A north wind and rain in the Eyjafjördur today but fortunately we could see our beloved humpback whales. Despite the unfavourable wind conditions, we could encounter our known humpback whale called "Fjall" and a new individual that is here since two days ago, and we didn't give a name for this humpback yet. Therefore, one more whale for our catalogue! The whales raised their flukes several times, which was very well appreciated by the passengers.
Text and pictures by Manu Bassoi.
Calm seas as it can be and a dry sky made today’s tours a real treat. On our morning tour we went all the way to Grenivik to find a total of five Eyjafjördur humpback whales. A new sighting and Fjall were busy feeding on the rich fish stocks which we could see on our fish finder were located at the sea bottom, about 85 meters deep. After that we could enjoy Arnar, Soma and Gills travelling in a group of three. When we returned to Akureyri we also met a minke whale and observed it surfacing a few times. A good start to the day that would be followed by another really nice tour with the same humpback whales. The highlight was clearly an unexpected breach that many of our passengers could see. Again a really successful day here for Elding Whale Watching Akureyri.
Text and pictures by Babsi Neubarth
Between Grenivik and Hjarteryi proofed to be the golden area for our tours today. The seas were calm, not much wind and some sun from time to time contributed towards a fantastic day out at sea. On the morning tours we saw a total of nine different whales including the resights of last year Gills, Soma and Sydri. They were split up in a group of three and four whales with Jackson and Fjall preferring to be by themselves today. It surely is just stunning to see so many whales surfacing at the same time! In the afternoon we got to meet six different whales. One of these humpbacks isn’t know yet so we here in the office are now busy finding a good name for it. A truly fun day out full of humpback whales.
Text and pictures by Babsi Neubarth
The wind from the north is back, so today we made sure to make good use of our overalls to prevent us from turning into popsicles! On our morning trip we had to go all the way to Grenivik to find 3 humpback whales, and in the afternoon they did us the courtesy of moving south of Hjalteyri, so much much closer to Akureyri, thank you very much! It goes without saying that Tattoo was still here today, and Fjall as well. And o add up to the excitement, we even met a newcomer today! Dark is its fluke, with scarce white freckles, we will make sure to give it a nice name. Don't hesitate to drop us some name suggestions if you come up with something nice!
Text by Guillaume Calcagni, pictures by Barbara Neubarth
We sailed out with cloudy conditions and a strong wind, so our tour was a bit adventurous due to some high swells. Giving us a taste of the Icelandic rollercoaster.
The whales had moved out further in the fjord so we had to sail for about an hour before we encountered our first humpback whale. It was an individual called Donald Hump. Donald spend a lot of time at the surface and started tail lobbing, throwing its back body out of the water and hitting the water surface with force producing big splashes. In the mean time we were also able to view a second humpback whale in the distance.
On the second tour we encountered Tattoo. Tattoo surfaced a number of times right next to the boat and fluked very high, showing us its beautiful tail several times.
Text Anouk de Plaa and pictures Babsi Neubarth
We sailed out in quite mild conditions, the sun was out and there was not too much wind. After half an hour sailing we encountered our old humpback whale friend Tattoo, who also kept us company during a big part of the afternoon tour. After getting some good views of Tattoo we sailed further out into the fjord and we encountered three more humpback whales, Fjall, Arnar and a new individual. It is always exciting for us to see new individuals in the fjord because we can add these to our whale catalogue. The weather conditions did not remain sunny unfortunately so during the afternoon trip the red overalls were needed.
Text Anouk de Plaa and pictures Guillaume Calcagni
Rain was our guest today again, but so was the calm sea! Few drops of water is nothing in the eyes of brave sailors in the North, but the humpback whales are sure a wonder to sight! Today the fjord delivered as well, we got to see Tattoo and Fjall, our most loyal whales. While waiting for them to come back from their dives, we go to see some lion's maine jellyfish as well. It's always nice to see all kind of wildlife in our tours! Tomorrow we should have as well an easy sailing with low wind, so make sure to join us!
Text by Guillaume Calcagni, pictures by Manu Bassoi and Guillaume Calcagni
We went out on two tours today, one on Holmasol and one on the RIB boat Solfar. On both tours the sailing conditions were almost perfect with really calm seas, blue sky and a sun warming our faces. In the morning from the RIB we saw Fjall and Tattoo and in the afternoon the new whale from two days ago joined the whale watching adventure. The humpback whales came really close on both tours and in the afternoon we could even observe two full out breaches from Tattoo. It really is a whale that is always good for a surprise when you least expect it. September started off really nice and we sure hope that it will continue like this.
Text and pictures by Babsi Neubarth
Rainy day doesn't necessarily mean lousy days! A bit of rain obviously doesn't make any difference for the whales since they are aquatic animals, and for us despite the rain we had a flat sea and calm winds. So be it on the RIB boat or on our larger vessel, the sailing has been enjoyable. The morning was a bit tricky with busy whales, but then they loosened up and we had easy sightings. We saw again among our regular humpback whales Tattoo, Donald Hump and Fjall, and we discovered a new individual! The fluke appears in the pictures of today's entry. Today has been filled with excitement, with new faces among our humpback whales and close encounters!
Text and pictures by Guillaume Calcagni
A southwest wind all day in the Eyjafjördur, but fortunately sunny. Despite the unfavourable wind conditions, we could encounter our known humpbacks whale called "Tattoo" and "Donald Hump". Moreover, today we met a new humpback whale. That is so good to have a new face, I mean "fluke", in Eyjafjördur! Therefore, one more whale for our catalogue. We also could spot a tail lobbing at a distance, but when we got closer, the animal just went for a long dive. What a pity! However, the humpbacks were in a good mood, swimming slowly and raising the flukes several times. Kind whales made for happy passengers.
Text and pictures by Manu Bassoi.
We sailed out with cloudy conditions and strong winds. So we experienced some swell and there were a lot of white caps, making it a bit more challenging to spot the whales. Close to the old herring factory Hjalteri we encountered two humpback whales that were swimming together, they were Tattoo and Donald Hump. These animals went their separate ways quickly though and seemed to be very busy feeding. They changed direction all the time, came up only shortly to the surface and moved far while they were diving. On the second tour the animals seemed to be a bit more calm and Tattoo came up very close to the boat and even diving under our boat. The sun had also come out warming us up after the chilly morning. On our way back to the harbour we encountered Donald Hump again giving us a nice send off.
Today has been marked by blue sky, sun, calm seas and quality times with Tattoo and Donald Hump the humpback whales. On each tour we got close up and personal with Tattoo, only a few meters away from the boat as well as good looks of Donald Hump. They were so nice that we decided to stay with them and just enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of the fjord with sun galore. Clear skies are always good for northern lights and we are only two nights away from the start of our Northern Light Tours, so we are hoping the conditions will stay till we will not only watch whales, but the beautiful Aurora Borealis.
Text and pictures by Babsi Neubarth
Sailing out in the morning in Eyjafjordur we experienced very chilly weather conditions, a lot of wind some rain and lots of clouds. Our warm red overalls were definitely needed this morning. Around the old herring factory Hjalteri we encountered 4 whales swimming by themselves. So we were able to move between the whales, three of the individuals we recognized they were Fjall, Tattoo and Donald Hump. The animals were moving quite fast and seemed to be travelling. On our way back we saw that Donald and Fjall had decided to hang out together. On the second tour the weather conditions changed, the sun came out and the low hanging clouds disappeared finally giving us a view of the beautiful mountains surrounding the fjord. Tattoo decided to give us a little whale surprise on our way back, popping up right next to our boat.
Text Anouk de Plaa and pictures Babsi Neubarth
Eyjafjördur today was overcast, bit cold, but flat seas in the morning. We simply sailed to Hjaltery to find humpback whales. When we were looking out on the morning tour, we spotted the humpbacks "Cascade" and"Fjall". They were serene and swam slowly. We had also a group of harbour porpoises close to the whales. In the afternoon tour the wind decided to increase, but so the whales. There were four humpback whales in different sites. We had the previous whales and also "Arnar" and "Giljaguar". By the same token, "Giljaguar" decided to breach just in front of us! Everybody was just amazed by this amusing jump! Despite the weather a pleasant day with the Eyjafjördur whales and the breaching.
Text and pictures by Manu Bassoi.
We had a good day today in Eyjafjördur with a bit of windy and the weather ranging from light rain to sunny. However, as the whales do not care about the weather, two known humpbacks made our tours today. It was entertaining to see "Fjall" and "Cascade" surfacing and showing their flukes many times. We were also blessed to see a beautiful group of about twenty to twenty-five harbour porpoises during in the afternoon. Towards the last tour "Cascade" got a bit more difficult travelling very fast, but as tomorrow is another day we are very optimist to see a friendly behaviour again from our Eyjafjördur humpbacks.
Text and pictures by Manu Bassoi.
We sailed out with some typical Icelandic summer weather, clouds and rain. But luckily there was not a lot of wind, so we experienced some quite smooth sailing because there was not a lot of swell in the Fjord. Luckily the whales do not mind rain, we encountered 4 different humpback whales around Hjalteri, the old herring factory. The individuals we encountered were: Pringles, Giljagur, Flall and Cascade. During the last tour we had quite heavy rain but we had our red overalls to keep people dry and we got lucky because Pringles, Giljagur and Fjall decided to come together as a small group. We got great views of the three of them swimming and diving together. On our way back from the second tour we got a big surprise from Cascade who decided to jump out of the water completely. So it was well worth getting wet for.
Text Anouk de Plaa and pictures Babsi Neubarth
Today we were blessed with lovely sailing conditions the whole day long. The sea was as smooth as it could be and the sun made it through the clouds throughout the day so that we were sailing under a blue sky. We started off with a bang in the morning so to speak because Tattoo decided to breach as a welcome to our passengers followed by a super close encounter with Cascade. These two humpback whales should be the two whales which kept us very well entertained the whole day. Therefore we did not go much further than Hjalteryi since the calmness and easiness was just so nice. Once again a very successful day here in Eyjafjördur.
Text and pictures by Babsi Neubarth
To our greatest surprise, today has been mostly windless! With no winds comes the smooth silk-like sea! We can't ask for better. Since the sky was covered with clouds, we got that silver flat sea, which makes it almost too easy to spot the whales. We got to see today again our fair share of humpback whales, with Tattoo still being here, our favorite whale! We also saw Fjall, Cascade, Arnar, and even King Louis! The day has been spent with old friends, and we couldn't be happier about it!
Text and pictures by Guillaume Calcagni
The day started a bit cold than the last days, but the sea was still perfect for sailing and searching for the whales and dolphins. Just after fifteen minutes sailing from Akureyri harbour we could see our first blows, a group of three humpback whales and also close to these whales some harbour porpoises surfaced sometimes. We continued sailing towards Hjalteyri, and two blows appeared on the horizon - another group of two humpbacks. As we just left these enjoyable animals, we could watch one more humpback, and be heading south another whale. So far in the morning tour, we could enjoy seven humpback whales. During the afternoon tour, as we sailed northwards, the humpbacks were in the same area close to Hjalteyri surfacing and showing their flukes several times. It was a great day for sightings.
Text and pictures by Manu Bassoi.
Eyjafjördur at its best under a blue sky, with calm to a bit wavy sea and plenty of humpback whales. At least seven whales, including humpbacks and one minke whale honoured us with their presence on all our tours today. Fjall, Donald Hump, Pringels, Tattoo, Giljagaur, Cascade and Arnar were not too far of Akureyri so it seems like the food, small schooling fish, krill and plankton is back deep in the fjord. We could see, listen to and sometimes even smell the whales when they surfaced not far away from us. Northern Fulmars accompanied us constantly on our way and made the tours even more interesting and enjoyable. The evening tour was maybe the most special one today with 5 whales feeding together including two resights from last year, King Louis and Bear. Simply a good day today here in the North of Iceland.
Text and pictures by Babsi Neubarth
