Sunday, 25 August 2024

Today we will be operating our Classic Whale Watching on our lovely vessel Eldey at 9:00, 13:00, 17:00 our just as lovely Hafsúlan at 11:00, 15:00 and 19:00. Our Premium Whale Watching tour will operate on Þruma I-V at 9:00, 10:00, 12:00, 13:00, 15:00 and 17:00

• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 09:00, 11:00, 13:00, 15:00, 17:00, 19:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 09:00, 10:00, 12:00, 13:00, 15:00 and 17:00

Report from Eldey: With the sun out and very little wind we were ready for a fun day of whale watching. It didn´t take too long to find the cetaceans either. Only 15-20 minutes into the trip we spotted a big blow. This was from the first of 3 humpback whales we would see this morning. The first one was fluking a lot giving us some great views with the city as the back drop which was very cool. We then carried on and found another humpback. This one was taking longer dives and acting very calm but then out of nowhere it breached! We then found the final humpback which acted similar to the second, fairly calm and not showing the fluke. We then started to head back and suddenly the second whale we saw appeared right next to us! We watched it go for a dive before carrying on back to the harbour after a great start to the day.

- Rob Hyman

Report from Hafsulan: We sailed out in beautiful sunshine and a calm bay. After just about 30 minutes we found the first cetacean. It was a humpback whale that fluked a couple of times close to our boat and everybody got a good look at that beautiful animal. We decvided to not disturb it for too long and headed further out. Soon we found 2 more humpback whales that we could also follow for a while. Another cool encounter and still beautiful sunshine.

-Lasse Roggenkamp

Report from Eldey: Sailing out again this afternoon, we hoped to reiterate our sightings around the islands in the inner part of the bay, as this morning. Quite quickly, we found 1 humpback whale feeding in the back of the bay along with the other boats. This whale only came to surface once or twice before fluke diving, in a very uncommon feeding pattern. Luckily for us, as we were ready to leave it be, it decided to lunge dive, flipping and coming belly up to the surface. Having stayed long enough with this friendly individual, we decided to try our luck elsewhere, but sadly this great sighting turned out to be our one and only sighting of the tour. 

- Alex Paumier

Report from Hafsulan: The sun was kindly shining on our faces when we set sail into calm seas this afternoon. We went out exploring for whales between the islands as we saw some whales in that area this morning: After not too long of a search, we found a humpback whale!  This indivual treated us with plenty of short dives, we got a bunch of good looks at the fluke. One time, it even came so close to the boat we could see the entire whale through the water surface! Eventually, we saw our last flukedive and it was time for us to head back home.

- Milan Vansteelandt

Report from Eldey: We set off once again today and yet again it didn't take long for us to find a whale. About 25 minutes into the tour we had reached the bottom of Mt Esja and here again was a humpback whale! We got to watch it quite a bit. Generally it was going for short dives and coming up in a similar place which was nice and easy to watch. But every so often it would go down for much longer which we then knew meant it would travel quite a bit, the only question was where to. But it was still pretty easy to follow. We then set off in search of other cetaceans. We didn't manage to come across any so on our way back to the harbour we stopped to watch the humpback again. This time it was surrounded by 15 Northern gannets plunge diving which was really cool. So we then headed back very happy.

- Rob Hyman

Report from Elding: A beautiful sunset was starting to form, and we set sail into Faxafloi bay. Before long, we had spotted a humpback whale, and this individual was showing himself frequently and displaying some interesting behaviours. He was generally calm, but once in a while he made an unexpected movement like a brief tailslap, and eventually he started rolling and lifting his pectoral fin above the water a few times. The humpback was feeding in very shallow waters, exceptionally close to the land, and probably feasting on an abundance of fish together with plunge-diving northern gannets. With an intensely orange sunset in the background and the ashcloud from the volcano behind Reykjavik's skyline, everyone enjoyed the nice views and the up close sighting. 

- Eline van Aalderink

Atlantic puffin, Northern gannet, Northern fulmar, black legged kittiwake, black guillemot, eider duck, Great cormorant, European shag, great black backed gull, greylag goose