Thursday, 20 April 2023

Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our 10:00 and 14:00 Premium Whale tours and on our lovely vessel Hafsúlan for the 09:00 and 13:00 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
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 14:00

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. 

Report from Hafusula: Today we had a grey moody day. I always quite like these atmospheric days as it gives the whole day a sense of adventure. There was rain forecast but managed to stay in-between both rain clouds throughout the tour. Lucky us! On our outward journey we were joined by lots of puffins that have started returning to Iceland for the summer! After about an hour of sailing we saw our first blow! 'Twas a humpback whale. It came so close we could hear it blows and see its pectoral fins (flippers) and the whole body clearly! It seemed to be busy feeding but also curious of the boat. It swam around us a few times often changing direction and coming close. After a while some other boats came to the same spot so we decided to not overcrowd the whale and tried to find something else in the bay. When time was up we started our return journey and saw 2 harbour porpoises, although these were quite tricky to see.

- Anna Richter

Report from Hafsulan: Well, this was a great tour. It took a while to find our first cetaceans but in the end we saw 2 fantastic species. After about an hour of sailing we saw a blow. Before we saw the animal it was from we saw 6 harbour porpoises. Then the blow returned, it belonged to a humpback whale. Boy did this individual put on a good show for us. It didn't breach just once, not twice but three times in the space of 30 seconds! After this it showed us its fluke and humpy dorsal fin many times. We then left this individual as every other boat came once they saw the breaches. Due to our code of conduct and wanting to minimise disturbance to all animals we went in search of others. Before reaching home we saw another 3 pods of harbour porpoises, each containing 1-5 individuals. We also stopped at Engey, an island near Reykjavik, to spot some seabirds. These included eider ducks, Atlantic puffins and herring gulls.

- Rob Hyman

Razorbill, great cormorant, Northern fulmar, Atlantic puffin, black and common guillemot, glaucous gull, greylag goose, greater and lesser black backed gulls, black legged kittiwake, black headed gull, eider duck, Canadian goose and herring gulls