Wednesday, 10 August 2022

• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 09:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 10:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 14:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 14:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 16:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 19:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 20:00

Report from Eldey: rough day at sea, today. A lot of waves made the sail challenging for many people, as the ship was rocking a lot all the way out. Fortunately there wasn't much wind nor rain, but the day was cold as the breeze was coming from the North and the sky was overcast. We were also out of luck for finding whales; we didn't manage to find any, during our trip, not even a whiff. They were probably happily getting their stomach full of krill somewhere else, which is what happens sometimes and it is completely natural to not have any whales near Reykjavik, from time to time. As we didn't see any whale, we handed out complimentary tickets, so people can come over another time and hopefully be more lucky. The way back was a more comfortable, with the waves hitting the ship from the stern thus not rocking the ship as much.

-Francesco Golin

Report from Eldey: The ride was a bumpy one with westerly winds blowing into the bay over the open ocean. But us brave souls ventured out none the less to find some whales. After the rollercoaster ride on the way out we managed to spot a minke whale on our left under a large group of birds. Slowing down to wait for it to surface again however I got hit with the wobblies and asked my wonderful colleague if she could take over, as I couldn´t guarantee my full attention on observing. Despite this however our whale did not return after waiting 10 minutes for it, so it was likely it was travelling and not feeding as I had presumed from the birds also feeding where it last surfaced. Some more minke whales did appear on the horizon but they were a little far away to spot and spend some time with in these conditions. That said the beautiful birds put on a show for us, with northern gannets diving, Arctic skua´s stealing food, and some puffins flapping their wings dry no more than 10m from the boat. Due to the weather and poor sightings today we gave out complimentary tickets to passengers so they can come back and try to find some lovely animals with us in some less excited weather.

- Liam van Walsum

Report from Eldey: After some cancellations due to the weather, our luck turned and the sea got calmer. We headed out with rain on our left but managed to stay dry for the entire trip. After not seeing anything on our outward journey we spotted a big flock of birds and decided to try our luck. This was not a very active flock but we thought we would investigate anyways. Then - a minke whale on our left! And another straight ahead. It seemed this was the right spot to wait in. They made for quite a nice encounter as 2 came fairly close to the boat and popped up multiple times before going for a deeper dive. Eventually we made our way back to Reykjavik and I spotted one harbour porpoise as we got closer to harbour.

- Anna Richter

Arctic skua, northern fulmer, Atlantic puffin, Manx shearwater, northern gannet, common guillemots, greater and lesser black backed gull, black legged kittiwake, herring gulls