Wednesday, 18 May 2022

Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our 10:00 and 14:00 Premium Whale tour and 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 | 09:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 12:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 14:00

 COVID-19: Keep in mind that passengers and crew are asked to ensure their own hygiene and safety at all times. Washing hands thoroughly with soap and using a hand sanitiser is advised.

Report from Elding: The sea state was very calm this morning and the journey into the bay was very relaxed and pleasant as a result, with great spotting conditions. We found a lone humpback whale after 20 minutes of searching which proved to be quite nice to watch. The whale was swimming so relaxed showing itself for about 2 times before going for a deep dive that lasted about 3 minutes. We stayed a while with that individual but as more boats were coming we headed slightly further away and then spotted a pod of about 4 chubby harbour porpoises, which popped up close to the boat but they were quick to leave the area as usual. We left them and quickly found a big pod of around 10-12 white-beaked dolphins. It was so nice to be with them under the sun and seeing them sometimes perfectly synchronized and sometimes extremely curious and eventually they were coming close to the boat allowing for easy viewing. We could recognize one of the individuals, it was our beloved Sophie! We moved to another area were we spotted another humpback whale! This one was just calmly going for dives and coming back in less than 5 minutes. We could enjoy its amazing tall, column-shaped spout, with the landscape covered with some patches of snow and ice and the city of Reykjavík on the background. We had to head home as our time came to an end. On our journey home, another humpback whale surfaced at the distance. What a beautiful morning!

- Estel Sanchez Cami

Report from the Ribs: The conditions returned to their brilliant best today as the light winds created a flat sea and the overcast sky made spotting easy. We made a brief spot by Engey to view the small Atlantic puffin colony where a surprise guest appearance was made by a harbour porpoise. The porpoise rolled its back quickly multiple times within 20 metres from the vessel and after a couple of minutes we decided to head into the bay to find some larger animals. Our next encounter was with a humpback whale just off the shore from Grotta lighthouse. The whale provided great opportunities for photos as it surfaced regularly for many breaths but unfortunately for our guests refused to lift its fluke. After our allotted time came to an end, we journeyed deeper into the bay and saw a pod of white-beaked dolphins scattered over a large area. The pod consisted of 6-7 individuals with a small calf amongst mixed ages that kept a safe distance from our slow moving RIB. Every so often a younger member of the pod would leap clear from the ocean. Our last encounter was with another, but much larger humpback whale that seemed to be very inquisitive. It bellowed a loud trumpet call as one boat came too close, whilst we remained stationary, the whale then changed course directly for us. It dive within 5 metres of our bow and surfaced at the stern, remaining motionless as it investigated. After a couple of minutes it moved around our port side and slowly continued with its own business. An amazing moment with a beautiful animal.

- Mike Smith

Report from the RIBs: Calm conditions continued into the afternoon, with hardly any swell. Only a few minutes after leaving the harbour we saw our first animal, a minke whale. We haven't seen many minkes recently so it was nice to be able to see this individual and to stay with it for a little while. It was moving fairly slowly through the water, looking quite relaxed and went for a couple of longer dives so we decided to continue with our tour as our captain had spotted a blow a little farther away. We headed in the direction of the blow and as we approached we had a great view of the tail of a humpback whale rising into the air and then disappearing below the water. This meant the whale had gone for a deeper dive so we stayed and looked around the area. It didn't take too long for the individual to come up to the surface again. We were the only boat out on the water so could stay and enjoy this humpback for a while, watching it calmly surfacing and going for dives. Using the fish finder on board our boat we could tell that there was some fish in fairly shallow waters so that explained why the whale wasn´t diving for very long. This was great for us to watch it! A couple of times the whale surfaced so close to our boat that we could see its white pectoral fins through the water and even smell its breath! Eventually, we started running out of time left on our tour and we had to head back to the harbour. On our way back though we came across a pod of 3-4 harbour porpoises! We were able to see them a few times coming quite close to the boat. Then they disappeared beneath the water and we headed to Akurey to look at the puffin colony before going back to the harbour.

-Emily Erskine

Report from Elding: The conditions were great this afternoon so it was a beautiful day for whale watching. We slowed down the boat when we got to an area where we had seen a blow this morning, and after some time we saw the high blow of a humpback whale. We recognised this individual as Stu, a humpback that has been seen in the bay in 2015 and 2018 and during tours in the past few weeks. Stu was taking short dives of approximately 3 minutes, surfacing a few times and then showing us his beautiful mostly-white fluke. After some time we left Stu and went to explore different areas where we encountered some 2-3 fast harbour porpoises, and when we were already headed in the direction of Reykjavík we spotted a fluke towards Grótta lighthouse. Eager to catch some last looks at another humpback whale, we approached this individual and enjoyed him as he surfaced calmly right next to our boat for a few unforgettable moments. 

- Eline van Aalderink

Atlantic Puffin, Norther Fulmar, Black Guillemot, Common Guillemot, Black-legged kittiwake, Arctic Tern, Black-headed gull, Black-backed gull, Eider duck, Brent goose, Northern gannet, Greylag goose, Arctic skua, Glaucous gull.