Whale Diary

10:00 - We set out onto a choppy bay with calm winds, under dense cloud cover. We made our way towards an area where we have had very good luck in sightings the previous days, but found a small pod of 4-5 white-beaked dolphins on the way! Naturally, we stopped to try and get a good look, however, the dolphins seemed a bit shy today, moving quickly. We did manage to get a few good looks, and even saw some leaps before continuing on out into the bay. We then came across a large blow, which turned out to be a pair of humpback whales! They seemed very calm, going for the occasional fluke dive and took us by surprise when they surfaced directly next to us! We stayed with this pair as long as possible, before we had to start our way back towards the harbour, as the wind and waves had begun to pick up.

Crew: Captain Óðinn & Guide Orsolya

14:00 - We headed out onto a much calmer bay with sunlight peaking through the cloud cover. As we began heading out, some small splashes caught our eye, a pod of 8-10 harbour porpoises! We spent a lovely couple minutes admiring these elusive little cetaceans, before continuing on. We came across a blow soon after, and saw the signature fluke dive, our first humpback whale sighting. As we waited for this individual to surface, we were distracted by some more blows in the distance, and decided to head over. Sure enough, we came across our second humpback, which was apparently very busy beneath the surface as it went for some very rapid, very long fluke dives, only surfacing for a couple moments before each. So, we continued on, and spotted some more blows on the horizon. As we got closer, we realized it was a pair of humpback whales, swimming peacefully together. When they had gone for a fluke dive, we suddenly saw a large pectoral fin above the surface, slamming down multiple times, a pec-slapping humpback! This individual was part of yet another pair, bringing the grand total of humpbacks on our tour to a whopping 6 individuals! Once this pair went down for a fluke dive, we began heading back towards the harbour, quite pleased with the sightings we had.

Crew: Captain Óðinn & Guide Orsolya

15:00 - The weather improved a lot this afternoon, as the wind had calmed down and the sea became less choppy. Less than 5 minutes after leaving the harbour, we did a sudden stop by the island of Akurey, as we spotted the head of a super-cute grey seal. However, these animals tend to be very shy, and the seal rapidly dove and disappeared. We then continued our journey towards deeper waters and soon came across our first whale sighting. It was a pair of humpback whales, which were resting on the surface and fluke-diving every few minutes, showing us their beautiful tail. They became curious with our presence and, at one point, one of them surfaced incredibly close from our boat, less than 5 meters from us. We then left them to check a second humpback pair, which we had spotted only a few kilometers away. This sighting was initially very similar to the previous one, until a third humpback whale appeared, only 100 meters from the other 2. Soon after this, we were completely caught by surprise, as the pair of humpbacks breached at the same time, in a very coordinated way, some 50 meters from us! While we were contemplating the humpbacks, a minke whale also joined the area, surfacing various times, including one time very close to one of the humpback whales. Time flew by while we were seeing this amazing nature show and we then had to head back, having a few more sightings of minkes and humpbacks on the way home.

Crew: Captain Pedro & Guide Ricardo