Tuesday, 20 September 2022

Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our 10:00 and 14:00 Premium Whale tour 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: This morning we set sail with a beautiful calm light, it was nearly golden. As the days are starting to shorten the morning and evening light is very beautiful. It didnt take long out of the harbour for us to find some harbour porpoises. Normally we see them in very small pods but this was a much larger one, around 7 individuals. We did not stop as they were busy feeding and quickly vanished again. Not long after that we spotted a minke whale! This whale popped up close to our boat multiple times before continuing on its journey. We did the same and quickly spotted 5 white beaked dolphins! What a way to start the morning! As we watched the dolphins we saw the blow of something bigger - a humpback whale! This was Mariupol who we have seen most of the summer. There was a rainbow in the distance and he showed us his fluke a few times. And we werent even half way through the tour! As a few boats appeared we headed onwards further into the bay and were greeted by the dolphins again. They were very curious and were doing a bit of ´human watching´, swimming closely to us and the other boats. As we very slowly running out of time we headed back towards Reykjavik but even on the way home we saw Mariupol once more! This time he even rolled onto his side and showed us that large pectoral fin. Taking it as a wave goodbye, we headed towards the harbour but were greeted once more by a minke whale that came up very close to us and we were able to observe its pointy rostrum as it lifted its head right in front of the boat. What a beautiful day filled with incredible sightings.

- Eline van Aalderink

Report from Eldey: In true Icelandic fashion, the weather changed quickly from a sunny day to rainy and a bit foggy during the afternoon. The sea conditions were still favourable and we headed straight for the area where all the marine life was seen earlier during the day. Soon enough, we spotted the blow of a humpback whale. We recognised this individual as Mariupol, one of our most regular humpback whales. Mariupol seemed to be feeding, taking dives that lasted a few minutes and always showing us his beautiful fluke that allows us to recognise him. In the same area, we also encountered a pod of 3-4 harbour porpoises briefly, but most of our attention was directed towards the impressively large humpback whale. After some time we headed to other areas, where we found a pod of 7-9 white-beaked dolphins with calves that were leaping high in the air and moving all around our boat. After this exciting sighting our time had unfortunately run out so we sailed back to rainy Reykjavik, warming up in the saloon with some hot chocolates and whale punches. 

- Anna RichterZZ

Northern gannet, northern fulmar, lesser black-backed gull, herring gull, glaucous gull, common eider