Thursday, 4 August 2022

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HOFNIN.12.9

Thursday, 4 August 2022

Today we will be operating on our lovely vessel Eldey for the 09:00, 10:00, 13:00, 14:00 and 19:00 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 | 10:00
  • PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00
  • CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00
  • PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 13:00
  • PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 14:00
  • PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 14:00
  • PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 15:00
  • PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 16:00
  • CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 19:00
  • PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 20:00

CLASSIC WHALE TOUR l 09:00

Report from Eldey: the first encounter of our cold, but very sunny tour, was a pod of 3 white-beaked dolphins. They were a bit elusive, probably because they were in a very small group, and also because they had a juvenile amongst them. At the same moment, we saw another small pod of the same species jumping, a bit far from us. Continuing our trip, we spotted a minke whale, that was a bit tricky to track, but we could take a good look at it when it came closer to us. Also, there was another minke a bit far from us, going in the direction of a flock of birds. Not too far from this minke, we spotted the very high blow of a humpback whale! This one had long diving patterns than usual, even though it didn't show us any fluke before diving. We saw it a few times, before heading back to the harbour, and spotting more minkes on the way back.

- Milla Brandão

CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 10:00

Report from Hafsúlan: We had some very cold northerly wind blowing in our faces this morning, but the bright sunshine made it very pleasant to be outside. It took us some time to reach the right whale-watching hotspots today, but after about an hour sailing we reached minke whale territory and a few individuals started popping up around us. We enjoyed the minkes for a few surfaces, but then we continued towards an area where another whale had been sighted earlier by other boats. We waited around in the hopes that this whale would come up to breathe, but he stayed underwater for unusually long so we continued our journey to other locations. There, we encountered 4 or 5 minke whale individuals who were feeding amongst large flocks of seabirds. Sometimes the whales came up right next to our boat and it was very exciting to wait in anticipation where they would come up next. When our time was up we sailed back with the sun warming us up as we enjoyed the view of Reykjavík and the volcano. 

- Eline van Aalderink

CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00

Report from Eldey: We left in glorious sunshine today and a bit of swell and blue seas. After sailing out a bit we found some flocks of birds and decided to hover and hope that a cetacean would also be feasting here. Our method paid off and we were joined by a minke whale! This minke was joined by a very active harbour porpoise! I nearly could not believe my eyes, it was swimming very close to us and even did a few jumps (which is very rare for a harbour porpoise)! It quickly flittered off as did the minke whale so we continued with our journey. In the distance we spotted another flock of birds and thought we would try our luck again. Another minke whale! We used this technique a few more times and ended up seeing 5 minke whales. Some a bit further in the distance and some quite close to the boat. When time was up we sailed back to harbour still basking in the sun.

- Anna Richter

CLASSIC WHALE WATCHING | 19:00

Report from Eldey: We've had the most beautiful sunshine all of today and this evening was no exception. As we set sail we headed south to try our luck in a different location compared to this morning. We sailed for quite a while without any luck and even went so far that we could see the planes taking off in Keflavik! But our luck started to change as we spotted a blow in the distance - a humpback whale! We try to get a closer look but this is a particularly elusive individual. Then another blow! We get closer and its our saving grace! A very active individual, it comes close to the boat rolling around and everyone is cheering! What an encounter. As we took quite a while to sail out we share a few moments together before heading back to harbour in the sunset.

- Milla Brandao