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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

Saturday, 16 March 2019

Beautiful sailing conditions on the fjord today, flat seas, little wind and a stunning clear sky complete with a warm sun. We sailed almost the whole length of the fjord today in search of cetaceans but unluckily none were to be found. Nevertheless, we were supplied with an unlimited amount of spectacular snow capped mountains, a crystal clear fjord and many bird species to boot. Happy to say many enjoyed our wonderful tour and are eager to return with us and their complimentary tickets to see some fantastic whales.

Pictures and text by Tess Hudson

Friday, 15 March 2019

Did you know that the common guillemot is one of the deepest diving flying birds on the planet? Dives of up to 180 meters have been recorded for this amazing species of auk. On our tour today we saw a fantastic range of sea birds including the striking eider ducks, the famous fulmars, the cool cormorants, kick ass kittiwakes, the commanding common guillemot of course, and its cousin the black guillemot too. At one point a porpoise also popped up briefly but no larger cetaceans were seen on our tour today. Complimentary tickets were given out and many of our passengers said that they would be more than happy to come again just for the beauty of the fjord.

Picture by Anna and text by Tess Hudson

Thursday, 14 March 2019

Today we have many passengers on our tours so we had to go out on two boats! We got to sail all the way round Hrisey and back enjoying the wonderful snow capped mountains and lovely landscape as we did so. Unfortunately, there were no whales to be found but we did get to see some beautiful porpoises that quickly popped up. Passengers were all issued complimentary tickets which can be used here in Akureyri or in Reykjavik with our sister company Elding.

Picture by Anna, text by Tess Hudson

Wednesday, 13 March 2019

Due to the remnants of the storm yesterday it was a bit windy and wavy out there today. Nothing unpleasant of course but a bit more than the usual. Today we ventured all the way round Hrisey island and back but no whales were found. However, we did see the beautiful landscape of Eyjafjörður and some amazing bird species like the northern fulmar, black and common guillemot, icelandic gull and eider duck. Due to the lack of cetaceans we gave out complimentary tickets and many of our passengers have already booked for our tour tomorrow as they just loved seeing the scenery, the whales are just a bonus.

Picture by Ania and text by Tess Hudson

Monday, 11 March 2019

A beautiful sunny day out on the fjord today. It was a bit windy during the tour today and this did pick up throughout the tour, however, the sea conditions remained good. We enjoyed the beautiful snow capped mountains of Eyjafjörður as we sailed along. There was lots of birds spotted on the tour including: northern fulmar, black legged kittiwake, common guillemot, black guillemot, icelandic gull, black backed gull, cormorant and eider duck. As we approached a flock of feeding sea birds, a small pod of harbour porpoises popped up which were a delight to watch. Unfortunately, no larger cetaceans were spotted, therefore complimentary tickets were issued to all passenger allowing them to come on another one of our whale watching tours for free to see these incredible creatures.

Pictures and text by Tess Hudson

Sunday, 10 March 2019

Dolphinatly, a great day to be out on the fjord. The conditions were just lovely, the sea was calm, very little wind and not too chilly. As we were sailing just past Hjalteyri, a large pod of white-beaked dolphins popped up and came super close you could even see them swimming right under the waters surface. The pod was at least 30 strong, with mothers and calves. As we were watching them some even began to jump out of the water, showing us their whole bodies. One even leaped out of the water three times in a row, doing something called inverted breaching, where they jump and then turn in the air, absolutely spectacular to watch!

Pictures and text by Tess Hudson

Saturday, 9 March 2019

Another glorious day on the fjord! The shining sun warmed our faces as we sailed out, the sea was completely calm and there was very little wind making sailing a delight. Only 20 minutes into the trip we found our first whale. A beautiful humpback popped up to delight us, with some lovely surfacing´s. Unfortunately, as we were watching our wonderful whale a passenger had a little accident so we had to sail back to harbour to drop them off. However, that did not mean our whale watching was over, again we headed out and found our humpback, who again showed us some lovely surfacing´s and even raised its might fluke out of the water for us. Just fantastic!

Pictures and text by Tess Hudson

Friday, 8 March 2019

Wowza! What a day! The sun was shining, the sky blue and the conditions perfect for sailing, we really could not ask for more! But we were blessed with more, as the whales are back in town. Our beautiful humpback whale, Poppy, has returned and delighted us today with some spectacular feeding behaviour! Not only did it surface every three minutes (a very short amount of time for a humpback) but it displayed lunge feeding and even rolling. Allowing us to see its 4 meter long pectoral fins as it did so! Simply magnificent. And to make things even better this lovely humpie was only a 20 minute sail from harbour! So we were able to spend some time with it and enjoyed watching this incredibility fascinating behaviour. Can´t wait to get back out there.

Pictures and text by Tess Hudson

Thursday, 7 March 2019

Another beautiful day on the fjord, the sun was shining, the fjord was flat and only a little frozen, mostly around the harbour. We sailed all the way passed Hrisey and continued on a little more. We saw lots of birds including: northern fulmar, kittiwakes, guillemots and storm petrels. Lot of birds but no whales, hopefully they will be back soon. Of course all of the passengers were offered complimentary tickets so they can come again on one our tours. We may of had no whales but we did have wonderful sailing conditions and a beautiful view of the entire fjord.

Pictures and text by Tess Hudson

Wednesday, 6 March 2019

A beautiful day to be out on the fjord today, with mirror flat seas for the majority of the tour. We experienced rather a range of weathers going from a warm sun to a snow storm but came out the other side with more sun. We traveled almost the whole length of the fjord today but unfortunately, we were unable to see any whales. Which is very unusual for us. Nevertheless, passengers were offered complimentary tickets so they can come again to experience the wonderful wildlife the fjord has to offer. Just because there wasn´t whales didn´t mean there was nothing to see! There were many birds including: northern fulmar, kittiwake, black backed gulls, common and black guillemots. Which are always a delight to see. Until tomorrow Eyjafjörður.

Pictures by Ania Wojcik and text by Tess Hudson

Tuesday, 5 March 2019

What a lovely day to start back on the fjord. We had to sail quite a way before we found our first whale. However, we did and it was magnificent. The humpback lovingly called Poppy surfaced many times, showing its beautiful fluke when going for a dive. Poppy is recognizable not only by its patterned fluke but by the barnacles on the left side of its fluke or tail. After staying with poppy for sometime we headed back enjoying the flat fjord and stunning snow capped mountains.

Pictures and text by Tess Hudson

Monday, 4 March 2019

Beautiful calm and silky seas today in the fiord. There aren’t that many days like today during the winter season, so we always welcome peaceful days like today out at sea. Not only that, but we barely had started sailing when we encountered the Humpback whale of the day! The whale was switching directions quite often, surfacing regularly and giving us the impression it was checking out different parts of the fiord, pottentialy looking for some schools of fish to feed on as it has occurred on previous days. Although we didn’t find any other individuals, we encountered frequently several Harbour porpoises swimming in small pods (of around 2-3 individuals). Another successful and outstanding day in Eyjafjordur!

Pictures and text by Alberto Alejandro

Saturday, 2 March 2019

What a day, we sailed out on our 1 o'clock tour on a beautiful afternoon. The sea state was perfect and so was the weather. On our way out the fjord we enjoyed the view of the our amazing Eyjafjörður and before long we had an encounter with a relaxed and quite curious humpback whale who entertained us for some time the crew identified this humpback an individual who has been seen often in our previous tours and called Poppyseed. Yet another amazing day in our fjord today with our great giants.

Text and pictures by Anna Gunnarsdóttir

Friday, 1 March 2019

Amazing day in the fiord with our extra tour at 09.00 and a lovely Humpback whale swimming around area of Hjalteyri. When we first encountered the individual in the first tour, we assumed that the individual was exhibiting a resting behavior: the surfacings were not so frequent, and there was an overall “lack of energy” that was probably a sign of resting. During the second tour, however, the animal was slightly more active, frequently touring around without showing obvious signs of feeding. The cherry on the top of the day, however, were the numerous Harbour porpoises that we encountered throughout the tour. Quite often we spotted them surfacing astonishingly fast (or porpoising) and probably feeding on the great amounts of fish present at the moment. A unique show for a cetacean species known to behave usually shy and quiet!

Pictures and text by Alberto Alejandro

Thursday, 28 February 2019

The PERFECT day! No wind, no clouds, no waves, a nice sunshine over the fiord and a lunge feeding Humpback whale! We sailed out in a sea that looked like a mirror, the best conditions to spot several times one of the most elusive species of cetaceans that we have in or water: the little Harbour porpoises. There were several pods of this species swimming close the Hjalteyri. Past this point is where we had our amazing encounter with a feeding whale. We got to observe many times the whale with its jaws wide open, swallowing every fish it encountered on the surface! One of the top tours of this winter season so far!

Pictures and text by Alberto Alejandro

Wednesday, 27 February 2019

After a cancelled day, we enjoyed a beautiful day with clear skies and almost no wind. We didn’t have to travel for long when we encountered the Humpback whale of the day! Around Hjalteri we found an individual that was feeding on the surface for the entire encounter. We observed the animal dragging and, in a couple of occasions, even lunge feeding! Pictures don’t really manage to do justice to the beauty and the thrill of the moment!

Pictures and text by Alberto Alejandro

Monday, 25 February 2019

Thrilling day out in the cold fiord, with two tours packed of experiences and adventures! Our morning tour was slightly windier, whereas in the afternoon we enjoyed almost perfect mirror seas. On our first tour we saw a small pod of 6-8 White Beaked Dolphins and a pair of Humpback whales, the latest ones probably feeding on the area. On the afternoon trip we saw only one whale of the two, pointing that probably the pair was only together to help each other to feed. Overall, another amazing day on our beloved fiord!

Pictures and text by Alberto Alejandro