Thursday, 6 July 2023

 Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our 08:00, 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00 and 20:00 Premium Whale tour and on our lovely vessel Eldey and Elding  for the 09:00, 10:00, 13:00, 14:00, 17:00 and 20:30 Classic Whale Watching tours. Make sure to dress appropriately for the tours as it is always colder on sea than on land.

• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 08:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 09:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 10:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 12:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 14:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 14:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 16:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 17:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 20:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 20:30

Report from Eldey: What a tour we had this morning! We sailed out with next to no wind and no swell, under the sunshine and blue skies. As we sailed out we spotted a blow in the distance. We got closer and it turned out to be a humpback whale, this whale was taking random dives but always came very close to the boat. Already a good start! Then we looked to our left and saw roughly 4 blows at once, so decided to have a closer look. It seemed we hit the jackpot with so many more humpback whales (roughly 6-8) coming up all around us - some further and some very close. Then suddenly a big splash! There was a humpback whale tail slapping, and every time we thought it would stop it started again. After it went for a longer dive we thought maybe it had tired itself out but no, it then went on to pec slap for a while. Sadly we were a little pressed for time and had to start our homeward journey. The bay however had more in store for us and on the way back we found a pod of 8 white beaked dolphins! They were showing different feeding strategies and jumping as well, what a fantastic end to the tour. 

- a very happy and slightly sun burnt Anna Richter 

Report from Hafsúlan: We started the tour under a beautiful clear sky. We headed out and suddenly we spotted a random dolphin that kept jumping all over the place. Then we saw some more of the same pod. There were around 10 white beaked dolphins. After spending some time with them we decided to continue a bit further. Few minutes later we spotted couple of humpback whales and one of them was pec slapping all the time and we could even see a breach at some point. What an amazing show.

Nicolas Corral

Report from Eldey: Our expectations on this tour where high after a beautiful morning with many sightings. We had calm seas and a clear sky all trough out the tour. We set sail towards the same area where we saw humpback whales on the previous tour, passing small flocks of seabirds along the way. Soon enough we saw a blow far away on the horizon, and as we set our course towards it there was several more blows in another direction. We waited for some time for the first one to reaper but it was quite elusive and a bit tricky to follow. We decided to head for in the other direction where we saw more activity and it didn't take long before we got a close encounter to a feeding humpback whale. We where at the sweet spot once more and through out the rest of the tour we saw 6 humpback whales and 1 elusive minke whale. Lots of whales, sun and fun on this amazing tour. 

- Ludvig Hultgren Svensson

Report from Hafsula: We sailed out in a very calm sea with beautiful sunshine. We were also able to see both peninsulas that surround Faxafloi Bay so we had really perfect conditions to find cetaceans. On our way out we encountered a pod of around 8 White-beaked Dolphins. We could stay with them for a while and they came really close to our vessel. We continued our search further out and encountered two feeding humpback whales. They were also very close to the boat and they stayed with each other during the entire sighting. In that area we saw a total of 6 humpback whales. When we ran out of time we started our way back and saw an elusively travelling minke whale. 

-Lasse Roggenkamp

Report from Eldey: Still enjoying the sun we sailed out this late afternoon. The wind has picked up slightly but it was still a gorgeous day in the bay. After some sailing we saw 1 quick minke whale, but decided to continue further as we could see lots of blows in one area. We got to our spot and then saw a pod of 8 white beaked dolphins all around our front. Some were jumping completely out of the water and some feeding ahead of us. After a few moments together we continued just a little further and then saw three blows at once. It was a trio of humpback whales. This is quite a rare thing and got us all excited. They came up really close to us multiple times and one was always showing us its beautiful fluke when it went for a dive. While we were with these three, there were at least 3 - 5 more in the distance. Some where we could only see blows and some where we could see the fluke dives. Eventually we ran out of time and headed back to harbour seeing 1 more minke on the way. This was a truly magical way to spend the evening.

- Anna Richter (still sunburnt, still happy)

Report from Eldey: We started the tour with an amazing sunny sky!! We headed of the harbor and we sailed across the bay with a very warm and cozy weather. Suddenly, we spotted a blow! It was a humpback. We approached to it and tried to have a closer look at it but it was acting a bit elusively so we decided to head further away. Then we spotted loads of blows in the horizon. When we got there we realized there were so many humpbacks around so we decided to focus on one that was tail slapping the surface of the water. A little bit later it breached in front of us! Wow!! Incredible. Then we stayed for some time with it seeing how it kept tail slapping the water. We had a close look of 3 humpback whales.

-Nicolás Corral

Arctic tern, Artic skua, glaucous gull, herring gull, lesser and great black backed gull, black legged kittiwake, eider ducks, Atlantic puffin, Northern fulmar