✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 13:00
Report from Eldey: Sunny spring feels in Faxafloi! This afternoon tour was the complete opposite to this morning. Clear blue skies and sun glaring on the equally blue water surface. We started the sail very hopeful, eyes sharpened for spotting any cetaceans pop up. As the tour went on, more and more seabirds were surrounding us and after about 2 hours of sailing we arrived to an area with THOUSANDS of sea birds. Kittiwakes, northern fulmars, gannets... like if we were in April! It truly felt like spring is around the corner. Soon enough a dark silhouette popped up among the birds joining this feeding frenzy: a minke whale! It was surfacing a lot close to our boat and staying within the same spot. We could also follow the fluke prints of the whale to predict where it was about to surface first. We always want to observe whales on their own terms, not forcing our presence upon them, so sightings like this are always a very cool experience when the whale chooses to be close to us. Together with the minke whale, almost 7 harbour porpoises joined us, behaving like dolphins and gifting us with close ups of their tiny bodies and some small splashes. On the way back we also saw the second minke whale of the tour, giving us one last chance to see these magnificent species. It was a wonderful tour, and we are utterly happy to be able to provide such a wonderful winter sail here in Elding!
- Raul Zabala Belenguer
✔ TOUR ON SCHEDULE | 09:00
Report from Eldey: Snowmen at sea! We started the tour under a mostly cloudy sky,on fairly smooth seas and some light snow. But as the tour went on it started snowing as in a true icelandic winter and a tiny snowman even got built on the top deck by some of our passengers! Spotting conditions were good against the grey monotone sea surface as anything dark popping up would be easy to see, but halfway into the tour the visibility got weak because it was snowing so much. There was sea birds scattered that we kept seeing throughout the tour, just no signs of cetaceans, unfortunately. The icelandic weather is truly unpredictible, as for the last hour the sun was shining beautifully over snowy mountains and blue skies were revealed over Reykjanes peninsula. We were sharpening our eyes until the end of the tour, but still no dark dorsal fins were popping up at the surface. Wildlife is truly unpredictible and this morning whales and dolphins were just not in the area. This is what sometimes happens, unfortunately, and therefore we gave everyone a complimentary ticket allowing to join us again for a tour for free within the next two years. Hopefully next time we get to show our passengers the beloved whales and dolphins of Faxafloi bay.
Birds seen on today's tours include: great cormorant, northern fulmar, razorbill, northern gannet, eider duck, black-backed gull, black-headed gull, common guillemot, kittiwake, gannet
We are sailing from the Old Harbour in Reykjavík today for the tour at 9:00 and 13:00. There is always be some movement out on the bay, so if your are prone to sea sickness we have sea sickness tablets available at our ticket office. Make sure to dress warmly and make use of our warm overalls as it is always colder on sea than on land. For more information contact us by email elding@elding.is or by phone +354 519 5000.
