Thursday, 15 February 2024

Today we will be operating on our lovely vessel Eldey for the 9:00 and 13:00 Classic Whale Watching tour. Make sure to dress according to weather, as it is usually colder at sea than on land.

• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 9:00, 13:00

Report from Eldey: With no wind and a sea like a lake we made our way out into the bay in search of cetaceans! It wasn't too long until we found a strange line in the water, belonging to a humpback whale! It was resting on the surface, and we stood side by side. We could even see the whole body of the animal, a truly amazing and rare experience! After an amazing fluke dive 20 metres away we saw another example of the same species. This one was feeding near the harbour, making lunge feeding events and later it went to rest. Great fluke dives all around but we went for a sail around the islands. A small snowstorm hit us, but we were warm throughout the Icelandic weather thanks to our overalls. After this, another blow was spotted of another humpback whale resting. It was doing slow dives and we followed this animal until there was no more time. So we went back to the harbour delighted with this morning tour!

- Pedro Teixeira

Report from Eldey and Hafsúlan: in this afternoon's tour, we sailed next to Engey island area, as we saw two big dark backs right after we left the harbour. There were 2 humpback whales feeding very actively! As we sailed out in two boats, we got these whales for ourselves for a long time, enjoying them and watching they go for deeper dives repeatedly. They came so close to us that we decided to turn off the engines and watch them in silence, the only sound coming from the loud blow and the birds around. It was amazing to see them coming so close several times, even 4m from our boat. One of them even surrounded the boat, making almost a full round around the boat. For sure a sighting very difficult to get over with!! As other boats started to come, it was great to see each and every single one of them, giving a lot of space to the whale, and all with the engines turned off, as a sign of respect. We then decided to check a 3rd whale, that was logging not very far from it. This one logged for about 4 min, and then showed the fluke for a deep dive, doing this several times, as a pattern. The wind was very weak today and we could hear the loud blow even when the whale was far from us! Also, several harbour porpoises, about 7 during the tour, came to join the area, and one of them even came very close to the boat. The sea conditions were so good that we could see perfectly the porpoises and whales underneath the surface and keep on track of them! A gray seal also came very close, very curious and playful. To finish the tour, we passed by the sleepy humpback once again, as we noticed the same pattern as before. What an amazing afternoon, really! 

- Milla Brandao and Pedro Teixeira

Northern fulmar, glaucous gull, common gull, common guillemot, razorbill, European shag, great cormorant, Brand goose, black guillemot, great black-backed gull, eider duck, less black-backed gull