Whale Diary

10:00 - This morning was the most amazing tour! We had a brief stop at Engey to see some adorable puffins. Then we headed out into the bay and soon found a Humpback Whale. This individual was very calm and surfacing often. It even once came right next to our boat and just underneath! It was so close we could see its whole body through the water it was amazing! After that we decided to move on as other boats had arrived, and we went to a second Humpback Whale that was behaving very similar to the first one. Then in the distance, we saw a big splash! We headed in that direction and found 2 more humpback whales! These two were a lot more active and were lunge feeding simultaneously at the surface! They were accompanied by a White-beaked Dolphin that was catching all the fish that escaped the mouths of the humpbacks. It was INCREDIBLE! We started to run out of time and started to head back to the harbour but then found a pod of 12-15 white-beaked dolphins. We stayed with them for a little while as they approached the boat a few times and showed us their white bodies through the water. The bay was full of life today!

Crew: Captain Pedro and Guide Emily, Captain Miquel and Guide Kylie

12:00 - The sea surface was smooth like a mirror, the perfect conditions for a whale-watching afternoon! The bay was full of life today - a Humpback Whale, two or three minke whales, and a few pods of white-beaked dolphins. The six or seven white-beaked dolphins were a bit elusive, so after some nice moments with them we let them do their own thing and focused our attention on the Humpback Whale. This individual, known to us as Hooker, was coming up regularly and always showing her fluke before going on a deep dive. The irregular surfacing pattern suggested she was feeding, although after some time she started diving a bit longer and that's when we said goodbye and made our way to the puffin colony. On the way back to Reykjavík we spotted a quick Minke Whale, but as he was not in the whale-watching mood we continued our journey. The thousands of puffins at Akurey were the perfect end to our trip to celebrate the wonder of Icelandic nature.

Crew: Captain Gunni & Guide Eline

14:00 - We had calm sea but a little bit of rain, paired with a little bit of sunshine. After a while we crossed paths with 10 White Beaked Dolphins, they were traveling alongside us and some of them started to surface quite often next to our boat. They all of a sudden started jumping and tailslapping for a long time and brought us with this behaviour right to 1 Humpback Whale. So we decided to stay with the Humpback. The Dolphins moved on without us. The Humpback was calm and very friendly. He fluked very often and also took us by surprise, by popping up 5m in front of our boat. After a while we unfortunately had to go back to the harbor. By now we only had sunshine.

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

20:00 - The rain continued this evening and the wind had picked up a little bit. This made spotting conditions a little challenging but we were still determined. We stopped at Akurey for a look at our adorable atlantic puffins and then continued out into the bay to search for bigger animals. We went first to the area where the humpbacks had been seen most recently but didn't have any luck. Then one of our sister company's boats saw a blow in the distance so we headed that way and found a Humpback Whale! Our patience had paid off! This whale was not bothered by us and was feeding. It lunged through the surface a few times and many times showed off its tail. Once it came up right next to our boat and its blow got in all our faces!

Crew: Captain Bohdan & Guide Emily