5th May 2024

Species seen today: Minke whale, white-beaked dolphin, harbour porpoise

Birds seen today: Atlantic puffin, northern gannet, kittiwake, northern fulmar, eider duck, manx shearwater, black guillemot, common guilllemot, razorbill, great cormorant, european shag, arctic skua, great black-backed gull, lesser black-backed gull, herring gull, iceland gull, greylag goose, brent goose, arctic tern. 

10:00- On our first tour this morning, we went out into the bay with fairly calm seas and bright sunshine. A little while after leaving the harbour, we spotted our first whale! A minke whale! We managed to see it a couple of times but this individual was quite shy and disappeared below the surface. We tried to spot it again but decided to try and find something else when it didn't come up for a while. Soon after, we found a pod of 10 white-beaked dolphins. However, our luck hadn't changed yet. These dolphins were equally as shy but in the distance we saw another pod of 15 dolphins so headed over to see them. The second pod were a lot more interactive and came up to the boat multiple times! Then we were even luckier! When we were heading back to the harbour we spotted 4/5 minke whales feeding!

Crew: Captain Steini & Guide Emily

11:00 - Weather was calm and the sea flat when we headed out. After a while we encountered a flock of feeding birds where arctic skuas were harassing kittiwakes and saw a minke whale dive but we were unable to see where it resurfaced. We continued searching and where gannets were diving for fish we saw at least 4/5 minke whales that surfaced many times and some of them gave us very good views!

Crew: Captain Miquel & Guide Trausti

14:00 - Sea conditions started deteriorating soon after we headed out. We spotted one very elusive minke whale but conditions were getting increasingly difficult so we headed down wind and searched an extensive area on the way back but without any luck. Due to poor sightings and adverse conditions we offered everyone complementary tickets. 

Crew: Captain Miquel & Guide Trausti

15:00 - Unfortunately, on our last tour of the day, the wind picked up even more and we had to make the call to head back to the harbour early for the safety of everyone onboard. All of our passengers were offered to rebook their tour or refund the cost.

Crew: Captain Steini & Guide Emily

Today we are going out at 10:00, 11:00, 14:00 and 15:00 for Whale Watching and 9:00, 13:00 & 16:00 for Puffin Watching.

For more information come see us at Ægisgarður 5D, email us at info@whalesafari.is

or call us on +354 497 0000!