Tuesday, 20 August 2024

• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 9:00, 11:00, 13:00, 15:00, 17:00, 19:00,
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00

Report from Eldey: After a rough cancelled day, we were delighted to see the sun shining and the weather nice enough for us to sail out again. To our great surprise, we didn´t even need to brave the strong winds going further out the bay, as all the animals that we saw where but just minutes away from the harbour. Throughout the tour, 2 humpback whales and 2 minke whales were feeding carelessly around the islands, barely noticing our presence and the other boats around. Both humpbacks were known individuals, as we recognized their flukes when they fluke dived several times, more than enough for all to know what to see from these animals. As we headed back home, we even managed to spot a pod of 6-8 harbor porpoises travelling, making sightings with 3 on 4 of our main species in the Faxafloi Bay, ending a very nice and relaxed tour.

- Alex Paumier

Report from Hafsula: Finally sun and sea! This morning we sailed out and only 15min later we already spotted a blow! And then two more! In this little corner right by Esja we had 3 humpback whales! One of which we recognised to be Hooker, the other two we still need names for! Often we would have one close and two a little further so we took turns at the individual humpbacks as to not overstay our welcome. We eventually went for a little further sail out where we spotted a minke whale! This minke popped up a few times but then headed into the glare where it was harder to spot. After our little sail we turned back and went with the wind this time - it truly felt like a summers day. We spotted one of the humpback whales again, this one had an incredibly dark fluke and was always nice enough to show it! On the way back to harbour we made another pit stop at Lundey the puffin island and watched the last few puffins of the season. A beautiful end to a great tour. 

- Anna Richter

Report from Eldey: We headed out into the beautiful bay of Faxafloi bay in sunny conditions. After a bit we spotted a blow still pretty close to the harbour so our patience was not tested today. The blow was caused by a humpback whale. We could stay with it for a while and it showed us its beautiful and unique fluke several times. At one point it also rolled on its back and lifted its pectoral fins out of the water and kept hitting the surface of the water. It was amazing to watch this special behaviour. Maybe it was just scratching its fins or communicating, we wont ever find out. In total there were about 4 humpback whales and a pod of around 5 harbour porpoises.

-Lasse Roggenkmp

Report from Hafsulan: The weather conditions were very nice, the strong cold wind stopped for most of the tour and the sun was shining very nicely. As in the previous tour we didn't have to go out very far to find the whales, so we could spent more time with each an everyone of them. Also it gave us the chance to look for something else and give the humpbacks a break. We had a very lucky tour, since we saw 5 humpback whales and 3 minke whales. We also knew 2 of the humpbacks, one was "Davy Jones 2" and the other one was "Hooker". The humpbacks were very great to observe, they swam next to us, towards us, surfaced quit often and fluked very nice. The minke whales were elusive as always, but they showed themselves a few times before they disappeared into the the depth. It was a great tour with lots of questions being asked, which we love and lots of happy faces leaving the ship. 

- Kylie Veal 

Report from Eldey: Sailing out once again this late afternoon, we hoped to continue on today´s streak of nice tours, which definitely delivered. This time, we had to go further than previously, which also meant we would have a better idea of what would be in the more outer parts of Faxafloi. Throughout the tour, we managed to see 6 humpback whales, with 3 of them being very active with us. Going from fluke dive to fluke dive, from whale to whale, we ended up staying with one that seemed to be more active. This individual, that we had seen earlier these weeks, started tail slapping for 15 minutes in front of us, with everyone in awe. As we turned around one last time to see it fluke dive and went home, 1 minke whale followed our path before disappearing in the deep, finishing our tour gracefully.

- Alex Paumier

Report from Elding : INCREDIBLE sunset tour today ! Only enhanced by the absolutely perfect conditions : flat seas, no wind, amazing visibility and clear skies. We started our tour not so far from the islands, and this is where we found our first humpback whale. It was lunge feeding, followed by a herd of screaming arctic terns, and it even surfaced right by our boat a couple of times ! After watching it for a while, we continued our route and crossed the path of two pods of about 3 or 4 harbour porpoises. While porpoises are usually hard to spot, the conditions allowed us to observe them traveling for a few minutes. We then stumbled across a feeding minke whale with whom we could stay a little while. When we continued towards the west, still not so far into the bay, we spotted a massive blow, followed by a body that felt way too long to belong to a humpback. I hesitated for a few second but finally had to announce : a fin whale !! A very, very rare sighting here in Faxafloi bay. To say we got excited to observe the second largest animal on earth is an understatement. It even got joined by another minke whale, that looked so tiny next to the fin whale ! We stayed with them until it was time to get back to Reykjavik. We even stopped briefly to observe a second feeding humpback whale on our way back. We finally headed back under a gorgeous sunset, so incredibly stoked by this evening at sea. 

- Olivia Garcia 

Northern gannet, North Atlantic puffin, Sooty shearwater (flock), black-legged kittiwake, black-backed gull, Arctic tern, cormorant, Barnacle goose