a lot of bow riding and they stayed about 15 minutes with us. At the same time, 1 minke whale came up to the surface once and 2 humpback whales were coming up with a dolphin jumping around them. We started to follow the humpback whales and the dolphins kept following us on our way. The humpback were mostly busy to feed with some deep dives and shallow dives and showed us several times their beautiful flukes. On our way back to Reykjavik, we spotted another group of around 5 white beaked dolphins and they kept following us with some bow riding for around 10 minutes.

arctic tern, arctic skua, northern fulmar, common guillemot, black guillemot, lesser and greater black backed gull, atlantic puffin, black legged kittiwake, northern gannet, manx shearwater, storm petrel