saga@elding.is
NATURE BLOG ARCHIVE

Elding Whale Watching Akureyri has been keeping track of whale sightings in Eyjafjörður since the beginning of May 2016. Read the nature blog to follow up on past sightings.

NATURE BLOG ARCHIVE

Sunday, 23 December 2018

The wind has picked up considerably in comparison with the previous days — but just a small glimpse of what is coming on tomorrow to the North East of Iceland! The tour started slow for the first hour, when we only spotted the blows of a Humpback whale on the distance. But as soon as we moved further North, past the old Herring Factory of Hjalteyri, we encountered 3 Humpback whales that were most likely feeding on the spot. We basically stood at that place for the rest of the tour, waiting for the animals to come back from their deep dives. It was wonderful to observe these animals shifting their behaviour, sometimes diving alone and sometimes teaming up to help each other feeding.

Pictures and text by Alberto Alejandro

Saturday, 22 December 2018

Another wonderful day to sail out in the Fjord. Clear sky, no wind and calm ocean. We started the tour from passing around thick ice that was blocking our way in the harbor and we headed out north. It was not more than 20 minutes when we found our first cetacean and that was a Minky whale. He was busy feeding and going for longer dives so we left him in peace and went out to look for more animals. Our passengers today were very involved in searching and it didn’t took long til one of them saw something at 12 o’clock - as he said and that was a Humpback whale - great spotting! As we got closer we became surrounded by at least 5 individuals of Humpback whales. They were surfacing the water often and seemed very relaxed. We were lucky to had incredible encounter with two of them when they got very close to our boat. We stayed around that area for most of the tour and at some point even an icelandic eider duck joined us, following the boat until we had to head back to Akureyri - but that was not the end! We were almost in the harbor when 3 Nothern bottlenose whales decided to show up and one of them got surprisingly close to us. What an amazing tour!

Pictures and Text by Ania Wójcik

Friday, 21 December 2018

The morning of shortest day of the year was a cold, clear one. We sailed out, breaking the ice as we made our way into the fiord. After 30 minutes we spotted the first cetacean of the day, a Humpback whale going for a dive in the distance. To our surprise, upon arrival we found indeed 4 other individuals swimming quite close to the same spot. Threfore, we decided to stay on the area - and gladly. We were lucky enough to enjoy the whales swimming underneath the bow of our boat! Once more, we got thrilled with the majesty of these incredible creatures.

Pictures and text by Alberto Alejandro

Thursday, 20 December 2018

Challenging day out there in the bay! For the entire duration of the tour we had a thick fog blocking our vision and therefore making it difficult to spot our Eyjafjörður Humpback whales. Nonetheless, our patience got rewarded around 40 minutes after our departure, when we first spotted a whale in the distance, in the middle of the fog. Once we got closer we discovered that, for our surprise, it was indeed a couple of animals swimming together. At that moment the fog gave us a bit of a break that we wisely used to find three more individuals in the surrounding areas. Not only that, but for a few minutes we even got to see a menacing sun through the mist. Pictures simply don’t make justice to the beauty of the moment!

Pictures and text by Alberto Alejandro

Wednesday, 19 December 2018

An amazing winter day was waiting for us on Eyjafjordur. Clear skyes, no wind, and an amazing sea that looked almost like a mirror. A perfect day to enjoy the amazing wildlife of the fiord. Just after 30-40 minutes of sailing, we encountered the first 3-4 humpback whales of the trip. The cetaceans were swimming towards the North and going for rather long dives, making the sighting slightly difficult. We decided to go North as well, and we encountered a superpod of more than 50 dolphins among which we enjoyed the presence of numerous calves that were often leaping and jumping. After a while, we came across two groups of 2 and 3 humpback whales that, at some point, fused into one. Judging by the surfacing behavior, the whales may have been feeding on the bottom at that moment. One further surprise was waiting for us on our way back to Akureyri: A humpback whale being harassed by some of the youngest dolphins we encountered previously!

Pictures and text by Alberto Alejandro

Tuesday, 18 December 2018

Another wonderful tour today, flat seas, little wind and not too cold. White-beaked dolphins popped up not too far from the harbour. They were leaping, jumping and inverted breaching it was was just amazing to watch. There were also lots of mother and calf pairs and even the calves were jumping! We then headed out and found a wonderful humpback whale who delighted us with its fluke. We then headed further out after seeing two blows in the distance. Once closer we watched these two amazing humpbacks, Netflix & Krill & Right Hook. After watching these incredible animals for some time we started heading back but spotted another 4 humpbacks who we watched briefly before continuing our way to Akureyri.

Pictures and text by Tess Hudson

Monday, 17 December 2018

Beautiful golden light poured over the fjord today, lighting up the cool water in a glimmering glow. The conditions were very good and the cetaceans delightful. Humpbacks were the first species spotted and we watched as Loftur the humpie, delighted us with some wonderful surfaces. White-beaked dolphins were then spotted in the distance and when closer to these amazing animals, we saw there were multiple mother and calf pairs some of which came right up to us. The pod was very large and spread throughout the whole fjord. We were able to watch these animals throughout the whole tour and even saw them breaching and leaping at one point which was just fantastic. More humpbacks then joined the party and we spotted another 5 individuals surfacing all around us. Another spectacular day to sail on the fjord.

Pictures and text by Tess Hudson

Sunday, 16 December 2018

What a glorious day! The fjord was mirror flat, the wind virtually non existent and the temperature very pleasant. Not long leaving the harbour we spotted our first whale, then another and another, and they just kept on popping up! When we reached the area we found ourselves a humpback whale party and we were in the centre of it! Humpbacks were surfacing and diving all around us. It was difficult to direct the passengers where to look, there were so many! Throughout the tour at least two individuals popped up right behind us only a few meters away and then another popped up right in front! The whales were so relaxed with us we decided to turn our engines off and just relax and watch their beautiful forms swim around us. Of these whales we recognised at least 10 individuals including: Aretha Frankfin, Harley Davfinson, Moonshine, Millennium Falcon, Penguin, Netflix & Krill, Giljagaur, Right Hook, Jafar and Dexy. Dexy we haven’t seen for over a year, so we were super exited to have it back in the fjord. And if this wan’t enough we also found the Northern bottle-nosed whales at the end of the tour and watched as the mother and calf surfaced before going for a dive. An exceptionally wonderful tour!

Pictures and text by Tess Hudson

Saturday, 15 December 2018

WOOOOOW! What a tour! Dolfinitely an exceptional day. The conditions were very good, we had a flat fjord, little wind and it was rather warm for the season. Not long after leaving the harbour we found not one but THREE humpback whales, who we watched for some time as they rose and dove out of the water. In the distance we spotted some splashes and on nearing them we found a huge sudo-pod of white-beaked DOLPHINS, who are only a rare visitor to the fjord. This pod was massive consisting of at least 60 dolphins, many of which were mother and calf pairs! Not only were these amazing animals surfacing all around us but they were jumping and leaping all over the place! Was super awesome to watch! Even the little calves were jumping and breaching by their mothers side. After having a very good look at these dolphins we went on and found another two humpback whales to watch. And if that wasn´t enough as we were coming back up to the harbour we found some Northern Bottle-nosed whales! Simply Incredible!!

Pictures and text by Tess Hudson

Friday, 14 December 2018

The humpbacks surprised us today by coming up very suddenly and rather close to the harbour! We had only been sailing for about 15 minutes! It was wonderful to watch them as they surfaced, their beautiful blows shooting up into the pink sky. We could see more whales further out so we went to check these out too and found Moonshine and Right Hook the humpback whales. More whales surfaced around us some close and some further away. Another whales fulled day!

Pictures and text by Tess Hudson

Thursday, 13 December 2018

What a wonderful day to be out on the water, it was unseasonably warm, the wind not too strong and the sea conditions were rather good. It really didn´t take us long at all to finds our first whales only about 20 minutes! Jafar the humpback whale popped up to greet us and delighted us for some time. It was then decided to head further out where we found another two whales. And later on another four more whales were spotted in the distance, three of which were travelling together. These three we recognized as Harley Davfinson, Right Hook and Moonshine. Can´t wait to get back out there!

Pictures and text by Tess Hudson

Wednesday, 12 December 2018

Another beautiful day in Eyjafjörður, as we started the tour the sky was bathed in a deep pink colour which reflected off the fjord just wonderfully. The conditions were good, not so much wind and the sea not too rough. It really didn´t take us long to find the whales today. First, two humpbacks were spotted in the distance and when closer these whales surfaced just beautifully, raising their large tail flukes into the air when going for dives. We spotted more blows in the distance so headed towards these and found another three humpback whales in close vicinity, feeding by themselves. We watched these animals as they surfaced all around us. Yet, even more blows were spotted further out so we went to check these ones out too and found even more whales! Again spread apart but close for us to get a good look at each of them. Giljagaur and Harley Davfinson were the humpbacks we recognized, as well asJafar who hasn´t been seen here in the fjord for a very long time. Very happy faces all around!

Pictures and text by Tess Hudson

Tuesday, 11 December 2018

Words cannot describe how beautiful the sky was this morning as we were sailing down the fjord, the colours were glowing a glorious gold towards the south, to the north we had a dazzling array of pinks, deep purples, blues and gold, was truly amazing to watch as the patterns of colours changed and danced throughout the tour. As we headed out there was only a little wind and swell but this picked up throughout the tour. Nevertheless, we found some spectacular whales including Penguin and Giljagaur. There were also three humpbacks travelling together who bust out of the waters surface to take a breath, rising high out of the water to clear their blowholes of water. Another captivating day on the fjord.

Pictures and text by Tess Hudson

Monday, 10 December 2018

What a delight to be out of the fjord today, the beautiful winter sun was setting, the water perfectly calm and the snow capped mountains sparkling in the sun. What else could you want? Whales perhaps? Well we had plenty of those too. Around the area of Hauganes we found a small mass of humpback whales! There were three travelling together, another two popping up not too far away, and few more single individuals spread around us and even more whales popping up in the distance. A few regulars were spotted including Moonshine, Harley Davfinson, Giljagaur and Right Hook. But we were also surprised to see individuals we haven´t seen in quite a while including Cascade, Netflix & Krill and Millennium Falcon (who we haven´t seen since 2016!). A truly magical tour.

Pictures and text by Tess Hudson

Saturday, 8 December 2018

2018_10_25_1400_SOL_TESS (67).JPG

With the temperature dropping again to a chilly -5 we still have beautiful mountains of snow, making the town of Akureyri look like a Christmas picture scene. However, there are also stormy conditions out at sea so our tours are once again cancelled. But If you are in Akureyri town and want to get in to the Christmas spirit and the snow isn´t enough, you can always go visit the Christmas house just 7km outside Akureyri.

Picture and text by Tess Hudson

Wednesday, 5 December 2018

A picturesque day on the fjord today. The light was just fantastic a beautiful gradient ranging from a glowing pink to a simmering gold. The whales were a bit further out today, but we managed to find not one, but 5-6 humpback whales! Three of which were travelling together. These we recognized as Giljagaur, Tough Pella and D´Artagnan. It was amazing to see these three huge animals interacting and travelling together. We also saw a new whale today that was named “Fairy Well” by one of our excited passengers. We can hardly wait to get back out there!

Pictures and text by Tess Hudson

Tuesday, 4 December 2018

Whale, whale, whale, its was a rather adventurous trip today, we began heading out into a snowstorm but luckily this cleared up as we went further out into the fjord. The sea conditions were very good but was rather chilly. Further out we spotted some lovely humpbacks whales. Including our favorite humpie Jackson. Who came up many times and showed us his wonderful white tail with its black beauty spot on the right side. Was delightful to see Jackson and friends again.

Pictures and text by Tess Hudson