Thursday, 18 July 2024

• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 9:00; 11:00, 13:00, 15:00, 17:00, 20:30
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00, 20:00

Today we will be operating our Classic Whale Watching on our lovely vessel Eldey at 9:00, 13:00, 17:00 and 20:30 and our just as lovely Hafsúlan at 11:00 and 15:00. Our Premium Whale Watching tour will operate on Þruma I-V at 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00 and 20:00.

Report from Eldey: We started the first tour of the day enjoying a completely flat and calm sea, although with little visibility due to the rain that enveloped us. We started to explore the bay and it didn't take us long to find our first cetaceans, these were white-beaked dolphins! They were very close to the boat and behaved very socially with the boat, even bowriding. After a few minutes we decided to continue exploring and suddenly we saw a blow in the distance, it was a beautiful humpback whale feeding in the area. It showed itself several times and we could see the elegant tail. Also, I was able to take some nice pictures of the whale lunge feeding very close to the boat! It was a PRECIOUS encounter! We decided to continue on our way as many boats started to come and we wanted to catch a glimpse of the animal. Karma paid us back very quickly as we saw another humpback whale again. We spent a long time with her and saw her tail multiple times. The time as always flew by and we had to go back, but we were able to spot a minke whale in the distance which was only seen once, plus another humpback whale we saw coming back! It was a very nice tour with lots of sightings and we came back with our passengers very happy :)

- Sergi Gonzalez

The amazingly calm and mirror-like ocean made it not only a very enjoyable ride out but the conditions were also perfect to find any kind of cetaceans. Not long after we left we spotted a blow and tried to approach carefully. It turned out to be a humpback whale. It was very calm and we could stay with that individual for some time. We did not want to disturb it for too long and headed further out in the bay. We soon saw another blow that was caused by another humpback whale. This one was very active on the surface and also accompanied by a pod of about 7 white beaked dolphins. They seemed to be feeding all together. That was an amazing encounter. A bit in the distance we also saw a minke whale that repeatedly came up for short breaths. 

-Lasse Roggenkamp

Report from Eldey : Conditions in the bay were optimal today, with flat seas, very mild wind, no rain, great visibility and a partially cloudy sky that still allowed a couple of agreeable sunrays to warm our faces. Not long after leaving the harbour, we found our first humpack whale! It was gently cruising, diving regularly to pop back up a few minutes later, and we followed it for a little while. As we continued our journey, we found another, and again another humpback displaying the same behaviour. Our passengers got to notice a series of beautiful fluke dives, and hearing them gasping of excitement every time just does not get old. Before heading back to the harbour, we stumbled across a pod of traveling white-beaked dolphins that we could observe cruising and playing right in front of our boat. On our way back, we could notice two more dolphin pods in the distance. We finally got back to Reykjavik under a mixed sky, half sunny half wet with a light rain, and the same beautiful conditions on which our tour started. 

- Olivia Garcia

Report from Eldey: We set sail on a sunny afternoon which later became cloudy with light rain. Of course the sea was perfect, with a little bit of waves but very gentle, allowing us to see absolutely any cetacean on the horizon. On the way to the previous spots we saw a curious group of white beaked dolphins playing around the boat, bowriding and even jumping around. After a while they moved off into the horizon in search of food and we decided to be on our way as well. Our paths parted, but not our motivation to keep exploring! It wasn't long before we came across a humpback whale, this one was feeding and was very active. One of the sightings was very close to the boat where the whale wanted to show us its impressive tail!After a long while we decided to leave it, but we were surprised by another whale that was guarded by a group of white beaked dolphins, they were all feeding together!!! It was beautiful, even easy to spot the whale when it submerged for a few minutes because the dolphins gave away its position. At times it looked like the dolphins were disturbing the whale, it was really nice to see their behaviour all together. After a while, we decided to start our way back to the harbour, but the party had only just started... we saw splashes in the distance and also a blow. They were white beaked dolphins jumping and slapping their tails against the surface. Amidst the confusion caused by the dolphins to the fish, the humpback whale took the opportunity to feed. We enjoyed the sighting for a few minutes and decided to head back to the gate for good, but not before we saw another blow in the distance. THE AREA WAS VERY PRODUCTIVE!!!! All the passengers were very happy and excited about the sighting!

- Sergi Gonzalez

Report from Eldey: The wind had picked up a bit and it blew away the last rainclouds of the day, which allowed the sun to peak through again. After some sailing, we encountered our first humpback whale of the evening. We saw it surface multiple times with the individual and were treated to multiple fluke dives and we saw it lunge feeding a couple times as well! A second humpback was a bit more shy, so we noved on rather quickly but on our way back to port we were in for an amazing surprise! A third humpback started breaching in the distance and kept on doing it over and over again, no less than 10 times!! It also treated us to multiple pec and tail slaps! Eventually, it calmed down and it was time for us to head back into port, enchanted by this evening´s sightings.

- Milan Vansteelandt