Sunday, 9 January 2022

Today we will be operating on our lovely vessel Eldey for the 13:00 Classic Whale Watching tour. Make sure to dress appropriately for the tours as it is always colder on sea than on land. The sea might be rough so we are offering complimentary seasickness tablets in the ticket office.

• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00

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 sanitiser is advised. Masks are mandatory in areas where keeping 1 meter distance from others is not possible. 

Report from Eldey: With a swell much softer than in the previous days, a good visibility allowing to see Snæfellsjökull, a decent temperature and a wind not too strong we had the ingredients for a pleasant whale watching tour. We headed out and quickly had a first stop when a passenger saw a dorsal fin next to our boat. We stopped and made a circle trying to see it again but we couln't so we kept going out. We had a first confirmed sighting with a small pod of 2-4 harbour porpoises non far from our boat, on our right. They quickly disappeared and we continued. It was a bit difficult to spot with the many white caps and the wind slowly picking up. We turned and went back at full speed when we heard from another boat that they saw orcas! They were a few miles away so we had to be patient. When we arrived in the area we were very excited and hyped to see those legendary animals. In the area there was a incredible amount of birds flying, mainly great cormorants, probably a few thousands. The other boats were not seeing the orcas for a few minutes and we were so happy when we saw the big and tall dorsal fin of a male adult. In total they were 5 orcas, an adult male, and adult female already identified and called Sakkara, another female,  another smaller individual, and a calf that was sometimes leaping out of the water, making very cute little jumps. It was the same pod seen in November in the bay. We could observe them a few times until the male clearly arched its back to go for a longer dive. They were under the surface during 6-7 minutes and reappeared a bit far away. We moved there and saw them very well, sometimes coming close to the boat, sharking with only the edge of the dorsal fin at the surface, sometimes regrouping and getting very close to each other. We saw them coming toward us and behind our boat and going away from us so we decided to let them alone and to head back to Reykjavík after this incredible sighting. 

- Miquel Pons

Great cormorant, little auk, razorbill, common guillemot, eider duck, black-backed gull, glaucous gull, herring gull, black-legged kittiwake, northern gannet, northern fulmar.