Whale Diary

10:00 - This morning, we had amazing flat seas which were perfect for spotting whales! Soon after leaving the harbour we found our first humpback whale! This individual was doing quite short dives and was really showing off its tail for us when it went for those deeper dives. As some other boats arrived, we moved on to another humpback that was feeding! It was moving just under the surface of the water so we could follow its path exactly with the fluke prints left on the surface. There were plenty of birds also following the whale around, picking up all the fish that managed to escape the whale's big mouth. After a while of watching this whale, we moved on to a different area where we found a pod of around 20 white-beaked dolphins. These dolphins were swimming very fast and as we approached they started surfing in the wake of our boat! It was amazing to see their bodies through the water as they came close to the boat and surfaced around us. It was a amazing way to end our first tour of the day

Crew: Captain Pedro & Guide Emily, Captain Miquel & Guide Mariana

12:00 - The Icelandic summer returned as we headed out in to the bay, soaking us with a bit of a downpour. That did not dampen spirits though as we visited Engey to see the wonderful Atlantic puffins chilling out by their burrows. The rain doesn't bother them and we didn't let it bother us as we were blessed with very calm seas. We headed out in to the bay with stinging rain giving us a facial treatment, and after a bit of driving we saw our first groups of feeding birds and the blow of a humpback whale. This individual went for a dive and as we waited for is it to surface, we could see other humpbacks feeding and diving in the distance. Our whale surfaced some distance away behind us so we headed to another that we could see and were treated to some wonderful close up views of it´s fluke as it repeatedly took short dives, surfacing nice and close to us. We watched it for quite a while until it was time to start heading back in. Just as we turned to leave we saw a humpback breaching quite some distance away. We headed towards it and saw a bit of pectoral fin and slapping followed by tail slapping, then it disappeared below the surface. We couldn't stay but just as we began to leave it breached again, so a final amazing sighting before returning to Reykjavik to dry off and warm up!

Crew: Captain Eggert & Guide Rachel

14:00 - Today’s adventure was one for the books! The weather was overcast, and the wind had picked up a bit from the morning, but that didn’t dampen our spirits as we headed out of the harbor. Our first stop was Akurey, where we were treated to some puffin sightings—and even spotted a few Arctic skuas trying to steal fish from them, which was quite the show! Not long after, we saw a blow in the distance. We got closer and found a humpback whale, but it wasn’t too active, so we decided to keep searching. Soon enough, another blow caught our eye, and as we approached, this whale was doing short dives. Just when we thought it was a calm encounter, out of nowhere, the whale breached right next to our rib! Everyone on board was in awe as it breached three more times, following up with some impressive pectoral slapping. Though it was eventually time to head back, the energy on board was electric—everyone was buzzing from the incredible sightings! What a day on the water!

Crew: Captain Miquel & Guide Mariana, Captain Pedro & Guide Emily

16:00 - What a spectacular day to be out on the water! It was super calm conditions around Akurey as we visited the Atlantic puffins on our way out in to the bay. There were hundreds of birds just sat on a flat calm sea, all very relaxed and great close views from our boat. We headed out in to the bay and the flat calm conditions continued. We had a few drops of rain but soon enough the sun came out and we were able to see our first humpback blow in the distance. As we gently approached the whale it began tail slapping the water, behaviour it repeated at least 15 times. After watching for a while we decided to go and find another whale as we could see more blows in the distance. We found another individual and had some wonderful views of its fluke. After watching it diving for a while we headed on to see if we could find anything else before heading back in. We spotted a very distant breach of a humpback and headed over to discover another favourite individual, Davy Jones! A humpback whale visiting since 2021. With such fabulous conditions and excellent sightings we could happily have stayed out longer, but alas we had to head back to the harbour.

Crew: Captain Pedro & Guide Emily, Captain Miquel & Guide Rachel

20:00 - We set off on this lovely, calm night into the heart of Faxaflói in search of cetaceans. After not too much searching we saw a big blow from a humpback whale ahead of us. It was surfacing really nicely making it easy to watch before going for fluke dives. It was actually swimming towards a lot of fish probably as it was soon very close to another 3-4 humpbacks. We saw them all lots, with some lunge feeding, rolling and spy-hopping too! A pair kept surfacing together which was really nice to see. We then left these guys to have their dinner and came across a minke whale. It surfaced a couple times but quite close so it meant everyone could still see it very well. We then headed back to Engey to see lots of puffins including a juvenile which was cool.

Crew: Captain Pedro & Guide Milan, Captain Miquel & Guide Rob