Whale Diary

09:00 - We were so lucky today with the conditions of todays tour. The sun was shining on us and the sea was laying flat and looked like velvet at times. Our first sighting of today was a humpback whale. It was a juvenile and it seemed to be an individual that has quite recently been seen in the harbour based on its tail fluke pattern. We call this one the Harbour Master. It was surfacing calmly and gave us some beautiful fluke dives. After spending some time with this individual we carried on and came across a pod of around 6 white-beaked dolphins, while two of them were going under the boat and surprising us on the sides of the boat. They followed our boat for some time and seem to think it was a fun activity. When we left we encountered the third species for today - a minke whale. This one was coming rather close to us and we got great views of its body as it came paralell to our boat. It seemed so relaxed. The journey continued and at this time we found more white-beaked dolphins. We had a few individuals joining us and going on the sides of the boat and eventually joining some more dolphins in the front and the same humpback that we had earlier on the tour. The pod of dolphins were probably consisting of around 8 individuals. The humpback was now very playful, rolling around with belly up and even doing pectorial fin slapping. It even showed its eye as it came on the side next to our boat. Meanwhile the dolphins were going really fast in all different dierctions, possibly feeding. Some of them came to inspect us very closely so they were for sure just playing at times too. The ocean laid so still so we could see their entire bodies throigh the water and could even see their eyes looking at us. It was incredibly beautiful to see the two species interact and for them all to get so close and personal to our boat. What a wonderful day out at sea!

Crew: Captain Emily & Guide Frida

12:00 - Another tour out at sea, with an incredibly calm ocean that looked like a mirror. After travelling for a little while, we spotted our first blow of the day, a juvenile humpback whale, the famous now Harbour Master. This active juvenile was feeding in the area, and every now and then would surprise us by appearing belly-up. At one point, it even came incredibly close and surfaced right underneath the boat! We then continued searching for areas with active seabirds, a good sign of fish in the area. And it worked! We spotted another humpback blow, and when we got a look at the fluke, we realized it was Neila, an adult whale with a very distinctive tail. We could immediately see the difference in size between her and our first individual, and even her blow was noticeably stronger. She also came beautifully close to the boat. Two humpbacks, two very different individuals, and an absolutely beautiful day at sea. With the ocean still looking like a mirror, we slowly made our way back towards Reykjavík, passing along the seafront and saying hello to everyone enjoying the day from land. What a fantastic tour! 

Crew:Captain Pedro & Guide Maria

15:00 - When we went out again, conditions were still fantastic! After some sailing, we spotted a blow in the distance. It was over two nautical miles away, so we drove a bit closer. When we reached the area, we found our beloved humpback whale Harbour Master lunge-feeding. This whale was doing very short dives and surfaced unpredictably. We were also saw a minke whale nearby, but the humpback was taking all our attention. It surfaced with a lot of force and lifted its fluke beautifully. We even had it show up super close to the boat! As another boat arrived, we moved on from Harbour Master and continued exploring. We headed north and after a bit, we spotted another blow! We reached an area that had a LOT of birds buzzing around. We saw some curious Northern fulmars and dive-bombing Northern gannets among others. This was also where we spotted the humpback whale Neila. Given the bird activity, she was likely feeding as well, just deeper under the surface. We observed several surface sequences and even had her swimming alongside us for an instance. As we were super far out, the way back took a bit so we had to get going. Before we returned to port, we did a little loop past the sun voyager and were still processing the incredible sightings!

Crew: Captain Pedro & Guide Hannah