Thursday, 3 march 2022

Today we will be operating on our lovely vessel Eldey for the 09:00 & 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. Masks are mandatory in areas where keeping 1 meter distance from others is not possible.

Report from Eldey: When we left the harbour, a shower of hail fell on Reykjavik. Thankfully during our way out, the weather changed and we enjoyed a very nice sun shining on the mountains. There was a long swell which was quite high but no waves, allowing us to have a good visibility. The wind was around 5m/s so it was pleasant to be outside with the wind in our back. After a bit of searching in an area with many northern fulmars, we found a pod of 6 white-beaked dolphins. The pod was made up of two calves and four adults swimming close together. A bit further away, there was another group of dolphins. The dolphins sometimes came very close to us, surfacing in unison and letting us enjoy their beautiful dorsal fins with the sunlight in the background. We left these two groups to inspect an area with hundreds of sea birds flocking together, and we saw more dolphins there. On the way back, we saw two more pods of dolphins, so we felt very lucky to have gone out on this dolphin-filled day. 

- Eline van Aalderink

Report from Eldey: We had the same swell as the morning, so the trip was a bit rocky but the low wind and sunshine made the trip pleasant. We had briefly hail falling on us with at the same time sun and a wonderful rainbow. We saw in total three pods of 4-5 white-beaked dolphins: the first took long dives and was hard to follow as they kept getting away from us, the second also took long dives and disappeared after a while, and the third was the easiest to follow as they came close to our boat. This last pod also had a small juvenile in it, which was cute to see swimming with the adults. Difficult to say if those pods were the same or not, that is were photo-identification can be very useful. We left the dolphins alone after a while to give them some space, and we sailed back to Reykjavík, under a beautiful light, admiring the landscape.

- Miquel Pons

Red-throated diver, common guillemot, European shag, kittiwake, herring gull, black-backed gull, eider duck, northern fulmar, northern gannet