Whale Diary

10:00 - Our whale watching tour started with amazing weather conditions. It was sunny and the sea was calm. It didn't take us long and we found 3 Harbour Porpoises. They were very curious and followed us or swam infront of us. After a while they left us and we started looking for something else. We found 5-6 Minke Whales that were feeding, surrounded by birds. They were very shy so we left them in peace and found a pod of 6 White Beaked Dolphins. They were jumping and playing around us. Then it was time to head back, but all of a sudden we saw a dorsal fin that belongs to no one else but a Humpback Whale! Unfortunately we only saw him one time. So we left and went back to the harbour. It was an amazing tour!

Crew: Captain Miquel & Guide Kylie, Captain Pedro & Guide Trausti

12:00 - The sun was bright in the sky as we headed out into the bay! We headed to the area where our previous tour had found lots of activity and it didn't take us long to find a pod of 7 white-beaked dolphins! They were very playful, coming to the boat multiple times and jumping and bow riding. Once they got tired of us we moved on to an area where there were a lot of birds. Here we saw at least 10 minke whales. Some of them were close and some were far away but we were lucky that 2 of them surfaced multiple times very close to the boat! After the minkes, we found another pod of 10 white-beaked dolphins. The water was so clear we could see the bodies completely clearly through the water as they came close and went underneath us!

Crew: Captain Gunni & Guide Emily

14:00 - The sea conditions were good as we sailed out into the bay this afternoon. There was a lot of life with dozens of gannets and other seabirds diving for fish. We found a pod of about 10-12 white-beaked dolphins that were very playful and approached our boat swam under it and breached! We also encountered 4-5 minke whales that surfaced many times also very close to the boat so we all got some great views! Later we found another pod of 5 - 6 white-beaked dolphins that were interested in the boat. On the way back we visited the puffins at Akurey before returning to harbour after some lovely encounters with the wildlife in the bay.

Crew: Captain Pedro & Guide Trausti

16:00 - This afternoon the wind had picked up a little making our outward journey a little bumpy but once we got out into the bay all the bumps were worth it! We started our tour with a small pod of 5 white-beaked dolphins. These dolphins were playful with us for a while but then decided to play hide-and-seek and were difficult to follow. We then saw a Minke Whale in the distance and headed over towards it. When we got there, the minke was also elusive and we only managed to see it one more time. Then we heard over the radio that another boat had spotted something else so we headed over and found a Humpback Whale! This individual was staying very close to the surface so we could almost always see it, only breaking the surface every now and then to breathe. Then we saw that it was being harrassed by dolphins! A pod of around 5 dolphins were swimming and jumping right next to the whales face! We were so lucky that to get away from the dolphins, the humpback swam super close to our boat and we saw it pass just underneath us. Then when it came to the surface again we were unfortunately down-wind and it was so close that everyone on the boat got a face full of whale breath! After that it went for a deeper dive and we realised we had run out of time so had to head back in to the harbour. An amazing tour!

Crew: Captain Gunni & Guide Emily