Tuesday, 28 November 2023

Tuesday, 28 November 2023

Today we will be operating 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 | 9:00, 13:00

CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 09:00

Report from Eldey: We sailed out this morning facing a cold Northerly wind and headed straight into Faxafloi. On our way out we were blessed with a beautiful sunrise and snowy mountains. After about an hour of sailing we spotted a pod of 3 white beaked dolphins. They were busy feeding so often changing direction and coming up on all sides. Later we noticed 4 more that were swimming in the vicinity. It was a bit tricky to tell if it was one largely spread pod or two small ones near by. They were often coming up in pairs, and we spotted a few juveniles as well. In the midst of this a minke whale appeared as well, quite close at our 11 o clock. It popped up 2 more times but then all at the same time the animals vanished. We sailed on more, and even tried our trusty spot in Viderjarflak but with no success. In the end we decided to hand out complimentary tickets, as both encounters were quite short lived. This way everyone has the chance to come back again for free and try their luck another time. 

- Anna Richter

CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00

Report from Elding: We left on this sunny afternoon trying first to explore around the islands to see if the humpback seen there a few days ago was back. We did not see any whale there so we kept going further out in the bay. We did not need to go very far to spot a large blow. After getting closer we could observe a humpback whale that was going for long dives. Normally those majestic creatures dive for a few minutes but this one was stay for almost 15 minutes which made it a bit difficult to admire. We could still have a very good sequence with the humpback whale surfacing 4-5 times, the back got arch and smoothly brought the tail out of the water. We waited longer but could not find this whale any more. It was time to go so we headed back to the harbour with impeccable views on the landscape.

- Miquel Pons

Bird species seen today include:

Northern fulmar, great blacked-backed gull, black- headed gull, lesser black-backed gull, razorbill, Manx shearwater, black-headed gull, eider duck, common guillemot, Northern gannet, European shags.

Wildlife encountered today:

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The Humpback Whale is quite spectacular undergoing the longest migration of any mammal (5176miles/8334km one way), attracting females by singing to them and of course their energetic nature. On many occasions humpbacks have been seen breaching, tail slapping, fin slapping, blowing bubbles and spy hopping just to mention a few. The humpback is also one of the larger whales we encounter

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minke whale illustration

The Minke Whale is the most common whale around Iceland and actually the world thus it is one of the main species we encounter on our whale watching tours. It is one of few species that don’t mind coming to shallower waters like here in Faxaflói Bay to feed on the abundant food available to them.

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The white-beaked dolphin is the most common dolphin found in the surrounding waters of Iceland and is seen not only in the summer but winter too usually in larger numbers, hundreds sometimes. When feeding they show energetic behaviour such as breaching out of the water and coming down with a big splash and bursts of fast swimming. 

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