Sunday, 31 July 2022

Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our 10:00, 14:00 and 16:00 Premium Whale tours and on our lovely vessel Eldey for the 09:00, 10:00, 13:00, 14:00 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
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 14:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 14:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 16:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 17:00
• 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 sanitizer is advised. Masks are not mandatory but are recommended in areas where keeping distance from others is not possible.

Report from Elding: Sun and clouds together, this is Iceland for you. A cold breeze was blowing from the West, everyone was cold but well we did warn that this country is named "Ice"land for a reason and it was not named after its warm climate... Overalls it is ! After an hour of navigation we got our first sighting: a pod of 5 to 10 white beaked dolphins, they were everywhere in the area jumping around the boat. Happy dolphins always make for a good trip. Underneath these dolphins appeared .. a humpback whale ! After 5 min of sighting, 1 humpback in the area turned into 2, we saw the 2 spouts together for a short time before one decided to continue its way. A minke whale was also spotted feeding followed by some dolphins really briefly. We continued our sighting with one of those beautiful giants, a humpback whale that we identified as one we call Liney and have been seeing a lot lately in the area. Liney surfaced a few times quite close to us, showing us nice views on her (we know this whale is a female) dorsal hump covered with orca teeth marks and her fluke. Jumpy white beaked dolphins followed us all the way through this sighting. After observing Liney for a while it was already time to go, we then sailed off to the harbour under the sun observing clumsy puffins and mountain views.

- Francesco aka "the Tall Cod"

Report from Eldey: We left the rain of Reykjavik to find sun in the bay. The sea was relatively calm with not that many white caps. Our first sighting was in an area with many birds, a pod of 4-5 white-beaked dolphins. They seemed to be busy feeding and not very interested with our boat. One of the dolphins came very close to us to have a quick look and went back to its pod. We continued and saw the blow of a humpback whale a bit further. We approached and recognize Liney, a female that we have seen many times this summer. The whale was quite calm and looked like it was resting, going for short dives and staying often close to the surface. We could see often the white pectoral fins through the water and a few beautiful fluke dives. We could see many sea birds active and fishing, even a northern gannet plunge-diving, or puffins with fish in their bill. We went back under a nice sun and enjoying the landscape.

- Miquel Pons

Report from Elding: very variable weather during this trip, typical of an oceanic climate. We had a lot of sun while sailing out of the harbour, then the clouds covered the sky, then it started to rain, and then it became bright and sunny again. The wind that was blowing from the Northwest persisted during this trip, cooling us down while sailing out and accompanying us while returning back. The waves were high (about 1 m) and frequent (every 4 seconds), which rocked the ship a lot while manuevering to see the humpback whale that we were sighting. We recognized her as Liney thanks to the orca bite marks on its dorsal fin, and she was peacefully frequently going for deep dives after showing us some breaching skills from afar. There was another individual in the area, but we focused on Liney and followed her, eventually getting so close to her that we could see her white pectoral fins. The trip ended with a pleasant warm and windless sail back to the harbour, coronating the day with one of the rare sunny Icelandic days.

-Melanie aka "the seal boss"

Report from Eldey: the sea in our trip today was a bit choppy, but it didn't get in the way when spotting a humpback whale, with a beautiful blow on the surface. This female humpback was Liney, a whale that we have already seen around. She was taking her time, with a dive pattern of around 5 to 6 minutes underwater, before coming up to the surface again. Sometimes it stayed a bit more on the surface, where we could check its huge and white pectoral fins underneath the water column. After this beautiful and special moments, the whale thought that it was about time to cheer up the mood and do something different, for a change, such as fertilizing a bit. So, when it was about to take another deeper dive, it pooped right in front of us, very classy! We went back home having fun spotting a lot of Atlantic puffins on the way.

- Milla Brandao

Report from Eldey: like the other trips of the day, also this one was accompanied by some sunny but windy weather, with many clouds passing by but no rain. The relentless tall waves (1 metre) continued to rock the ship at a fast rythm(~5 seconds) making the sail challenging to some; however, only few suffered from sea sickness. 45 minutes into the trip we spotted the first blow of the evening, a humpback whale, which soon went down for a dive. It repeated this behaviour several times, taking one or two breaths for to then spend a lot of time underwater. At some point, the whale surfaced and slapped its tail on the surface of the water, only to go down again and return uo to slap the tail again. It repeated this behaviour 2/3 times, to then go underwater for a very long while, and we didn't get to see it again. After this encounter, which was cool but somewhat tricky, as it seemed like the whale was playing hide and seek with us, we scouted the area to seek for some other whale. Not finding any, we enjoyed the sail and the sun anyway, going at the same speed of the wing back to the harbour.
-Francesco Golin

Report from Eldey: It was the same waves as our afternoon trip when we started our sunset sail. The sun was with us, the waves as well, but nothing to deter our hopes of finding wildlife in the bay. Nature did not disappoint as we spotted a blow from a very far distance. It was a humpback whale. On our approach, it was very active at the waters surface making really big splashes. We then observed for some time that same humpback whale rolling on its back, slapping its pectoral fins on the surface in our vincinity. That lovely sight lasted for a while leaving us all in awe. We then ventured a bit further out hoping to see some more cetaceans. Nothing was found in the setting sun, time ran out and we started our course back toward the harbour really happy with what we had previously seen.

- Mike Smith 

Northern Gannet, black-legged kittiwake, common guillemot, black guillemot, Atlantic puffin, Arctic skua, Manx shearwater, razorbill, greater and lesser black-backed gull, Arctic tern, herring gull, eider duck