Whale Diary

10:00 - This cloudy morning we sailed out on calm waters ready to spot some cetaceans in the bay. We did not have to wait for long until we suddenly spotted a sleek grey back and pointy dorsal fin breaking the surface. It turned out that it was not only one minke whale, but two! We spent a good amount of time with these very social minke whales as they did some nice dives just besides our rib boat, showing their pointy rostrums for us. After deciding it was time to leave them be we continued on further out in the bay. Suddenly, a harbour porpoise surfaced just next to our boat. We stopped to look for it again, but it decided to rake off alone. We headed on, and all of a sudden a guest pointed out something breaking the surface in the distance. It was the blow from a humpback whale! As we got closer it turned out to be three humpback whales in this area doing some shallow dives close to the surface. One was right next to us, and showed its fluke several times. As it was time to head back to the harbour again, we were all amazed and content. What an incredible morning with so many nice encounters.           

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

12:00 - The skies were heavy with clouds but the seas were nice and calm on our tour today. We searched around the bay for a bit until we spotted our first dorsal big fin! We then quickly realised we were not looking not at one, but two whales! Both of them humpback whales and one of them all too familiar, namely our all time favourite Davy Jones II. Both of them spent a lot of time near the surface, rarely going on a dive. On multiple occasions they curiously came to check out the bot, causing them to surface mere meters away from us! We had an absolutely lovely tie with these two whales but then moved onwards, to give them their well deserved peace and quiet. As they swam of toeards the horizon, we sailed the other way and found our third humpback. We spent our remaining minutes of the tour with this one and got to see it fluke dive a few times. Eventually, we had to start heading back though, but not before a nice stop at the puffin island!  

Crew: Captain Emily & Guide Milan

14:00 - We went out on the calm sea. After searching for a short while, we spotted the blow of a humpback whale and as we got closer, the animal decided to show off. It breached six times in a row and showed a wonderful fluke dive at the end. We spend some time with the animal that continued to roll on the surface what gave us a great look at its immense pectoral fins. After some more searching, we came across a pod of around 5 white beaked dolphins that were traveling fast on the surface. we had to head back to the harbor but not without finishing the tour with a short stop at Akurey to visit the puffins. With all this experience we returned to Reykjavik.

Crew: Captain Óðinn & Guide Knut

16:00 - We still had very calm seas and cloudy skies overhead. Despite the somber weather we had an absolutely incredible tour this afternoon! We aw no less than 5 humpback whales, all in close proximity of eachother. A first humpback was quite shy, so we left it rather quickly to not bother it too much. A second humpback had a lot less stagefreight as it was travelling, so we got to see it surface very often, even showing off its majestic fluke. We travelled longside with it. After that we said our farewells and continued our search once again. humpback whale three and four were side by side, travelling at high speed so we had a trilling ride keeping up with these individuals! Humpback number 5 was a very familiar one, namely Davy Jones II. First he was going back and forth rather slowly, as he was probably feeding. But then, right as we decided to head home, his behaviour changed radically. Out of nowhere, he surfaced mere meters away from us, clearly interested in what was going on, on this tiny little boat we were sitting in. Over a course of almost 10 minutes, he kept so close to us that at times, we could probably touch him! he was spyhopping all around us! his head came out of the water so high we could stare him right in the eye of this enormous whale that was clearly looking right  back at us. He entranced us with many spyhops, rolls and dives under our boat, until he finally took his leave again, leaving us with an experience that will stay with us for a lifetime. 

Crew: Captain Emily & Guide Milan

20:00 - We totally lucked out with the weather this evening—no wind, super calm seas, and just enough clouds to give us a stunning sunset as we headed out west. But the weather wasn’t the best part. After some time on the water, we ended up in a spot that was full of life. There were at least six humpback whales around us, blowing and surfacing in every direction. It honestly felt like we were right in the middle of a whale hangout. Then about 25 white-beaked dolphins showed up! They were clearly there to feed but still came right up to the boat, giving us an amazing close-up view. To end it perfectly one of the humpbacks started bubble-net feeding and lunge diving. Amazing! Eventually, we had to head back to the harbour, but it was one of those nights that leaves you with a big smile and a memory you won’t forget.

Crew: Captain Pedro & Guide Maria