Wednesday, 23 October 2024

• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 9:00, 13:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00, 13:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 15:00

Report from Eldey: We set off this morning under a very cloudy sky. As we had an easterly wind it was behind us on the way out making it quite smooth to begin with. On our way out we passed a huge flock of birds including sooty shearwaters but no cetaceans appeared despite the suggestion there may be a lot of food around. After over an hour we finally got what we were looking for. A minke whale surfaced quite close ahead of us and then swam along our starboard side. We saw it come up a few times but the highlight was when it surfed the wave ahead of us so we could see the entire body through the water, it was spectacular! Then we decided to carry on and after a bit we spotted a couple of blows. We had found a couple of humpback whales that were about 8-900m apart so we spent the whole time with one of them. It was likely feeding as it would come up fairly randomly and for different amount of breaths each time. We did get to see a beautiful fluke dive as well. Then we headed home after some great sightings :)

- Rob Hyman

Report from Eldey: The swell had calmed down since the morning, while the whales had become much more active this afternoon. The tour started with two pods of harbour porpoises, quickly racing past our boat. We then spotted a minke whale, who came up a few times before we continued our journey further into the bay. A few blows came up in the distance, and upon closer inspection we saw that there were three humpback whales swimming side by side: Neila, Pep, and an unnamed third individual. Pep was slapping her pectoral fin and even threw her peduncle in the air, and all three whales came very close to our boat. After the most amazing sighting, we continued to a different area and found - to our surprise - six more humpback whales! One pair, one single individual, and one trio were swimming in the same area, coming up all around our boat and making us confused about where to look! To add to the spectacle, another minke whale also showed up right next to Eldey. The whales were everywhere, and we felt so lucky to have seen such a beautiful diversity and abundance of cetaceans! 

- Eline van Aalderink

sooty shearwater, black legged kittiwake, eider duck, common guillemot, black guillemot, iceland gull, northern fulmar, northern gannet, glaucous gull, herring gull, great black backed gull