Thursday, 10 August 2023

Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our 20:00 Premium Whale tour and on our lovely vessel Eldey and Hafsúla  for the 09:00, 10:00, 13:00, 14:00 and 19:00 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 | 19:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 20:00

Report from Eldey: We sailed in the beautiful yet rainy bay of Faxaflói. We waited for about 40 minutes until we had our first encounter with a cetacean species: We spotted two elusively travelling harbour porpoises. We did not stop for them and decided to continue our search further out. We soon reached a very active area of the bay in which we encountered a total of 5 minke whales, supposedly feeding. Within that area there were also uncountable northern gannets that kept going for spectacular plunge dives to hunt for fish. Not long after that we also had a pod of white beaked dolphins that came very close to our boat and everyone got a very good look at the beautiful and amazing cetaceans. The rain and the wind did not bother us anymore and we were very happy about the sightings on this tour.

-Lasse Roggenkamp

Report from Hafsúla: We set off this morning with it being a little windier than normal. We searched an area where we have seen some cetaceans recently close to the harbour but found nothing so headed further into the bay. After sailing for just over an hour we came across 8-10 very active harbour porpoises. They were jumping out the water quite a lot, very close to the boat. It was a surprisingly great sighting of this usually shy species. We then travelled a bit further and saw 4-5 minke whales. They were all feeding along with many plunge diving Northern Gannets. It was a spectacle. We got a great look at some of the minkes as they came to the surface. They are such a beautiful species of whale. On our way home there was some jumping white beaked dolphins very far in the distance. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to go over and have a good look at them but you could see them jumping out very high. It was very windy on our way home but we didn't mind after a great tour. Everybody left us very happy with smiles on their faces.

- Rob Hyman

Report from Eldey: with the sun hidden in between the clouds, we sailed out to our adventure, ready to spot anything. We've got to an area with many birds, and when checking an specific flock close to us, we got caught by surprise by a minke whale! We recognized this individual, Humpie, a minke that was first seen in the bay in 2011. We waited a bit more for Humpie, but big and fast splashes caught our eyes to other spot. We had a pod of 10 white-beaked dolphins travelling, and we got closer to take a look, they decided to come to us as well. They bowrided with us and we spent a while admiring these animals while they were surfing with the swell and the waves created by the boats. Then, going to an area with at least 30 Northern gannets plunge diving, resting and flying around all lined up, we saw another 4 minke whales, in different spots and going to different directions. We felt surrounded and we spent a time with these animals before heading back home.

- Milla Brandao

Report from Hafsulan: A light breeze and cloudy skies accompanied us as we sailed out from Reykjavik harbour. We had to travel quite far out in in the bay before we saw some activity. A pod of 6 white beaked dolphins were jumping in the distance, creating big splashes on the surface. We got closer and followed them in circles while they swam by the bow of the boat. As we continued the tour 4 minke whale individuals appeared around us, taking turns on surfacing in different directions. On our way back to Reykjavik we got company by another pod of 5 white beaked dolphins while the sun came out. A nice ending to this tour. 

- Ludvig Hultgren Svensson 

Report from Elding: We started the tour right in time with a very nice weather that became worse and worse as we headed out. It got quite windy. At some point we saw splashes in the distance so we decided to approach to them and then we realized we were in front of a breaching pod of white beaked dolphins. When got closer they vanished. We kept looking for more activity on the surface but we were not very lucky. We gave complimentary tickets to the passengers so they can come another time for free and hopefully see more of these amazing animals in the wild.

-Nicolás Corral

Northern gannet, Atlantic puffin, Northern fulmar, black guillemot, common guillemot, black legged kittiwake, great black backed gull, Manx shearwater, lesser black backed gull, herring gull, Arctic tern