Species seen today: Minke whale, white beaked dolphin

Birds seen today: Atlantic puffin, common guillemot, northern gannet, black guillemot, cormorant, north fulmar, eider duck, razorbill, greylag goose, Arctic tern, storm petrel, Arctic skua, 

10:00 - There were loads of white-beaked dolphins and minke whales in the bay today, and we spent most of our time with a few pods of playful white-beaked dolphins. The dolphins were coming up all around us, some of them within touching distance and others where a bit further but jumping in the air. We also found a few minke whales, one of whom came up just in front of the boat! After some wonderful moments with all these minke whales and dolphins we headed towards Reykjavík. 

Crew: Captain Daniel & Guide Eline

12:00 - The bay its still full of fish, and the minke whales are loving it. We went to the same place as the last few days because was again full of birds and minke whales. We stopped the boat in that area for some minutes to try to see the minke whales and we looked to the water was thousands of sandeels around the boat very close to the surface, while we were seeing the sandeels this minke whale appeared a few centimeters in the front trying to catch the sandeels. A very close and cool sighting, eventually we start to head back and some white beaked dolphins appeared and jumped close to the boat but our time was ending and we had to head back to the harbour.

Crew: Captain Siggi & Guide Rodrigo

14:00 - We went out directly going in the same area than earlier to try and find some whales. There was many birds in two different areas, like northern gannets plunge-diving. We spotted 3-4 pods of 4-8 white-beaked dolphins, some coming close to us and jumping right next to the boat, bow riding but also hunting. We had good sightings of those two species and went back with a short stop to see some puffins close to Akurey.

Crew: Captain Daniel & Guide Pedro, Captain Gunni & Guide Miquel

16:00 - Our forecast was amazing, no wind and no waves! We then went on to see some puffins on Engey. They were nice and curious! We then headed out to Faxaflói to try to see some cetaceans! Some 20 minutes of speed through the water we saw a fin! Then another fin and another, we had 6 minke whales feeding in circles and very close to us! We then saw a pod of 5 to 6 white-beaked dolphins that weren't very playful so we went on to find another one, a bit smaller in numbers but funnier! They jumped very close to us and bow rided the boat. We then saw another 4 minke whales in the distance and on the way back we saw even more. It was a minke tour!

Crew: Captain Gunni & Guide Pedro

18:00 - Conditions were really nice this evening with almost no wind, a beautiful evening light, clouds but no rain. We first stopped to Engey to see the Atlantic puffins breeding on those islands. There were on top of the rocks on the island as well as on the water. We also saw a black guillemot that showed us its very red feet, running on top of the water to get in the air and fly away. We went further out and found a pod of 6-8 white-beaked dolphins. They were in a social playful mood, some of them clearly trying to mate. We stayed with those very excited dolphins for a while, they were coming on the side of the boat, bow riding and showing of with little jumps. We left to see a large flock of bird covering another area non far. A lot of majestic northern gannets were plunge-diving, some of those "queen of the Atlantic" flying over our heads. We probably spotted 8 different minke whales during the tour, surfacing here and there, more are less close to the boat. When the captain stopped the boat we got to see different ones surfacing very close hearing there blows. During the way back we spotted some shy 3-4 harbour porpoises, but once again, by being patient and stopping the boat we got to see them surfacing right next to us! We finished the tour getting close to Reykjavik and going under Harpa with some sunset colours.

Crew: Captain Siggi & Guide Miquel

20:00 - And so we begin our last midnight tour! Amazing weather, sea flat as a table and inexistent wind. The sky was overcast but we could see the sun rays between the clouds. We went to see the puffins to Engey and then we continued our journey to the middle of Faxaflói! We sailed a long distance until we found some birds flying around, northern gannets diving like torpedos and gulls trying to steal their fish. Amazingly a little harbour porpoise surfaced very fast and soon it was gone. A sign of life underwater. We then saw a fin of a minke whale that was very elusive and disappeared right away. Our captain spotted some splashes in the distance, so we rushed to that place and we had a pod of 10 white-beaked dolphins in front of our nose! They were very fun to watch jumping around, playing with each other, playing with the boat and hiding under our noses to then surprise us with a big splash. Splendid dolphins, always very active around the boat. We had a surprise visit from another minke whale, came really close actually! We went back to the dolphins and shut the engines off to observe and hear these cetaceans having fun in the water. They were always moving around the boat and looking at us! Our time was over, unfortunately without a sunset but we could see the orange sky just under the clouds while we headed back to the harbour of Reykjavík. The midnight tours are over and will be back next year once again!

Crew: Captain Gunni & Guide Pedro

Today all whale watching and puffin tours are confirmed!

For more information, come see us at Ægisgarður 5D,

Email us at info@whalesafari.is or call us on +354 497 0000