Tuesday, 23 August 2022

Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our Premium Whale tours and on our lovely vessels Eldey and Hafsúlan for the 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, 10:00, 13:00, 14:00 and 19:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 13:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 16:00

COVID-19: No restrictions are in place at this time, although we do recommend that you ensure your own safety by washing your hands frequently and maintain distance from others. Hand sanitising stations are available throughout our premises. Mask use is optional.

Report from Eldey: It was a glorious summer morning with a small bit of wind. We sailed out into Faxaflói and shortly after I spotted a blow in the distance. We decided to continue onwards and save this one for the way back. We quickly saw another blow at 12 and went to investigate - a humpback whale! We stayed with this whale for a few moments, and managed to see its fluke a few times before parting ways. A minke whale also joined our tour. We then left them in peace and were curious to find the other one. On the way we were surprised by some white beaked dolphins! This was a very active pod, about 8-10 strong. They swam around the boat and were bow-riding when we left. We then moved on and found two more humpback whales! It was Mariupol and Neila! We managed to see their flukes a few times before time was up and we had to head back to the city. On the way back we had another surprise visit of harbour poroises! I love seeing them and they even did a few mini jumps. In very classic porpoise fashion they quickly vanished and we were back enroute to harbour.

- Anna Richter

Report from Elding: The day started with a bright sun, it did not prevent us though to have some cold wind as soon as we went out of the harbour. The swell was not that high, and quite comfortable. After some time we heard of some whales in the area .. which led us to see a pair of humpback whales travelling together really peacefully. We even had some views of those 2 whales really close to the boat. It was beautiful to see them peacefully travelling real close to us .. It really made us see how big are those animals. We continued our journey to find 2 white beaked dolphins bow riding and curiously checking us out. They followed our boat for at least 30 minutes bow riding and jumping around the bow, enjoying the waves we were making. Everyone was so happy to see these smart creatures from that close. With the dolphins still around we got to an area where we were enjoying some diving northern gannets .. there was definetely food around here. To our surprise a blow appeared between the waves close to our vessel .. it was another humpback whale. This third individual first disappeared between the waves. Some of us got to observe a minke whale surfacing barely a few meters from us for a brief moment. While searching for that last minke whale, with our white beaked dolphins still enjoying our waves, the humpback whale appeared a few meters away on our left side. When the dolphins saw it blowing they rushed to get on top of it, to interact with it. That is when we had the most incredible sighting with the humpback rolling on its belly, showing its pectoral fins, showing us its head even spy-hopping, and trumpeting. It was awesome to see the interaction from that close. We even got a picture of the underside of the fluke and understood this might be a new whale.. After a search of our research corrdinator Eline this afternoon we can definitely confirm that we have never seen this whale before and this is a new individual for us. A new humpbacvk for the bay, exciting news. And what a splendid trip. 

- Melanie Magnan

Report from Eldey: After the successful morning trip, we went back to the same area. The wind picked up a bit but the conditions were still good with great weather and sea conditions. We found many northern gannets plunge diving to catch fish. Such a delight for our eyes to see that amazing bird feeding. We moved a bit around until we finally spotted a blow. And then, in the exact same direction a second one but further away! We took the direction of those blow and after a bit of patience we saw a pair of humpback whales, surfacing calmly, very easy to observe. In the area were also popping a few minke whales, maybe 4 of them. One came extremely close in front of the boat, visible under the surface and reappearing on our right side. We stayed a while with the two humpback whales that were going for 2-3 breaths then diving for 2-3 minutes. The were very synchronized, diving and surfacing at the exact same time. When too many boats arrived we decided we should go away to leave them some space. We tried to find other species of cetaceans in the bay but did not spot anyhting so we went back to Reykjavik under a beautiful sun. 

- Miquel Pons

Report from Elding: although we could feel a very cold wind from the north, we had the sunniest afternoon! With not a single cloud at the sky, we sailed out to an area where we saw whales in the morning, hoping that they were still there. And it didn't take long until we found them: 2 humpback whales were together, right in front of us! We saw their huge and white pectoral fins up in the air, and then they started to slowly go to shallow dives together, synchronizing their movements and coming up to the surface to breath. We tracked them for a while, taking our time to enjoy this beautiful sighting. A minke whale was also in the area, but it disappeared as fast as it appeared. After staying a few more minutes with this pair of humpies, we started going back to the harbour. On the way, we saw another minke whale for a few minutes, and it even approached the boat, showing us the beautiful colors on its back. A delightful tour with very nice sightings and sun on our faces!

- Milla Brandão

Report from Eldey: What a tour we had tonight. It started like previous tours earlier in the day, a bit of wind and choppy sea but still easy to move around the bay and a good visibility with amazing sunny weather. We went to the good area were we got lucky earlier and after a while looking we started to see a few blows in the distance. We got closer and we saw one of the humpback whales seen earlier in the day, Neila. We saw it breathing a few times and go for a shallow dive, so we were expecting to see it soon again. Unfortunately the animal disappeared and we could not find it anymore. We waited until we saw a clear other humpback whale blow in the distance, we got there and did not see anything. We crossed maybe 2-3 minke whales that we saw surfacing in a glimpse but no trace of the humpback. We got even further and found a large group of northern gannets plunge diving. They were so many! It was great with the start of the sunset in the background. We waited more in the area but we got unlucky and the animals were not cooperative tonight. We went more to the north and saw a whale that looked like a humpback again but once more it disappeared immediately. A bit frustrated to not be able to have a good look with those beautiful animals we went back under an astonishing sunset that followed us for the rest of the tour. And then it happened. A big splash a bit further in front of us. We got closer and saw that a minke whale was breaching again and again like if there was no morning. It was magical to see that beautiful baleen whale jump so many times, so close of the boat, under the orange and pink light of the sunset. After this everyone had a big smile on their face during the rest of the way back.

- Miquel Pons

Atlantic puffin, common guillemot, razorbill, northern gannet, northern fulmar, glaucous gull, lesser and greater black backed gull, herring gull, sooty shearwater, eider duck, black-legged kittiwake,