Tuesday, 23 July 2024

Today we will be operating our Classic Whale Watching on our lovely vessel Eldey at 9:00, 13:00, 17:00 and 20:30 and our just as lovely Hafsúlan at 11:00 and 15:00. Our Premium Whale Watching tour will operate on Þruma I-V at 10:00 and 12:00.

• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR |9:00, 11:00, 13:00, 15:00 17:00, 20:30
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00 and 12:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 14:00, 16:00 and 20:00

Report from Eldey: Today we started our day with many clouds in the sky and choppy seas, but this didn't stop us from finding our favorite animals at all! So off we went, excited to see what the bay had for us, since yesterday was cancelled and we couldn't go out to sea. The visibility was good, and after a while travelling through Faxaflói, we spotted a big blow! This blow belonged to a humpback whale, we saw the fluke going for a deeper dive and this gave us time to approach slowly! Ready with our cameras and waiting for it, this whale came up to the surface several times less than 100m from our boat, and even appeared a couple of times super close, as we could even hear the blow. What a sighting! We were just waiting for a good fluke dive, but this one was tricky: very shy with its tail, hardly ever showed the fluke when going for deeper dives. Finally, it gave us its majestic fluke before disappearing into the blue. We then continued our trip and enjoyed the way back happy with such a nice sighting!'

- Milla Brandao

Report from Hafuslan: There was still quite a bit of wind this morning as we set off with the swell getting larger the further out we got. Thankfully most people were okay and didn´t feel seasick meaning we could all enjoy a great sighting. After nearly an hour of sailing we spotted a big blow ahead of us. We saw it go off 3 times before disappearing. After only having to wait 2-3 minutes we saw it again, this time much closer. It was a humpback whale! We had a great time watching this whale as it came up regularly and never dived too long. It would often stay up for 5-7 breaths which gave us really good looks at it. We could often see the white pectoral fins through the water too. We then headed off, towards the south and came across many seabirds. It was then time to head home in the heavy rain after a really nice morning with the humpback. 

- Rob Hyman

Report from Eldey: After lunch we were excited to sail out once more to the bay! The skies were cloudy and we had some rain but we knew there were whales around so we sailed directly to the same spot where we spotted them previously.  It took us about half an hour to reach that area and we started scanning the sea in search for clues. Shortly after we spotted a blow! As we started to get closer we could see it clearly. A humpback whale. We accompanied this whale as it was swimming slowly close to our bow! We could see it coming up for air between the waves and the white pectoral fins under the water. It fluke dived a couple of times and we waited for one last deep dive before we started our return journey. We then enjoyed the ride back to the harbor with some tasty hot chocolates inside our cozy boat back to rainy Reykjavik.

-Maria Ernesto

Report from Hafsulan: We sailed out in a bay of Faxafloi that was a bit rocky but still very beautiful. The last days were quite busy with several humpback whales around so we decided to check out the area where they were seen last. After a while we spotted a blow that was caused by a humpback whale. It seemed very relaxed and showed us its fluke repeatedly. After it went for a deeper dive it decided to jump out of the water right behind us. What a massive splash! That was a big surprise and evrybody was amazed by this enormous animal. It calmed down again but went for a surprise breach once more right next to our boat. Nearby there was also a 2nd individual. This amazing encounter with the 2 humpback whales made us all forget about the rain and the wind.

-Lasse Roggenkamp

Report from Eldey: one more tour we went out, and what a tour! First, it was pouring rain, but still there were some excited faces ready to spot the wildlife of Faxaflói bay! We all dressed our overalls and raincoats and we were ready to find some whales and dolphins! It didn't take us too long until we saw our first blow: a humpback whale was calmly swimming at the surface, and we enjoyed its beautiful white fluke going down several times, doing even a head slap for us and doing a big splash! We continued our way, and we saw another blow, that we followed it to discover another humpback! This 2nd one was for sure a different one, according to the fluke. But we noticed that we had another blow not far from it, and we could look at 2 individuals from the same species on different sides of the boat. The 2nd one that we saw, came up super close to us! Right in front of us, we watched this veery robust individual taking a huge breath before going down again. We decided to continue our way, since our time was running out, only to find out on the way to Reykjavik, another blow! We had a 4th humpback whale and we couldn't be happier under the rain! We watched this one going for a beautiful fluke dive before we went directly to the harbour. What a great tour with so happy and wet faces!

- Milla Brandao

Report from Elding: We started under a blanket of dark clouds and persistent rain. The wind whipped around us, adding a chill to the already damp evening. Despite the weather, our spirits were high with anticipation. We set sail, the boat rocking gently with the waves. Visibility was low due to the rain. Just 30 minutes into our journey, we spotted a blow! The excitement on the boat was palpable. It was a humpback whale! We watched in awe as it breached twice, its massive body soaring into the air before crashing back down with a mighty splash. For nearly an hour, we were treated to an incredible display of the humpback's lunge feeding. Every few minutes, it would surface and lunge forward, mouth agape, scooping up water and prey. Each feeding session consisted of 3-4 lunges before the whale would take a couple of breaths and dive again. We then decided to head further out but only saw more seabirds not cetaceans. After a while we arrived back into the harbour very wet but very happy after a great time watching the humpback.

- Rob Hyman

Arctic skua, Northern fulmar, Northern gannet, black-legged kittiwake, black guillemot, Atlantic puffin, greater black-backed gull, lesser black-backed gull, herring gull