Tuesday, 20 February 2024

Tuesday, 20 February 2024

Today we will be operating on our lovely vessel Eldey for the 9:00 and 13:00 Classic Whale Watching tour. Make sure to dress according to weather, as it is usually colder at sea than on land.

  • CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 9:00
  • CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00

CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 09:00

Report from Eldey: What a lovely morning to start our day at sea. Right after we left the harbour we spotted a blow in the distance, and we went to check it out to find out there was a sleepy humpback whale there! We saw 2 more blows next to Videy island, and getting closer we saw we had 2 other humpback very close to each other, sometimes swimming side by side. They were actively feeding, and we could see that the fish was so close to the surface that they would come up at the surface before the whale comes too! When the fish were a bit deeper down, we could see the whale coming up calmly to the surface, after doing a huge fluke print, probably rearranging the fish down there. Then, it showed the snout and showed the tail in a very slow movement, as a slow peduncle throw, but continued close to the surface. This whale continued very active around us, sometimes rolling, showing the belly and the pectoral fins. Even when we were about to leave and check another area, it continued very close to us, so we couldn't move. But it's not like we actually wanted to! What a show this whale was giving to us. After that, we decided to check the sleeping whale and, surprise... it was still sleeping! We got a very close look of it, a few meters from us. And we admired it in silence, after we returned to the harbour, very satisfied with our morning!

- Milla Brandao

CLASSIC WHALE WATCHING TOUR | 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan and Eldey: The rain was a bit annoying but our will to see whales was stronger, so we went out in search of them. After some 15 minutes, we had our first sighting, 2 humpback whales that were busy feeding on some delicious fish near the container harbour! We could see them showing their faces while lunge-feeding near us as we approached them! They kept milling around so we didn't have to move the boat, they would come and go. Such a pleasant sighting. There were also 3 grey seals feeding on the same as the whales and they looked at us in curiosity. We saw another blow from another humpback whale, so we went there to check it out. This whale "Pongo" was resting but it quickly swam to the harbour too to feed. That's when these two other humpbacks decided to leave the area and one of them decided to do some peduncle throws! As we watched that it breached!!!! What a magnificent sight!! It continued breaching about 8 times, finishing with a pectoral fin slap!! Man, what an amazing sight of nature to end this amazing tour filled with behaviours and moments that we will forever remember with the pictures that were taken and the videos!

- Pedro Teixeira and Anna Richter

Bird species seen today include:

Great black-backed gull, Icelandic gull, Glaucous gull, lesser black-backed gull, black-headed gull, eider duck, great cormorant, European shag, northern fulmar, northern gannet, greylag geese, razorbill, black guillemot