Sunday, 11 August 2024

Today we will be operating our Classic Whale Watching on our lovely vessel Eldey at 9:00, 13:00, 17:00, just as lovely Hafsúlan at 11:00 and 15:00 and on our Elding at 19:00. 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, 19:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00, 20:00

Report from Eldey : the sea was exceptionally calm this morning and visibility was great despite a cloudy sky. It did not take us long to find our first humpback whale : Hooker, an individual we are already familiar with and have been seeing a lot lately. Like all the ones we would see this morning, it was diving regularly, probably looking for food in deeper layers of the water column. We even saw it taking a couple attempts at lunge feeding, raising its head rather high above the water line ! We found 3 other humpbacks in the same area, all separated by about a mile distance. Two of them were traveling at a steady speed, sometimes diving and emerging a bit further a few minutes later, and one of them surfaced just a few meters away from our boat. Finally, we found a large pod of very social white-beaked dolphins ! of about 12 individuals. They gave us the pleasure to come check us out, swimming around the boat, some of them very excitedly jumping around ! There was even the cutest juvenile among them. We headed back to the harbor after a busy tour full of beautiful encounters and happy passengers :) 

- Olivia Garcia

Report from Hafsulan: It was yet another very calm morning out at sea and while the sky was cloudy, there were barely any waves or wind. It didn´t take us too long to find our first humpback whale, and it immediately treated us to an amazing start of the day as it came very close to the boat and even did a peduncle throw! Eventually we decided to give this individual some well-deserved peace and quiet and we moved onwards to a pod of about 8 white-beaked dolphins. They seemed quite curious as they came right towards us, swimming right under the boat multiple times! After we left these guys behind, we found ourselves suddenly surrounded by no less than 3 humpbacks! They all did seem to disperse so we stuck around with one before we finally ended our tour and headed back into port.

- Milan Vansteelandt

Report from Eldey: Our afternoon started with a light rain as we sailed out into Faxaflói Bay, creating a peaceful atmosphere as we set off on our adventure. After about 30 minutes, we spotted our first blow—a humpback whale. It was an incredible sight, especially when it fluked right in front of us. Soon after, we noticed two more blows around us, and suddenly, we were surrounded by these amazing creatures. Watching them swim through the water was truly mesmerizing. We decided to continue exploring and sailed further into the bay. Before long, we came across three more humpback whales! We got close to one of the whales and watched it swim gently. It was a breathtaking experience, and we couldn’t take our eyes off. Eventually, it was time to head back, and as we sailed home, the rain eased, and the sun began to peek through the clouds. We returned to shore with smiles on our faces, feeling incredibly fortunate to have witnessed such a special moment with these majestic whales.

-Maria Ernesto

Report from Eldey : We had amazing conditions for our last tour of the day - the sea was flat like a mirror, and the sun gently warming up our faces. After traveling for a little while, we arrived to an area with three humpback whales surrounding us ! They were very active, diving repeatedly, only coming back to the surface to take a few breaths. After observing them for a moment, we decided to change area and travelled south. This is where we found two other humpbacks, surface feeding this time. Both of them were surrounded by flocks of arctic terns following them from above, sometimes diving to try and catch a fish right next to the whale´s head. One of the whales surfaced unexpectedly just a few meters in front of our boat, and we could appreciate its impressive size. We finally sailed back to Reykjavik under a beautiful setting sun. 

- Olivia Garcia

Report from Hafsulan: another incredible evening! We set out full of hope as we were having great sightings.And we were not dissapointed! After about an hour of sail, we encountered a big group of humpback whales. It was difficult to say how many they were! Probably around 5. They were all around us, front, to the back, everywhere. They were super active, spending much time on the surface, rolling, lunge feeding, and we saw a breach on the distance. We spent a whole hour with them before we had to start the sail back. The sunset was glorious too. Everybody was so happy that they gave a big clapping ovation to the crew on the way back.

- Rodrigo Ruiz Esquide

Northern gannet, northern fulmar, common guillemot, Atlantic puffin, Arctic tern, herring gull, great black-backed gull, lesser black-backed gull, Arctic skua, black-headed gull, eider duck