The seabird life was so abundant , this usually means there is a lot of food in the bay but the whales were very few, however we did see all 4 of our usually species; 1 humpback whale, 1 minke whale, 3 small pods of 2-5 white-beaked dolphins and 2 harbour porpoises.
Very rare conditions for us here in Iceland. We encountered a super easy going humpback whale, we could even just turn off the engines and have them off for about 20minutes whilst the chilled humpback surfaced around us. As it was just mainly travelling at the surface it didn't really show its fluke well. We had one nice high fluke that many got to capture on their phones/cameras.
Finally we had flat calm seas on today's tour, we could go fast and for miles in these conditions. It was only on the way back that the wind picked up and the rain started. We got to see at least 4 different minke whales and 4 white-beaked dolphins; two mothers and two calves. All were very easy to spot in these flat sea conditions and the seabirds were a lot of fun too.
We were lucky with the whales today and we were able to see 3 species, about 5-8 scattered harbour porpoises, 2 minke whales and 1 humpback whale. However it was mainly the crew that saw the porpoises and minkes. We even smelt the fishy breath of the minke that sometimes is brought over the boat with the wind.
It was super nice to head out into the bay of faxaflói with calm seas, there was a little rain but not enough to get us too wet. There were two humpback whales and one minke whale that we encountered today but the minke was only seen once by the crew, the humpbacks were good though, one in particular that showed the fluke a few times but they were super chilled out and allowed us to get close.
We still decided to go out and give it our best and the bay was actually full of life. We saw a small pod of about 4 white-beaked dolphins, a minke whale and a humpback whale, however the minke only surfaced once, humpback which was more a grumpy humpy and only surfaced a few times and never showed the fluke.
We started with a stop at Engey, to observe the atlantic puffins gathering on the islands near Reykjavik. We went further in the bay looking for cetaceans. There was flocks of birds which are generally good sign and interesting to watch but there was no whales. We continued our tour until we finally found a humpback whale.
It was heading away from us at an angle so we first thought it was a minke whale, very strange for it to have such a visible blow/spout though and the behaviour was also a little odd for a minke. We were utterly confused. Suddenly the whale turned and surfaced next to us showing us its body, there we could distinguish that in fact it was a very rare sighting of a sei whale!
Unfortunately the whale was gone. We search as much as we could in different areas and came back to observe the puffins on Lundey. Because we didn't see the whales we offered to our passengers a complimentary ticket that allow them to come back on a classic tour.
Unfortunately no whales where seen during the tour. I could spot 1 white-beaked dolphin surfacing one time that immediately disappeared. We tried our best to find the whales but we were not able to find them. We offered complimentary tickets to our passengers, those tickets enabling them to come back in the next 2 years.
Due to unfavourable sea conditions, all our tours today have been cancelled! The safety and comfort of our passengers is our number one priority, and we do hope you understand that this decision was made with that in mind. For more info contact us via email at elding@elding.is or by phone at +354 519 5000.
No tours available today, make sure to prebook and join us another day this week instead!
Unfortunately, there were no sightings, they were very sneaky today and didn't even give us a glimpse. We offered our passengers complimentary tickets to try again either in Reykjavik or Akureyri anytime in next few years. We hope that next time the whales are more in the mood for people watching.
We continued to scan the sea looking for whale activity but all we could find was many arctic terns feeding on the sea surface. We went back and gave to our passengers a complimentary ticket to have the opportunity to come back on our boats for free to see the whales in Reykjavík or in Akureyri.
After an hour we had our first sighting. A minke whale surfaced a few times before disappearing. We went further and saw a humpback whale, very calmy swimming. After one deep dive it reappeared further resting at the surface during a short time. We could see the splashes made by another humpback whale breaching one time far away.
We first saw one discret harbour porpoise followed by a second one much more curious. The water was clear enough to see this individual approaching the boat without surfacing. A bit later we saw the spout of a humpabck whale.
We went far in the bay, in the same area where the whales were found yesterday. They were still there ! The captain first spotted a blow with the binoculars. We patiently approached that blow and find out that there was at least 5 humpback whales in this feeding area.
We were very lucky to find them. First we saw a small feeding flock of kittiwakes and then suddenly a blow. A humpback whale popped up, then another blow. Two humpback whales feeding the in same area. They were roughly diving for about 6-7 minutes at a time but once or twice came close to the boat. Very quickiy a minke whale surfaced just meters from our bow also.
We could see it surfacing a few times before it disappeared. We continued our tour when our captain saw the blow of a humpback whale ! We carefully approached to see the whale fluke dive a few times very calmly, probably feeding. Suddenly the whale showed us a very powerful peduncle slap and and tail slapping for several minutes !
It was the perfect day to do whale watching on our fast rib boat Þruma and with our minimum of two passengers it was also a nice and relaxed tour. We sailed out and came across two humpback whales and a minke whale with smooth sailing all the way.
