SUNDAY, 12 MARCH 2017

Tour at 13:00

Report from Eldey: Oh were we excited to get out on to the water this afternoon to find the first humpback whale of the season again. The conditions were great with only a little wind and not much movement on the boat. The mix of sun, rain and clouds resulted in a few stunning rainbows throughout the tour. It took us about 45 minutes till we reached the area where we had spotted the humpback earlier, but no blow was to be seen. We eventually encountered multiple pods of white-beaked dolphins who were likely feeding and loved watching their quick feeding behaviors and the interplay between dolphins and seabirds. One pod, about 3-4 individuals was feeding at the same time as a northern gannet which is always great to watch. Then we continued to search for the humpback whale, but unfortunately could not find it again. Nevertheless we had a good time out in the bay. May there many more days full of humpbacks come soon!

- Barbara Neubarth

Tour at 09:00

Report from Eldey: The first humpback of the year! Fortunately the weather was much better than the forecast had predicted. We had prepared for a rainy morning, but luckily for us the sky cleared up almost as soon s we left the harbour. After about 50 minutes we spotted our first white beaked dolphins on the tour, we soon saw they were spread over a huge area in the bay! Dolphins were seen in all directions and large flocks of birds flew above. There must have been at least 30 dolphins seen within 500 meters distance. Later on we got exciting news from another vessel in the area, a humpback whale had been spotted! The first one this year! When we got closer to the whale we noticed that it was being followed by 5-6 white beaked dolphins! It was so interesting to watch the dolphins and the whale interact, and sometimes it seemed like the humpback might be bothered by the dolphins, slapping it's flippers and fluke towards them every now and then. This behaviour gave us a fantastic show. The humpback stayed close to the surface for at least 20 minutes, where almost every move of the whale could be seen. It was not until we decided to leave, increased our speed and waved the whale goodbye that the whale went for a dive and raised its fluke hight up out of the water.

- Sigurlaug Sigurðardóttir

Bird species seen on todays tours; kittiwake, northern fulmar, blue fulmar, northern gannet, greater black-backed gull, icelandic gull, black headed gull, cormorant, king eider and eider duck

Tour status: RUNNING

We will be sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavík today. We can expect some slight movement on board, wind speed of E 4m/s, 6°C and partly cloudy skies. For more information please contact our ticket office directly at elding@elding.is or +354 519 5000. Book your next adventure here: www.elding.is/whale-watching