Tuesday, 19 April 2022

Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our 10:00 and 14:00 Premium Whale tours and on our lovely vessel Eldey for the 09:00 and 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
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 14:00

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.

Report from Eldey: It felt like we were navigating over velvet, as the sea was so smooth. There was nothing but a soft breeze and a warm sun that filtered everything in yellowish colours. Overall a very comfortable ride. After about 40 minutes we spotted our first cetaceans; a humpback whale! We were amazed as all of a sudden the animal forcefully threw its tail stock laterally out of the water, AKA tail breached. As there were too many boats around this individual and we saw some spouts at the distance we went there to check out a second humpback whale. While enjoying its presence we also managed to spot a minke whale. This elegant animal surfaced 3 times rapidly alongside our vessel. Later on, when we thought the tour was already over, we found another humpback whale. This one was changing direction dramatically and going vast distances after every surfacing sequence. But still we managed to have a couple of great looks at the animal, as close as 60 meters away! Something special was going to happen also today: a helicopter training exercise. We prepared the boat and the passengers for its arrival and secure all, and took lots and lots of videos and photos. What an interesting and curious practice! We finished the tour by checking out a huge flock of birds that were feeding frantically in the area, many of them were northern gannets performing their typical plunge diving. 

- Estel Sanchez Cami

Report from RIBs: What a beautiful morning - there was sunshine, a low northerly wind, and lots of animals in the bay! We soon spotted a humpback whale, but he was staying underwater for a long time so we shifted our attention to a minke whale in the same area who was coming up more frequently and very close to our boat. A bit later, we saw the blow of a humpback whale and when we came closer there was not one fluke, but two! The humpback whales dove and – suddenly – they came up a few meters from our boat, the waterdrops in their blow creating a rainbow. The two whales stayed close to us and it was incredible to feel so close to them, watch every detail of their impressive and beautiful bodies. At the end of the tour, a minke whale also showed up in the area of the humpbacks and we also got to enjoy lots of puffins on the way back to round up this fantastic tour.

- Eline van Aalderink

Report from Eldey: Heading back out into the bay, we were all hopeful that we would see something amazing this afternoon, and Faxaflói didn't let us down. We first saw a pod of harbour porpoises quickly swimming together. It was nice to see them but they are very fast and hard to follow so we continued with our tour. We then saw a blow in the distance and headed towards it so we could identify what species of cetacean it was. But, before we saw it surface again a pod of white-beaked dolphins swam in front of our boat! They stayed near the boat for a while and started jumping out of the water every now and then. We then saw the blow again and identified it as a humpback whale! It was incredible to be surrounded by both the whale and the dolphins and pretty quickly the dolphins started to play with/annoy the humpback whale. This made the humpback dive deep for a while and while we were waiting for it to reappear, we spotted another humpback whale behind us breaching! We headed towards it to get a better look and as we were getting closer and closer it kept breaching! When we got close it must have been tired because it spent a while at the surface before showing off its pectoral fins by slapping them on the water's surface. We managed to identify this individual as Finley that was last seen in November last year. Finley was feeling very active today and kept us entertained by slapping their fins and tail on the water until we ran out of time and had to head back to the harbour.

- Emily Erskine

Northern fulmar, eider duck, long-tailed duck, razorbill, common guillemot, black guillemot, atlantic puffin, northern gannet, herring gull, iceland gull and glaucous gull, black legged kittiwake.

Report from the Ribs: The beautiful weather lasted the whole day, meaning we had clear blue skies overhead and flat seas to aid in our searching of cetaceans. Two boats left the harbour at this time, both deciding to cover separate areas of the bay as wildlife had been widespread throughout the day. One boat ventured north and soon saw the fluke of a humpback whale on the horizon. Once we arrived in the rough location of the whale it was clear that we had two close by. Both were performing slow and relaxed surfaces, with hardly any noise or sight of the blow then would lift the fluke and remain below for quite a long time. Whilst we waited the smooth, elegant form of the minke whale cruised by of several occasions. The second boat had a very similar tour with the addition of a pod of 10 or more white-beaked dolphins. 

- Mike Smith