Species seen today: Humpback whale, Minke whale, Harbour Porpoise

Birds seen today: Atlantic Puffin, Northern Fulmar, Black Guillemot, Black headed Gull, Great Black backed Gull, Herring Gull, Eider Ducks, Cormorant, Lesser black backed gull, Common Guillemot

10:00 - The bay was a bit choppier than the forecast predicted so we faced a 'fresh breeze' on our way scanning for whales on this first day of Icelandic summer. Apart from a few harbour porpoises, we didn't see a lot in the northern part of Faxafloi so we headed southwards to an area where another boat had spotted a humpback whale. This individual was feeding, moving very randomly and breathing unpredictably. It took us some time to figure this humpback whale out, but once we understood his movements we were able to approach the relatively small humpback whale and we got some beautiful up close looks at its back and fluke. One time, whilst waiting for the humpback whale, we were surprised by the one-off appearance of a small minke whale, popping up about a meter in front of Thruma IV and then disappearing in its underwater world. On the way back to Reykjavik some of us got to spot more harbour porpoises surfacing around us and we could enjoy some last glimpses at the Atlantic puffins searching for sandeel in the bay. 

Crew: Þruma II - Daniel & Miquel, Þruma IV - Gunni & Eline

14:00 - The wind was calmer this afternoon, but so were the humpback whales - a bit too calm. When we reached an area where other boats had seen a humpback whale, the individual was diving for more than ten minutes so we eventually headed to another part of the bay. We found another humpback whale and caught a few glimpses at it before it dove down and also did not come up for at least ten minutes. We searched in other areas before heading back to Reykjavík, but unfortunately our sightings with the humpback whales had not been as good as we hoped for so we gave everyone a complimentary ticket to come on the larger boats.

Crew: Þruma IV - Daniel & Eline

Today we are going out whale watching at 1000 & 1400, and puffin watching at 1300!

For more information email us at info@whalesafari.is

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