Tuesday, 17 August 2021

✔ CLASSIC WHALE TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 09:00

Report from Eldey: Weather was far away from what we would expect from a summer day, but despite cold and clouds we had fun. 60 minutes into the tour and we spotted a single humpback whale that was swimming stilly and allowed us watching it from a closer view. While we were enjoying the presence of this spectacular creature a pod of 4 white-beaked dolphins appeared on the scene and approached the boat while surfing with the waves. On the way back we were captivated by the presence of another humpback whale. Northern gannets, great black-backed gulls, kittiwakes, fulmars, arctic skuas, arctic terns, and of course the little adorable atlantic puffins put the icing on the cake. Patience was charminly rewarded. Definitely a wonderful tour.

- Estel Sanchez Cami

✔ PREMIUM WHALE TOUR ON SCHEDULE|  10:00

Report from Þruma IV: We started the ride with a stop in Akurey where we took a nice and close look at some puffins, mostly of them were flying all around the island with fish hanging from their beaks. After, we headed south passed Grótta. We have had very good sighting over the area so we wanted to check if it was still a lucky stop and we were right. We had a short encounter of white beaked dolphins, somewhere around 3 to 6 of them. The swell was big, which made it challenging to keep track of them. No much later we found a blow few hundred meters away from the boat. We follow the directions and ended up finding a humpback whale which was feeding at the sea floor. It was coming up the surface every 5 to 8 minutes showing us the fluke in almost every dive it was doing. On the way back we joined other boats on a sighting of a second humpback whale. We had a couple of looks at the fluke before we head back to the harbour. The seas carried a big swell but all the passengers enjoy the bumpy ride.

- Alejandro Garcia

✔ CLASSIC WHALE TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 13:00

Report from Eldey: The swell in the ocean was about 1.5 meters and the wind was about 10-12 knots, making for quite difficult spotting conditions. We were lucky however, as we found a minke whale just outside of Grótta, that was actually spotted by a passenger. We managed to see the minke come up for about three times, but we lost track of it in the rough ocean. We then saw a blow from a humpback whale, but that one was equally hard to track and we lost it soon. The boats nearby had another humpback around them, which was heading towards us, so we decided to turn our attention to it. As we waited for it, we spotted a minke whale, that might have been the same one that we had been observing earlier. As the humpback had caught up with us, we pursued it rather than the minke, and what a pursue it was. It was travelling very fast and we had to do all we could to keep up with it. It kept on going to the same direction, and only came up for about three times every time it needed to breath, and then proceeded not to show us its fluke on the way down. However, it was a very fun tour filled with excitement, two whale species, and 3-4 different individuals.

- Fróði Guðmundur Jónsson

✔ PREMIUM PUFFIN TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 13:00

Report from Þruma IV: The winds were strong on today's morning, but conditions were still good enough to get out and enjoy the thousands of puffins that are hanging around the islands near Reykjavik. We started by the cliffs on the north side of Engey. Few dozens of puffins were on top of the cliffs showing us their white bellies and colourful beaks. Tide was high, allowing us to get a close look at them during the last days of their nesting season. We had enough time to cruise around Akurey, a second island which holds many more burrows. Puffins were flying around in circles approaching the island. Mostly of them were carrying fish in their beaks which made the skuas and the the seagulls chase the puffins till they dropped the fish on the surface to easily get if freely.

- Alejandro Garcia

?  PREMIUM WHALE TOUR PENDING | 14:00

✔ CLASSIC WHALE WATCHING ON SCHEDULE | 19:00

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 not mandatory but are recommended in areas where keeping distance from others is not possible.