Wednesday, 31 May 2023

Today we will be operating on Þruma RIB for our 10:00, 11:00, 12:00 and 14:00 Premium Whale tours and on our lovely vessel Eldey for the 09:00, 13:00 and 17:00 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 | 11:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 12:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 14:00
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 17:00

Report from Eldey: The sky was overcast and the sea was still a bit upset from the continuous week of storms, which caused a couple of green faces. But nevertheless we had a great time sailing out into the bay admiring a couple of cute puffins passing our way. Then after some sailing we focused in a big flock of seabirds, and we had our first encounter: a minke whale! We could spot at least 3 individuals around the birds, feeding. We also spotted two blows ahead of us, blows of 2 humpback whales! They were performing fluke dives, but not spending too long under water. In the distance, while waiting for these humpies, we saw splashes created by jumping white-beaked dolphins, a pod of about 10 individuals. At the same time, more minkes started to pop out, even very close to us. In total, we had about 10 minkes around us and we noticed we were in a very good spot. The humpback whales were going away from us and we focused on the minkes and the dolphins that decided to join the party, after getting quite close to one humpback. The bay was full of life today and we couldn't be any more satisfied going back home after these amazing sightings.

- Milla Brandao

Report from Eldey: The sky was overcast and the ocean was still a bit wavey from the past storms but nothing that could stop us from our whale watching adventure. We sailed the seas and after some time we encountered our first whale, a minke whale. This one was not alone as we soon spotted another one close by as well. These animals were elusive though, so we decided to try our luck with other species and that we did. We saw one tall blow from a humpback whale not far away and approached this animal. It came up lazily and fluke dived a couple of times close to the boat. The fluke dives allowed us to get a good glimpse of the tails underside, which made us recognize this individual as Becca. A whale known to us, how cool! Just as we were heading off, back to harbour, and we were far enough away to not be able to turn around anymore, we saw that same whale start tail slapping and lob tailing in the distance. Some pectoral fin and head slaps were also amongst the performed stunts. As we admired the spectacle from afar we also encountered a travelling pod of 6-7 white-beaked dolphins and our 3rd minke whale. So we saw 3 of the 4 most commonly sighted species in this bay today, how nice!

- Cindy Schwenk

Report from Eldey: What an amazing night we had! With the sea looking like a mirror, no waves, even thought we still had some swell, we sailed far out to the area we saw whales on the previous tours. After a while, we saw the blow of a humpback whale and we decided to check it out. When we thought we lost it, it jumped close to the boat, getting our attention. However, this one was staying about 6min underwater. At the same time, we could spot at least 2 minke whales feeding as well. Not far from it, always keeping an eye on the big flock of birds ahead, we didn't get disappointed: another humpback was amongst the birds, and extremely active. This individual was doing it all: breaching, jumping, tail slapping repeatedly, did lunge feeding showing its big mouth and it also rolled on the surface, showing us its long and white pectoral fins. After we thought that this tour couldn't get any better, the same individual came very close to us, blowing lots of bubbles around and under the boat, after spy hopping us. This curious whale came so close that we could smell it, listen to it and even touch it if we tried. Definitely that will be a tour hard to get over with!

- Milla Brandao

northern gannet, puffin, northern fulmar, black-legged kittiwake, great skua, arctic skua, herring gull, black-headed gull, lesser black-backed gull, great black-backed gull, razorbill, common guillemot and black guillemot