Wednesday, 6 September 2023

Today we will be operating 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, 13:00, 17:00
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00, 14:00, 16:00

Report from Eldey: It was with quite a bit of wind, grey skies and wavy seas that we started our sail today. As we were aware of the forecast we made sure to warn all of the passengers at the ticket office and at boarding of the ship of the state of the seas. It did not deter us, and many passengers of trying their luck anyways on our morning tour. We first managed to see some harbour porpoises for some very lucky passengers, they appeared only once, a pod of about 3 I believe very elusively on the portside of the boat. We then continued sailing through areas where we commonly see some animals on the look for any cetaceans. After some time we spotted a blow of an unidentified species, and then another blow and a feeding behaviour of a minke whale. We barely saw that minke once, and probably only a handful of passengers since it was very elusive. We then continued, spotted a pod of harbour porpoises, about 5, only once again and made our way toward the harbour not more lucky regarding the sightings. Well, it is the sea, the wildlife, it is sometimes challenging which is how it should be. Due to the poor sightings of the tour we decided to offer to the passengers some complimentary tickets for them to come back and admire the beautiful wildlife we have here in the bay.

-Mélanie Magnan

Report from Eldey: It was still with high waves and some grey skies that we started our afternoon tour. There again everyone was warned of the sea conditions, and everyone sensitive did take a pill before the trip. After some time after the beginning of the tour, the crew did notice a few minke whales, at least 2 of them, that the passengers unfortunately did not manage to have a glimpse on. We then continued our trip after the animals did not appear again. We continued and eventually found a pod of white beaked dolphins ! It was a pod of 4 to 5 dolphins, they were very calm, appearing at times very close to the boat surfacing in synchronisation. It was a very nice sighting, we stayed with the dolphins for a while and then made our way back to the harbour.

- Lasse Roggenkamp

Report from Eldey: Under a light rain, we sailed out to explore many areas of Faxaflói bay. As we entered more and more into the middle of the bay, the light rain turned into a heavy rain, decreasing our visibility. However, this didn't stop us from finding our active species of white-beaked dolphins, as we saw a pod of about 6 dolphins coming closer. There was one specific dolphins that was jumping so high a little bit far, and we decided to check it out. This group of dolphins was very scattered, and we could track them for a while. Some were very fast on the surface, like almost taking some speed with the waves, others were gathered in one spot, going to different directions. This pod was feeding around us, as we could also confirm also because of the amount of seabirds in the area. Many times, the dolphins passed by us, even swimming underneath the boat and popping up in the opposite side of the boat, and we could even see them underneath the surface. After spending a long time with them, we started our way back home, but first we saw another pod of dolphins, same species! They were super fast, travelling around. Then, we could follow our way and they could follow theirs. A gloomy afternoon with lots of rain, but with nice dolphins to cheer us up!

- Milla Brandao

Northern gannet, manx shearwter, sooty shearwater, black legged kittiwake, black back gull, herring gull, arctic skua, Northern fulmar