We are going out today at 1000, 1400 & 1600!

Species seen today: Humpback whales and harbour porpoises

Birds seen today: Atlantic puffins, great cormorant, herring gull, great black-backed gull, lesser black-backed gull, kittiwake, black-headed gull, northern fulmar, black guillemot, common guillemot

10:00 - Spectacular conditions within Faxafloi this morning, with calm seas and blue skies overhead. We left the harbour with two boats full of optimistic passengers and decided to separate early, with one vessel heading south and the other to the north, in order to cover a vast area of the bay. Our captains soon received a message to alert us to the presence of a group of feeding humpback whales in one of our key locations and we arrived from opposing sides to the tall blows or at least six individuals. Both boats stayed in neutral for the majority of the time and allowed events naturally occur around us. The whales huddled together in a group of four, feeding on a dense patch of capelin which was identified by looking at some unlucky specimens floating lifeless at the surface. On more than one occasion the humpback whales approached our motionless boats, not to interact, but simply to conduct their business which was to forage. Tall, loud blows appeared as rainbows in the bright sunlight and huge flukes were within touching distance as the animals dove deeply. In total, at least ten humpbacks were seen throughout the tour.

Crew: Þruma II: Gunni & Miquel, Þruma IV: Reynar & Mike

14:00 - Conditions were still great but the sea appeared to be a little more disturbed. We knew exactly where to go after our incredible morning trip and journeyed straight to the same spot where the humpback whales were continuing to feed. The abundance of whales meant that overcrowding from vessels was not a problem and each ship had plently of space to watch the loosely grouped whales and huge quanity of seabirds. The animals moved around us calmy, with some very close approaches which wowed our guests. Again, the whales formed a small, more tightly packed group of four individuals amongst ten in total.

Crew: Þruma II: Gunni & Mike, Þruma IV: Reynar & Miquel

16:00 - We went back to Akurey to see the adorable Atlantic puffins that already arrived for their breeding season. They were in numbers and flying everywhere around us. We went further out and spotted a lot of sea birds in a large area. We saw many blows and got closer to see 6 humpback whales feeding! We could see the animals all around us we did not even know where to look anymore. Several times the massive marine mammals came right next to us, spraying there stinky fishy breath on us! It was incredible and heartwarming to see those huge animals from that close. Once out of time we went back to the harbour under a light rain.

Crew: Þruma II : Gunni & Miquel

For more information please email us at info@whalesafari.is

Call us on +354 497 0000 or come see us at Ægisgarður 5D!