Whale Diary

14:00 - We were quite excited to sail out this afternoon as the morning had been cancelled due to bad weather conditions. Eager to set sail we did, one boat stopped at the puffin island on the way out, and the other on the way back. We always see puffins at sea as well (at the right time of year) but its nice to be able to show everyone a close up view. We then headed out to our adventure and found that everything was quite handy and in one spot! We had so so many white beaked dolphins. There were either lots of little pods or one big widespread pod. In total there must have been between 30-40 dolphins! The dolphins seemed to be feeding and often jumped out the water, often together and also showed some head-slapping! In the same spot there were 3 humpback whales! One seemed to be doing its own thing while the other two were together and turned out to be mother and calf! They were both quite calm but even so this was very exciting as we do not usually see calves in our bay. It was quite difficult to decide if we should follow the whales or the dolphins, however in the end as everything was basically everywhere we didnt have to chose, and managed to get quite nice encounters of both. Then (!) one of the humpback whales started peduncle throwing and tail slapping. What a show! We watched on for as long as time would allow and then had to start heading home.

Crew: Captain Gunni & Guide Knut, Captain Anna & Guide Hannah

16:00 - After the success of the previous tour, we went out again to find the whales and dolphins. Even though the wind had picked up a little, it was still a fun ride out onto the bay. After a while we spotted the first blows and splashes. Getting closer it in deed turned out to be the 3 humpback whales and a massive pod of at least 40 white-beaked dolphins together. The dolphins played with the whales and also our boat as they jumped al around us with even more of them coming in from the distance to join the party. The whales showed their wonderful flukes and surfaced close to our boat while the dolphins slid over and around them. It remains unclear if the humpbacks enjoyed the play but the dolphins definitely had a blast. As it all calmed down and everyone dispersed, it was time for us to head back to the harbour but not without paying a short visit to the puffins on Akurey. There we were also curiously observed by a sneaky grey seal that wanted to check out what we were up to. A great way to end this awesome tour!

Crew: Captain Emily & Guide Knut

20:00 - In the evening, we went out again for our midnights trip. We stopped by our Atlantic puffin colony on the island Akurey and when we went into the bay, we kept spotting more of them. The conditions changed a bit from early. The waves were a bit higher and we got a little salty while searching for wildlife. We found an area that was very busy with sea birds including Northern gannets that were dive-bombing all around. With the birds, we found a pod of at least feeding 30 white-beaked dolphins. When we got close, they started interacting with our boat. They were checking it out. They were bow-riding. They interacted with our wake waves and we also saw them leaping out of the higher waves! The dolphins were incredibly fun and interactive - absolute highlight of the trip! Sadly, while we were with the dolphins, we also saw one of the whaling boats passing by. We didn't see any caught fin whales on the side facing us but we can assume they came in with a catch attached to the other side. The reality of on-going whaling in Icelandic waters is very much present in our trips. We carried on in hopes of more cetacean species. While we did see a lot of feeding seabirds and more dolphins, no whales showed up this time. Nonetheless, we had a very adventurous trip tonight that will definetely stay in mind.

Crew: Captain Gulli & Guide Hannah