Wednesday, 26 June 2024

• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 9:00, 13:00, 20:30
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 11:00, 15:00, 17:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00, 20:00

Today we will be operating our Classic Whale Watching on our lovely vessel Eldey at 9:00, 13:00, 20:30. Our Premium Whale Watching tour will operate on Þruma I-V at 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00 and 20:00.

Report from Eldey: Our morning started with beautiful sunny skies and just a light breeze! We decided to sail out to Faxaflói bay hoping to spot amazing marine wildlife! The sea conditions were great with just a small swell but the visibility was very good and so we could enjoy the breathtaking views during our journey. We started noticing some splashes at the distance and saw the boats moving in their direction, as we approached we finally saw it clearly! White beaked dolphins!! A very large group, over 50 individuals ! The pod seemed to be socializing and jumping closer and closer to the boat! We then started noticing a lot of birds in the area diving down in the water, and the rapidly increased their speed! We got to see the whole group jumping rapidly in synchrony! After about 30 min with these dolphins we decided to slowly turn around and head back to Reykjavík. However after 20 min we spotted a different dorsal fin! A minke whale! The whale resurfaced super close to the boat and we could clearly see the white patches on the pectoral fins! then another whale came back to the surface! Two minke whales in the same spot! Very lucky day! As our time run out we needed to say goodbye to another great morning onboard Eldey!  

- Maria Ernesto

We started our journey in a very calm sea and beautiful sunshine. The conditions were really perfect not only for us but also to spot any kind of wildlife activity on the mirror-like surface of the ocean. After a while we spotted splashes and saw dorsal fins repeatedly coming up to the surface. They belonged to a pod of about 7 white beaked dolphins. We could stay with them for a while and they kept coming very close to our boat. That was a really cool encounter but we also decided to continue our search for other cetaceans. We were lucky. Soon we kept seeing dorsal fins and gray backs coming up more or less all around us. They belonged to minke whales and we encountered a total of around 5 individuals. At one point one minke whale was bubble-net feeding right in front of our boat which was very amazing to wittness. Within the seemingly feeding minke whales we also saw about 3 harbour porpoises that also joined the dinner party. The weather had not changed and we were all amazed by the encounters and happy about the beautiful sunshine.

-Lasse Roggenkamp

Report from Eldey: This evening we sailed out under blue skies and nice seas. We just left the harbour and only 30min later spotted 2 humpback whales! They took turns coming up, but we managed to snap some pictures and could tell by their flukes that it was indeed two! We stayed with them a bit before heading on further out to continue exploring. Further out we spotted a small pod of 4 white beaked dolphins. They came quite close and were bow riding a bit but eventually headed onwards themselves. We then saw two mor blows on the horizon but both stayed elusive and we did not see them again. We did however spot another bigger pod of dolphins, which were quite curious and stayed with us, jumping and feeding around and close to us. Eventually we ran out of time and had to head back home, enjoying the sunset at midnight.

- Anna Richter

Atlantic puffin, Northern gannet, Northern fulmar, Arctic tern, black legged kittiwake, Arctic skua, black headed gull, great black backed gull, common guillemot, black guillemot