28th April 2024

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

Birds seen today: Atlantic puffin, northern gannet, kittiwake, northern fulmar, eider duck, manx shearwater, black guillemot

09:00 - We had a cold but sunny start this morning with calm seas, so were hoping that our luck had changed from yesterday and we were right! We started the tour at Engey, watching lots of puffins flying and walking all over the island looking for their burrows. After this, we headed out into the bay to try and find something bigger. We got very lucky this morning, spotting 4 pods of white-beaked dolphins and 2 humpback whales! The first pod of dolphins was quite small, 5-6 dolphins swimming fast with a calf. We didn't stay with them long but our second pod was much more active. At least 30 dolphins all jumping high above the water and spinning in the air! The third pod of dolphins were smaller in numbers, 10-15, but they were also jumping. We heard from another boat that they had seen a big blow not far from where we were, so we sailed over to them and that's when we saw our first humpback whale! This whale seemed to be finding somewhere to sleep because it was moving fairly slowly and hardly showing any of its body when it came up to breathe. After watching this whale for a while, we headed away to where another humpback had been seen! This one was doing dives of about 5-7 minutes. Then we had run out of time so had to sail back to the harbour, but our viewing was not over yet. We managed to spot another pod of about 5 dolphins on the way!

Crew: Captain Reynar & Guide Pedro

12:00 - Sun's out, boat's out! Off we go on another adventure, but first, a quick stop by Akurey to check on the lovely puffins! After a few cuteness-filled photos with our feathered friends, we went towards the middle of the bay in search of more marine action a bit bigger than a puffin. We cruised the previously explored areas where we were successful but got no luck around there so we decided to head North against the wind but filled with confidence. After a few nautical miles, we saw a quick fin of a minke whale pass by, and we stopped to watch it. The minke was quick and it was travelling between flocks of birds feeding on the surface. One of these flocks got our attention because of its dimension and so we went there to investigate. We stood 15 metres away from this huge flock composed of northern gannets, seagulls, puffins, razorbills.. every type of seabird in Iceland really, and after 2 minutes a huge wave appeared in the middle of this flock, striking the bait ball. What a sight!! This was a second minke whale and a third one was also spotted in the distance! We observed these animals for a while but the time was upon us, so we decided to head back to the harbour.

Crew: Captain Reynar & Guide Pedro

15:00 - Still with a favorable forecast, we sailed out to Akurey to see some cute puffins! And yes, some whales and dolphins after that, but that was in the middle of the bay! That's where we headed full speed due to the flat seas. After 20 minutes of searching, a blow got spotted by our eagle-like eyes and we went there to investigate of course! It was a humpback whale! A beast of a whale! We stayed with this individual for a while because it was doing lovely fluke dives which are great to take a picture of and id the whale. It also went under the boat and we could see its white pectoral fins! I didn't know this whale and to our surprise another sighting! A pod of 7 white-beaked dolphins! They went under the boat, jumped on our side, scared us.. they were sooo cool!! A very relaxing sighting to end our last tour of a lovely day!!

Crew: Captain Reynar & Guide Pedro

Today we are going out at 09:00, 12:00 & 15:00 for Whale Watching and 10:00 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!