Thursday, 1 June 2023

Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00 and 20:00 Premium Whale tours and on our lovely vessel Eldey and Hafsúla for the 09:00, 10:00 13:00, 14:00 and 17:00 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 | 10:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 12:00
• 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
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 20:00

Report from Eldey: We sailed out on very calm seas for a change given the recent conditions. It was very cloudy above us though. This did lead to some very light rain later in the tour as the fog grew around us. We sailed for around an hour with no signs of cetaceans. Then everything appeared at once. We saw lots of seabirds feeding with minke whales coming up too, they were probably feeding underneath the birds. We saw 7 of these in total during the tour including one that looked much bigger. Shortly after seeing our first minke we also spotted 2 pods of 5-6 white beaked dolphins. These were very active with many jumping out of the water. It was so exciting! As we travelled further the fog got worse meaning spotting was more challenging. But we did manage to find a humpback whale. We got to see this individual fluke a few times which was beautiful to see. It was a really great end to a fantastic tour.

- Rob Hyman

Report from Hafsúlan: The sea was calm and looked very smooth and the sky was overcast but the further out we got the foggier it got, making spotting cetaceans a bit challenging. Never the less that did not dampen our spirits and we set sails out towards adventure. After being out on the water for some time we encountered our first cetaceans. A pod of white-beaked dolphins. These were traveling and a bit shy but a second pod very close to the first one suddenly appeared and these individuals gave us quite a show with jumps and turns and they even swam close and under the boat.  We watched them for a while and decided to continue.The next animal we spotted was a minke whale. This animal surfaced a couple of times close to the boat and something that looked like a second minke came up very close to. It took a second look to realize this was another species in total. A sleeping humpback whale. We admired this animal coming up slowly and taking deep breaths, filling its lungs with fresh oxygen. This filled our hearts with joy and with thses happy memories we sailed back to harbour.

-Cindy Schwenk

Report from Eldey: We sailed out in quite cloudy conditions to the area we went in the morning. With a very calm sea and barely any wind we were soon able to spot our first minke whale of our tour. It seemed very calm and came up to the surface many times. Within the same area we also spotted a slowly trevelling humpback whale who could succesfully be identified as "Gustav" as we have seen that individual before. We decided to go further and were very lucky as we were able to see three more minke whales. In total we saw at least five minke whales. Before we headed back home to Reykjavik the sun came out and in these beautiful and calm conditions we even saw a pod of around 7-9 individuals of white beaked dolphins. 

-Lasse Roggenkamp

Report from Hafsúlan: We sailed with no wind and a pleasant flat sea this afternoon. After one hour riding around the bay we catched a glimpse of sun and lots of bird flocks. Especially thousands of Arctic tern joined our tour all the time while we were expecting to meet something else in the middle. Indeed we spotted 3 minke whales in the distance and then, once closer, we saw 2 humpback whales. One of them was breaching and pec slapping for few times and then it went for a deep dive. As it was a bit crowded around there, we decided to head towards another humpback, a 3rd individual, busy lunge feeding. We spent quite a long time with it, admiring the feeding behaviour getting the chance to see the rostrum and the mouth out of the water. And another minke sneaked out as well in between!!! People got very excited about the situation, surrounded by whales with the sun out and the clear sky. What a nice tour!

- Marta Filippini

Report from Eldey: We headed out in into beautiful sunshine and calm seas. After about 40 minutes fog hit us bad with very limited visibility. We spotted a minke whale who surfaced coupled of times but just as quickly as we saw it disappeared into the deep. Another 2 minke's made their presence known for one or two breaths but like the first one disappeared from view. Since our luck ran out on this evenings tour we offered complimentary tickets valid for the next 2 years. Hopefully, our passengers can come back and witness our cetaceans in all their glory.

- Kristin Ros

Atlantic puffin, northern fulmar, northern gannet, black legged kittiwake, Arctic tern, great black backed gull, common guillemot, black guillemot, razorbill, eider duck, black headed gull, Arctic skua