Thursday, 20 June 2024

Today we will be operating our Classic Whale Watching on our lovely vessel Eldey at 9:00, 13:00, 17:00, 20:30 and our just as lovely catamaran Hafsúlan at 11:00, 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

• 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

Report from Eldey: We set sail on a calm but cloudy day. We start to explore the bay of faxafloi with great excitement and after a while, we see two harbour porpoises peeping timidly to the surface. We see them again and again until they disappear on the seabed. Moments later we spot a group of white beaked dolphins that are jumping. But suddenly... we were immersed in a national geographic documentary and minke whales began to appear (up to 4) and also a humpback whale that was lunge feeding. It was amazing because no matter where you looked there were always dolphins or whales surfacing, WE WERE TOTALLY SURROUNDED! We spent a long time enjoying every sighting and multiple deep dives of humpback whales, i.e. being able to see their flukes. We had a great time but we had to go back to port, not only because of the amount of boats that started to accumulate, but also to stay on schedule. IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL TOUR!

- Sergi Gonzalez

Report from Hafsúlan: The 1st tour of the day was blessed with nice weather for whale-watching. The sea was calm, with barely no waves, cloudy weather with no rain, which facilitated searching for the  whales, and warm enough temperatures that everyone could stay outside, catching some fresh air. After about 40 minutes of search, our crew spotted some dark shapes in the horizon, that looked like whales coming up for air. And as we approached, we were not disappointed. After waiting a couple minutes for the whales to come back to the surface, a group of 3 humpback whales surfaced near our boat. This grouped seemed to be the same we had seen the previous day, of 3 very social humpbacks, who repeated similar behaviors today, like rolling onto their sides and belly, and slapping their fins on the surface. After these whales dived once more, we continued our journey, during which multiple minke whales where surfacing all around us, with one appearing only 20 meters from us, surprising crew and passengers alike! Then, we noticed some splashes far on the horizon, in front of our boat. After a quick look through the binoculars, it was clear to our guide who were behind those splashes. White-beaked dolphins full of energy and jumping non-stop. Obviously, we went straight to the area to investigate. As we got there, what we found couldn't be any better, a pod of around 60 dolphins and more humpback whales, all swimming close to each other. The tour went so good, that we didn't even notice the time fly by, until it was time to go back to Reykjavik!

-Ricardo Mendes

Report from Eldey: Where to begin with this tour? The morning tour had already been amazing, but we were not expecting what was waiting for us about 25 min from Reykjavík. We saw a blow and we were excited to see we already had a humpback whale ahead of us! Still on the way to this one, we saw it pectoral slapping, splashing around. But when we got there, we got the very best looks of inside a humpback's mouth ever: this individual couldn't stop feeding not for a second! It changed directions a lot, always showing a mouth full of food and water. Many times it was so close to us that we couldn't even move, while this whale was surrounding us. After taking pictures of its mouth in all possible angles, we continued our way, leaving this individual behind having a feast. Not too far of this one, we saw a big flock of birds, and our sharp-eyed captain saw a dorsal fin in the middle. This back belonged to a minke whale, but it wasn't alone: another 4 minkes more were feeding all around, sometimes popping up far, sometimes quite so close that we could listen to the blow. We saw other splashes in the distance and we saw white-beaked dolphins jumping very high! On the way to them, we saw at least 5 minkes more, very close, and we carefully approached the dolphins because of the amount of minkes on the way. We spent a few minutes with this pod of about 12 dolphins, before heading back to Reykjavík.

- Milla Brandao

Report from Hafsulan: We set sail with high hopes as we had had a very good tour in the morning. And indeed our hopes were not dissappointed as after a bit of sail, we found a group of humpback whales! It was difficult to say how many exactly, but probably 5 individuals in all. Some of them were together and some alone. The were very active, rolling and flapping and blowing all the while. It was gorgeous. In the same place there were at least 3 minke whales also, gliding through the water at their characteristic speed, and a very large group of white beaked dolphins, possibly 3 different pods of maybe 2 dozen individuals in all. They were very playful and active, breaching the surface all the while. In the same place there were puffins, skuas, terns, gannets, gulls and fulmars flying, diving, and feeding. It was a magical afternoon.

- Rodrigo Ruiz Esquide

Report from Eldey: We set sail to the sea calm but rainy, but that doesn't stop our motivation to see cetaceans! After a long time exploring faxafloi bay, we see a pod of white-beaked dolphins jumping in the distance. We approached them and could enjoy their acrobatics for quite a while, until suddenly we saw two blow and of course, two beautiful HUMPBACK WHALE!!! We stayed for a long time enjoying the sighting where we were totally surrounded by dolphins with sporadic appearances of the whale lunge feeding with dolphins jumping around. It was a very funny scene. We also saw another group of dolphins slapping the surface with their tails, possibly to hunt together and confuse the fish. It was an unforgettable moment where we could learn a lot about the dolphins' behaviour when hunting in groups, worming or playing. Also the whales, where on one of the occasions we could see the belly and the impressive pectoral fins. To fit in with the schedule, we had to start heading back to the harbour but before we left we were able to see the humpback whale a couple more times. This one said goodbye with a deep dive, thus showing off its majestic tail fin.

- Sergi Gonzalez

Report from Eldey - this evening we sailed out into the rain and mist. Athough the midnight sun didn´t make the appearance the sea was perfectly flat, perfect conditions for whale watching. We headed straight to the area where we been spotting whales for the last few days and even before we reached it we spotted a blow of a humpback whale. The animal was very calmly lunge feeding on the surface. We could see it hovering just under the surface and then turning to the side to lunge feed multiple times. After seeing the sequence for a few times the whale was just relaxing on the surface before taking a long dive and disappearing. We continued our search until we found an area with multiple white-beaked dolphins. Multiple pods were passing through, too many to count. Many dolphins were jumping and we could watch the amazing show for a while. We also spotted 3-4 minke whales feeding in the area. Just as we were about to head back to the harbour two more humpback whales appeared in area full of jumping dolphins. 

-Aleksandra Lechwar

Atlantic puffin, black and common guillemot, Northern gannet, black-backed gull, lesser black-backed gull, herring gull, black-legged kittiwake, common gull, Northern fulmar, Arctic skua, Great skua