Whale Diary

10:00 - Our first whale-watching tour of the day was quite an adventurous one. We set course into Faxaflói Bay, facing some waves and a light rain. We did our first stop on Akurey Island, where we got to see the thousands of puffins that live there in the summer season. After that, it was time to search for whales, so we set off to deeper waters and started our search. After some time searching and seeing a variety of birds (artic terns, kittiwakes, northern fulmars, etc.), we found a two humpback whales travelling together. We hanged around with them for a while and, when we were returning to Reykjavík, one of our passengers spotted a minke whale, thanks to its very characteristic dorsal fin. We observed this whale for a few more minutes, before returning to Reykjavík, right on lunch time!

Crew: Captain Miquel & Guide Ricardo, Captain Óðinn & Guide Sigrún

12:00 - We went out onto Faxaflói with a slight breeze from the east. After a short while, we came across two humpback whales that were traveling slowly and near the surface. we spend some time with the animals and got a good look at these giants as they came really close to our boat. We went on to search for more animals and came across a fast traveling minke whale that disappeared after it surfaced for a few times. Just minutes after that, we saw another humpback breaching in the distance so we went closer to get a good look at the animal. As we came closer, we saw that again a second humpback was near by. We spend some more time with the one we saw first and as we made our way back to Reykjavik we came across another minke and a humpback that were active close to each other. The minke again disappeared after it surfaced a few times and the humpback stayed on the surface to rest. Before we made it back to the harbor, we stopped at Akurey to visit the puffins that are busy around and on the island during breeding.  

Crew: Captain Kylie & Guide Knut

14:00 - The rain greeted us this afternoon as we moved through the waves to a puffin island where we stopped and watched these iconic birds dance around the sky. Then, we were off into Faxaflói. We hadn't been sailing for long when we encountered a pair of humpback whales cruising the waves! These two individuals were quite relaxed at first, then suddenly, one of them showed us two tail throws in an amazing display of power! At that point, we had spotted another blow slightly further away so we of course had to check it out. When we got closer, we could see another humpback whale, and a massive one this time! We enjoyed watching this whale surface for a while, even giving us a great look at its tail fluke! On the way back to the harbour, we decided to have a quick look at the humpback pair from before but as we were inching closer, a lone minke whale suddenly appeared from the depths! This minke was quite curious and circled the boat, as if it was inspecting us closely. We said goodbye to the minke whale and watched the two humpback whales fluke one more time before we also had to say goodbye to them. With the rain in our faces, we headed back home after an amazing tour that left everybody smiling from ear to ear!

Crew: Captain Miquel & Guide Ricardo, Captain Óðinn & Guide Sigrún

16:00 - Clouds, rain, wind from the east and around 9°C. Midsummer as Icelandic as it could be. Nonetheless we went out to pay a short visit to the puffins on Engey. Thereafter we went on to find the whales and came across three humpback whales after a while of searching. They were quite spread out and so we decided to stay with one of them for a while. This time the animal showed some nice fluke dives. After we left to keep on searching, we sighted a minke whale that surfaced a few times close to our boat and so we go a good look at this fast animal that disappeared after a short while. We returned to Reykjavik wet, but happy to have seen this beautiful animals.

Crew: Captain Kylie & Guide Knut

20:00 - This evening we set sail into our rainy adventure! Once we set sail we realised that most of the rain was in town! Shortly after leaving we already spotted 2 minke whales! They were quite friendly and came up a few times. As we were still close to land we stayed a little but we did want to head a little further out. Only a few minutes later we found a pod of white beaked dolphins! At first we thought it was a small pod of two but it turned out to be a much larger pod of 10-15. They were fairly spread out, so we could pick pretty much any direction and also came incredibly close! We stayed a little bit as they were super curious and watching us as we were watching them. We eventually did get tempted by the call of the unknown. We headed further and spotted multiple blows and then saw a humpback whale! Then another and another, there were a total of 5 humpbacks in the area and we had a close look at two of them, who both showed their fluke when they went down. One of them was lunge-feeding and quite active! We were then joined by another pod of dolphins, again a very curious one. As we were enjoying everything going on around us we saw 2-3 more minke´s as well! Eventually we did have to go back to harbour, leaving these amazing creatures to their feeding frenzy.

Crew: Captain Miquel & Guide Maria, Captain Emily & Guide Anna