Whale Diary

10:00 - Our morning started with calm seas and sunnny skies as we sailed into Faxaflói bay. We passed slowly by Engey to look at some adorable puffins and soon we set sail further out. Not long after we spotted a blow! A humpback whale resurfacing close to us and then going for a deeper dive while showing off their fluke! We stayed with this whale for a little bit but eventually decided to continue exploring! Then we spotted a dorsal fin a minke whale was moving very fast ! but as soon as we got there we again spotted another blow of a humpback whale! We went to check out the humpback and as we got closer the whale spy hopped showing of their face! then it did a slow motion breach ! amazing sighting! unfortunately it was time to go back home after a great day at sea! 

Crew: Captain Emily & Guide Frida, Captain Anna & Guide Maria Ana

12:00 - The weather continued being very nice and put us in a great mood as we set off for the next trip. We went into the bay first on this one and were surprised by a pod of at least 5 harbour porpoises. This group was not just incredibly interactive, which is already quite rare, it was also not losing interest in us at all. Almost unheard of! As we were with the porpoises, we also spotted a minke whale. The whale was doing its own thing, so we decided not to approach too much. The porpoise party was still keeping us busy, but we eventually moved on from them. As we went deeper into the bay, we were stopped on our tracks by a sleeping humpback whale. It was logging by the surface, but very difficult to spot. We did spot it in time, but it was not very interactive which is understandable after we woke it from its slumber. This was when we saw massive splashes created by breaching humpbacks on the horizon. We started driving that way but got interrupted by a pod of at least 4 white-beaked dolphins. They were beautiful, but not very interactive so we continued towards the humpbacks. There was at least 3 in the area. When we arrived they were no longer breaching, but we stopped by one that was non-stop pec-slapping. The whale was doing it so much that it was breathing quite heavily when it came up for air. It is a lot of work slapping the surface of the water for so long. Finally, it went for a dive, showing us a beautiful fluke. We started heading back and stopped by Akurey to have a look at the puffins. There was a lot of them around and we saw a small group on a rock just by the water. When we returned to port, everyone was still buzzing from the incredible sightings we had on this trip!

Crew: Captain Miquel & Guide Hannah

14:00 - This afternoon brought on some extraordinary activity. We were blessed with beautiful weather today, calm seas and sunny skies. A big blow was spotted in the distance and it was a humpback whale. We got to spend a lovely time with this one all to ourselves. It came close to the boat and showed off its amazing tail fluke multiple times which left us speechless. We kept going to another individual that also gave us many beautiful fluke dives. Big splashes were seen in the distance and we got excited to get closer. It turned out to be a very playful humpback whale. It was rolling on its back, slapping its pectorial fins continuously which made this extremely loud noise. It kept trumpeting as well which was very impressive. Time after time it did tail throws up in the air that truly startled us. It also did some subtle spy hops so we could see its face with all the tubercles. This moment felt like an interaction seen on a nature documentary and the passengers were really amazed. What an AMAZING tour!  

Crew: Captain Emily & Guide Frida

16:00 - The day continued to impress. After checking out the puffins, we went into the bay. It didn't take long until we encountered a group of around 4 harbour porpoises. There was also a minke whale in the area but we only saw it two or three times. Then we carried on to be blessed with a humpback whale spectacle! We found a whale that was showing us an exciting repertoire of behaviours. We saw it peduncle-throwing, pec-slapping and fluke-slapping. It also did a little breach quite close to us. After we saw its fluke dive, we moved on to another humpback nearby where we found a second minke whale too. We got to see a few surface sequences and then moved on to a third one. This humpback was busy feeding. It was lifting its fluke very high and it was blowing bubbles before it was surfacing. On our way back, we passed by another humpback whale that was peduncle-throwing on repeat. It was a very busy and exciting trip!

Crew: Captain Miquel & Guide Hannah

20:00 - This day was already amazing and it couldn't end different! On our last tour, we sailed out first to Akurey, to check what the puffins were during during the evening. And boy, there were plenty of them in the water! The Sun exposed all the blows in the bay, so we had to start heading to the whales. We first stopped for first a lone humpback whale that was feeding actively close to the surface, coming very close and blowing some bubbles down in the water. As we saw other 2 blows in the distance, these started coming closer and closer, until they met the first humpback! There were now 3 humpies together, happily feeding! One of them was Mr. Bubbles! We then went to check out other blows and on the way we spotted 4 harbour porpoises, very fast swimming. We stopped then for 2 more humpback whales also feeding! The birds were helping us to keep on track on them. We then even went to another humpback whale that was... also feeding with the birds!! The bay was full of food and everyone was having a feast. This last one went on its side and waved the pectoral fin in the air! There was a 7th humpback in the distance but we saw we were running out of time and started heading back. Before getting home, we passed by 5 more harbour porpoises and another humpback whale going down. What a FANTASTIC way to finish the day!

Crew: Captain Gulli & Guide Milla, Captain Pedro & Guide Maja