Wednesday, 22 February 2023

Wednesday, 22 February 2023

Today we will be operating on our lovely vessel Eldey for the 9:00 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

 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.

CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 0900

Report from Eldey: We set off this morning with a great view of the sun rising behind Reykjavik. As a whale had been spotted close to Reykjavik yesterday we wanted to check this area out to start our tour. There was no sign of any cetaceans here though. So we now headed towards our main hot spot at the moment. On our journey here there was quite a bit of swell which lead to some fairly green faces. By the time we reached our promising area the swell had calmed down making it a more pleasant ride. Then suddenly a black body with a humpy dorsal fin appeared right in front of the boat. We had the humpback whale we had been looking for. This whale was likely feeding as many of the humpbacks in this area have been doing recently. We got to see two great showings of fluke dives. These are so beautiful. The individual then started to do shallower dives not showing its fluke but we got fantastic views of the body. On our way back home the swell had died off a bit so it wasn't as bad. Passengers then remarked the great sighting made up for the journey which was great! 

- Rob Hyman

CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00

Report from Eldey: We headed off with some rough seas and a bit of snow at the beginning of the tour. It was quite foggy so it was hard to spot any marine life other than sea birds. As the time went by the clouds cleared and we started to have better visibility so we were all quite excited looking at the surface for any whale activity. By the time we arrived to Hafnarfjörður harbor we spotted a blow followed by a black back really close to the boat. It was Humpback whaleShe surfaced a few times really close to shore and then we decided to head towards another individual that was feeding inside the harbor. We spent more time with her seeing the performance the birds and the humpback were doing while feeding altogether. Then we decided to head back so we could get to Reykjavik in time whilst having some rain on our backs. It was a nice and challenging tour!

- Nicolas Corral

Bird species encountered today include:

Great cormorant, razorbill, common guillemot, black headed gull, black backed gulls, Northern fulmar, European shag, glaucous gull, eider duck and black legged kittiwake.