Tuesday, 18 June 2024

Today we will be operating our Classic Whale Watching on our lovely vessel Eldey at 9:00, 13:00, 17:00, 20:30 and our just as lovely catamaran Hafsúlan at 11:00, 15:00. Our Premium Whale Watching tour will operate on Þruma I-V at 10:00, 12:00, 14:00 and 16:00

• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 09:00, 11:00, 13:00, 15:00, 17:00. 20:30
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 17:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00, 20:00

Report from Eldey: We sailed out onto an incredibly calm sea, with great visibility and little wind. We sailed for about 20min and quickly spotted 3 harbour porpoises. These stayed quite shy so we headed further on. Soon we saw a huge blow on the horizon - it was a humpback whale! We were still a few minutes away but then spotted another humpback whale and started noticing all the minke whales around us as well. Then just as we were arriving, the humpback breached! Not only once but 5 times!! What a way to start your Tuesday. We must have seen roughly 15 minke whales in this area, as well as 2 more pods of porpoises! We ended up seeing 2 more breaches but will need to have a look at the pictures to tell if it was just one individual breaching or multiple. Its always hard to know what spurs on this behaviour, it can be a form of communication, a show of joy or even anger. We then headed towards the third humpback which was lunge feeding, but incredibly slow and incredibly close to the boat allowing us to see its baleen plates in its mouth. We all watched on in awe but eventually had to start our return journey back to harbour. On the way home we then also saw a pod of 6 white beaked dolphins! We sadly did not have time to stop but still watched on as we passed. What a tour - with all four of our main species!

- Anna Richter

Report from Hafsulan: After hearing about the great sightings during the earlier morning tour we knew exactly where to head to. Even before we reached that area we were surprised by a really big blow from a humpback whale. From a distance we could see the blow a few times before a huge fluke appeared as it went for a dive. We then got to see this same sequence from a bit closer which was cool. But this whale now seemed to disappear as it went for a very long dive so we headed to the very active area. Here we saw over 20 minke whales all coming up really regularly as they were feeding along with many seabirds including lots of plunge diving Northern gannets. Then a couple of larger blows from 2 more humpback whales. In the far distance we could also see a 4th humpback. These 2 close to us were really good though, they swam very near us and fluke dived many many times. Whilst watching the humpback we could also see a pod of 8 white beaked dolphins. Their dorsal fins looked very cute and small in comparison the humpback that was much closer to us. On our way back to the harbour we also came across another pod of 6/7 dolphins who were bowriding and stayed very close to our boat for a while. This then brought another great tour to an end.

- Rob Hyman

Report from Eldey - this afternoon we sailed out hoping to repeat the success of this morning tour. We headed straight to the spot where the animals were feeding this morning and sure enough there were still there. Firstly, we spotted a pod of 5-7 white-beaked dolphins coming close to the boat. In the same area we also saw a blow of a humpback whale, and as we approached we realized it was 3 different individuals. We also spotted 4-5 minke whales moving around and feeding in the area.

-Aleksandra Lechwar

Report from Hafsulan: Sailing out again this afternoon, the wind dropped slightly giving us plenty more comfort as we headed out the bay to the same spots as this morning. Quicker than we expected, we encounter 2 humpback whales, which kept with us almost the entire tour. This couple was calmly feeding and resting, coming up and down as they showed they´re flukes. Roaming around a bit more in the same are, we encountered 10 minke whales, all feeding and fast enough to only surface a couple of times. this was all in the middle of huge flocks of black backed guls and Northern gannets diving by dozens in front of us. As we left, we had a last moment with our humpback couple, with one of the individual doing a peduncle throw just as we left !

- Alex Paumier

Report from Elding: Words can not describe the unbelievable experience we all experience this tour. Of the start, we encountered large flocks of Northern gannets and black backed seagulls, bothered by Arctic skuas on their fishing frenzy. These brought us to a first pod of 8 white beaked dolphins, who fed amazingly all around us as they bowrided and jumped everywhere the whole time, slapping tails and zooming everywhere. As we decided to leave these animals on their dinner, we saw several blows in the opposite direction. Around us, over 15 minke whales came up and down throughout the tour, with many grazing the boat during their feeding and never leaving our sight, always following our trail. These were only amazingly the appetizer: 4 humpback whales around came up and down, and as we slowly followed them, two became increasingly curious. This couple, the same we had seen earlier this day, started lunge feeding in front of us for over an hour, scanning the boat from up close and breaching around us. All of us were in complete awe of these events, including crewmembers. The whales stayed for an eternity with us, and without any effort we experienced the most amazing feeding show, seeing all of the whales body and behaviour multiple times, from multiple individuals. We had little to do but to look at these beautiful giants turning around, feeding and having fun in front of us, under the calm rain of the misty bay.

- Alexandre Paumier

Arctic tern, Artic skua, Northern gannet, Atlantic puffin, razorbill, common and black guillemot, black backed gull, eider duck, herring gull, black footed kittiwake, manx shearwater