Wednesday, 9 March 2022

Today we will be operating on our lovely vessel Eldey for the 09:00 and 13:00 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
• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 13:00

COVID-19: Keep in mind that passengers and crew are asked to ensure their own hygiene and safety at all times. Washing hands thoroughly with soap and using a hand sanitiser is advised. Masks are mandatory in areas where keeping 1 meter distance from others is not possible.

Report from Eldey: This morning was the best tour so far for 2022. The wind and sea were calm (finally), not raining, snowing or hailing (finally) and the bay was plentiful with whales and dolphins (finally). The first surprise of the tour was a very large pod of 80-100 white-beaked dolphins of all ages, they were amazing, surfacing all around the boat and leaping out of the water sometimes a few at once. We stayed with these fun dolphins for perhaps 30mins before moving on. There were other whale watching vessels in the bay and one called us to let us know about a humpback whale they found. Off we went. It was about 20mins sailing away but once arrived we saw it too, quite a large individual that was taking at first 4 minute dives after 3-4 surfaces. Then surfacing more frequently later on in an area it found some food as its behaviour became less predictable. Once seeing the underside of the fluke (used for photo ID) we noticed it was an individual that was observed last year in the bay in May, July and last seen on end of October. So nice to see him/her back again. Really hope it stays around for another season. 

- Megan Whittaker

Common guillemot, European shag, great cormorant  northern fulmar, black-legged kittiwake, black-backed gull, glaucous gull, herring gull, red throated diver, eider duck.

Report from Eldey: The weather conditions during this tour were similar to the ones in the morning tour. The landscape looked simply beautiful as all the mountains were covered in snow and the sightings were extremely good. We came back to the same location as this morning hoping to find some activity. Our stubbornness was rewarded because a huge pod of about 100 white-beaked dolphins were there. They were swimming fast, erratically, probably looking for food as the seabirds were following them. We observed their fast movements, and eventually, some curious individuals approached the boat and we could observe how they made human-watching. While enjoying the presence of this magnificent creatures we saw a blow. It was a humpback whale. We got some very close surfaces, once within less than 30 meters of our boat, and also some beautiful flukes. Overall the whale was very calm and predictable today, making it perfect for photos and videos. After enjoying this amazing cetacean, we headed back to the harbour not before enjoying another pod of 2 white-beaked dolphins and some chubby harbour porpoises (about 4 in total). It was a fantastic tour

- Estel Sanchez Cami