Thursday, 24 March 2022

Today we will be operating on our lovely vessel Eldey 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
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00

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 Eldey: Another overcast, drizzly day to head out into Faxaflói bay but gaps in the clouds allowed the sun to warm our faces from time to time and even a colourful rainbow emerged. On the way offshore 2-3 harbour porpoises popped up and quickly disappeared again as they usually do. It was roughly just over an hours of searching to find one of our frequently sighted cetaceans, a humpback whale. A very relaxed individual, a different one from yesterdays tours that was just surfacing about 4 times and then arching the back, never showing the tail, and diving for 4-5 minutes before returning to the surface again. Once it surfaced after a long dive just 10m from our bow, surprising everyone. We enjoyed this humpie for about 20mins before other boats came and we left to search for the species. Soon we encountered a pod of about 10 white-beaked dolphins that were travelling so fast, probably after some fish as birds were following them. We tried to keep up but in the end we had to leave them to it. On the way to land we found another pod of white-beaked dolphins (pod of about 5-6) that were much more relaxed and easier to photograph. A very nice encounter to end the tour.

- Megan Whittaker

Report from Eldey: When we sailed out this afternoon, we were optimistic as there seemt to be a lot of fish in the bay. While on our way out a pod of 5 harbour porpoises crossed their path with us. Soon after, a huge spash was seen at the distance. We were all intrigued about what it might be. As we came near we realized it happened to be a minke whale! It was swimming really fast and it was probably feeding. Eventually it surfaced very near of the boat making our passengers gasp. The minke was not slowing down though and when it became a bit difficult keeping up with it we let it go on it's way and headed further out. At the distance we could see some flocks of feeding seabirds, and as we arrived to that area we could see like a wall or portal of fog. We decided to enter into that mysterious area, and the limited visibility made it quite difficult to spot something in the distance, however it was a great decision as we saw a beautiful humpback whale. Like the minke, the humpback was also feeding and we got to see some incredible lunging when it engulfed a large amount of water filled with sand eels. Really amazing tour with sunshine and a new humpback whale visiting us in the bay!

- Estel Sanchez Cami

Common guillemot, european shag, northern fulmar, black-legged kittiwake, northern gannet, black-backed gull, glaucous gull, herring gull, eider duck, long-tailed duck.