Whale Diary

10:00 - We went out onto the bay in what can be considered Icelandic summer. Low lying clouds, a bit of rain and a breeze from the north west. After a short while we found a humpback whale and spend some time with it. It showed some nice fluke dives. We went on and searched the bay for more signs of animals and came across a quick traveling harbor porpoise that disappeared quickly between the waves. On the way back we visited the puffins on Akurey and had a good look at these funny little guys to finish the tour.

Crew: Captain Óðinn & Guide Knut

12:00 - Sailing out, passing by the islands Engey and Akurey to see the plethora of puffins surrounding Reykjavik, we knew of some very good sightings. We quickly found an interesting humpback whale, seemingly diving to feed. All around us, we noticed the sheer amount of birdlife feeding as well. Later on, we encountered 3 pods of 7 white beaked dolphins, with at least 2 females and several calves. We stayed in this feeding zones for a while, coming back and forth between humpback and dolphin, all of them coming close and passing under our boat, for all to enjoy up close up to the very end of our tour.

Crew: Captain Pedro & Guide Alexandre

14:00 - This afternoon we sailed out onto the bay and we were very lucky with the weather since it stopped raining the moment we started our tour. While we were sailing, we stumbled upon a white beaked dolphin which was something very surprising because we found it alone. However, we were able to see it very good because it came close to the rib and even bow ride for a little bit. After leaving it alone, we continued sailing for a while and it didn't take us very long until we found another whale, a minke whale in this case. In my opinion, it was one of the most special encounters with this whale because normally they are quite shy. However, this whale was extremely friendly. It swam around the boat several times, surfaced really close to the boat, and we enjoyed its company for a long time, at least for a minke. Even though we all wanted to stay, it was running late and we sadly headed back to port.

Crew: Captain Emily & Guide Guillermo

16:00 - Sailing out again this afternoon, we knew that other boats had had a hard time re-finding our bigger whale friends; this became our very objective. Going to the South, were most of other boats hadn't been, we managed to spot a distanced blow, to our very liking: a humpback whale, on a feeding frenzy, coming up and down in the water, even sometimes kicking out its fluke ! As we had taken our chance to spot it, we had it for ourselves long enough before other boats arrived. At that point, we decide to go further West, as we could see very noticeable flocks of seabirds, feeding in large amounts. This good sign brought us to see a pod of 5 white beaked dolphins, also on a food hunt, that roamed around us for a while nicely. Heading back, we were surprised to see the amount of  birdlife present, hopefully a good omen for the next days.

Crew: Captain Óðinn & Guide Knut, Captain Pedro & Guide Alexandre

20:00 - This evening we didn't start with the best conditions, the sky was grey and there was a slight rain. However, it didn't stop us to enjoy as much as we could the tour. It didn't take us very long to find a minke whale. However, it wasn't very friendly and we decided to leave after seeing it for a couple of times. We were a bit disappointed, but we had no idea what there was waiting for us. We continued sailing, and out of nowhere, we had an amazing encounter with a group of 6 white-beaked dolphins and a humpback whale. It was definitely a show worth to see with the dolphins jumping next to the humpback, so we stayed for a while. Sadly, we were a bit late already, so we headed back to port.

Crew: Captain Pedro & Guide Eleftherios, Captain Kylie & Guide Guillermo