Wednesday, 1 November 2023

Wednesday, 1 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
  • CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00

CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 09:00

Report from Eldey: with the pinkest skies we sailed out in the beautiful Faxaflói bay, ready to spot any sign of animals around. The wind was weak and when the sun rose, we all got warmed  by it. Out in the bay, we spotted a big blow in the distance and decided to check it out. Even before getting to this humpback whale, we got to see another blow not too far out. Showing off its fluke, the first whale was going for deeper dives, and really surprising us when popping up close to us. After spending a while with it, as more boats started to come, we decided to check the second humpback, and when we got to its area, we realized we actually had 2 of them next to each other, and a minke whale passing by the area! As it couldn't get any better, these whales started to swim side by side and going for deep dives together! When we thought this was already amazing enough, a pod of 10 white-beaked dolphins joined them and swam close to them, sometimes jumping next to the big fluke when it was up. What. A. Show! Really, it was one of the most amazing sightings of this year. But it didn't stop there... The two whales came extremely close to the boat, and jump scared us with your loud blow! The sunlight was hitting the blow quite well so we even got to see the rainblow coming out of its blowhole. What and amazing morning it was!!

- Milla Brandão

CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00

Report from Eldey: This afternoon we were delayed quite severly and left 35min late! To try and make it up to everyone we offered a free hot drink! Finally we left and the ocean was extremely calm and stunning. After about forty minutes we spotted two blows up ahead! 2 humpback whales were ahead of us, and then a minke then also popped up! The humpbacks started off separated and then joined together. It was a magnificent sight to see. They came up so close we thought they were touching the boat. We stayed with these two beauties for a bit and then started making a mini loop to see if we could spot something else. In the distance we saw 5 white beaked dolphins that were jumping and we went to have a closer look. They also came up close to us but we were a bit pressed for time so it was a brief but nice encounter. We spotted 3 more minkes on the way as well as 6 harbour porpoises. All four main species and an incredible encounter with two humpback whales made for a very happy guide and happy passengers!

- Anna Richter

bird species encountered today:

razorbill, common guillemot, herring gull, glaucous gull, eider duck, great and lesser black backed gull, black headed gull, black footed kittiwake