Whale Diary

10:00 - Today we went out of Faxafloi bay with a fantastic mirrored and flat ocean. A perfect sunny day with amazing visibility on the horizon. Before heading north we stopped around Akurey island to spot our beloved Atlantic puffins. After a while and hundreds of pictures we continued traveling in search for more marine life. On our way we spot more and more seabirds, but also one of our boats saw several pods of harbor porpoises, 10 individuals in total. Later we went to an area with white beaked dolphins around, a very active pod of 8-10 dolphins which offered some jumping displays. After them we travelled south because one of our boats found a blow at a distance. We approached slowly and suddenly, very close to us, it was a humpback whale. Very calm, traveling north, gave us the opportunity to see many times its surfaces. On our way back to the harbor another whale came out to the surface, this time a small minke whale. Perfect ending for a perfect tour! 

Crew: Captain Miquel & Guide Maria, Captain Megan & Guide Maja

14:00 - We ventured out again in the afternoon, with a little more waves than in the morning, but still wonderful conditions for whale-spotting. We made a brief stop by the island of Akurey to watch the colony of Atlantic puffins coming to breed. It was puffin-galore, the little sweet birds were everywhere, both floating on the water surface and walking about the island. It was hard to wave them goodbye, but further encounters were waiting out in the Bay. We picked up speed, and soon passed by a travelling minke whale. We slowed down to see if it stayed around, but true to their elusive nature, this individual was fast, so sadly it was difficult to spot again. We continued on our journey and observed plenty of feeding seabirds flocking all around. We crossed our fingers that the abundant fish stocks would bring in larger marine life too. Sure enough, we suddenly spotted a huge blow! This blow came from a humpback whale. We stayed to watch it fluke dive three times. The third time it stayed down for long, so long that we decided to leave it be and look for another encounter closer to the city. As we picked up speed, we continued spotting plenty of seabirds, and suddenly - another large blow! We swiftly made our way over and it turned out to come from another humpback whale. This individual luckily did not dive for as long, and we could watch it come up for breaths just next to us! With a gorgeous fluke dive, we waved goodbye before heading back towards the harbour - what a lovely afternoon in nature! 

Crew: Captain Miquel & Guide Maria, Captain Megan & Guide Maja

20:00 - In the evening, the wind picked up just a little bit, but we still had very good conditions to sail out of the bay, with the sun still high enough that sunglasses were needed. Ready and more than prepared, we travelled north, making our usual stop at Akurey to see the beautiful Atlantic puffins. They were everywhere: on land and also resting on the surface of the water. We continued our journey north, enjoying the unpredictable splashes of the waves, a very fun ride, until far in the distance we spotted a giant blow. About two miles away from our position was a magnificent humpback whale, and it wasn’t alone. It was surrounded by many flocks of birds actively diving into the water. Food was everywhere, and the whale constantly changed direction to reach its prey. We were even lucky enough to witness the lunge feeding behaviour a couple of times. An amazing moment! We were alone in the middle of the bay, observing this whale for quite a while, and we even got to see this individual very close to us. What a privilege! On our way back, with the sun behind us, we could see the amazing orange light reflecting on the mountains and the city of Reykjavík. Almost hypnotizing!

Crew: Captain Miquel & Guide Maria