Sunday, 24 September 2023
Today we will be operating on our lovely vessel Eldey for the 09:00 and 13:00 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 | 13:00
- PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00
- PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 14:00
CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 09:00
Report from Eldey: This Sunday morning we sailed out with beautiful light and some snow dusted mountains. There was a cool wind coming from the north and the swell was moderate. After about an hour of sailing we found a pod of 7 white beaked dolphins. This pod was very active and was jumping and bow riding, sometimes getting so close you couldn't see them from the guide box! We stayed with them for a while but eventually decided to head on and see if we could find another species. We continued further out and then spotted 3 minke whales. One of which came quite close to the boat, the other staying a little bit further away. In this same spot we saw 3 harbour porpoises as well passing by us, and we could even see them through the surface. They are quite tiny and cute and would pop up from time to time as we were looking for the minkes. Eventually we ran out of time and had to head back to harbour, but very satisfied on finding a very productive spot with so many cetaceans and seabirds.
- Milla Brandao
CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00
Report from Eldey: As the weather picked up a little bit, the sea was a little bit choppier than in the morning, We still had strong winds coming from the North, so we dressed ourselves with cozy overalls and we were ready to go! Covering many areas, we sailed out spotting many different seabirds on the way, including many Northern gannets and fulmars flying around. We hugged the shore on the way out to keep away from the wind. We spotted 2 harbour porpoises, that quickly vanished so we continued and then headed more towards the middle of the bay. After just over an hour of sailing we spotted some bigger splashes that were not white caps! It was a pod of 9 white beaked dolphins! They were super active and kept jumping all around us, also doing tail and head slaps! There were a few calves around too, who joined in the fun! We stayed with them as long as we could before running out of time and having to head back home.
- Anna Richter
Bird species encountered today include:
razorbill, Northern gannet, Northern fulmar, manx and sooty shearwater, herring gull, great black back gull and juveniles, black legged kittiwake, eider duck
The Minke Whale is the most common whale around Iceland and actually the world thus it is one of the main species we encounter on our whale watching tours. It is one of few species that don’t mind coming to shallower waters like here in Faxaflói Bay to feed on the abundant food available to them.
The white-beaked dolphin is the most common dolphin found in the surrounding waters of Iceland and is seen not only in the summer but winter too usually in larger numbers, hundreds sometimes. When feeding they show energetic behaviour such as breaching out of the water and coming down with a big splash and bursts of fast swimming.
The Harbour Porpoise is the smallest and most abundant cetacean around Iceland. They are usually shy but occasionally they come and play around the boats. They can be relatively hard to spot from a distance due to their size and their abundance depends entirely on the food availability of our shores since they are opportunistic feeders.