Whale Diary

10:00 - We took our RIB boat out into Faxaflói bay for our wildlife adventure. We passed by Akurey island, where thousands of puffins where flying around, as well as various species of gulls and guillemots. A few minutes after, we headed deeper into the bay, as we wanted to find some of our cetacean species (whales, dolphins and porpoises). After first sighting came with a group (also know as a pod) of six white-beaked dolphins, who were fantastic around us. These 2 to 3 meters long animals approached us various times, swimming under our boats, with the (almost) crystal clear water. After having fun with the dolphins, we continued our search for cetaceans. We passed by various seabird groups and had a quick sighting of a minke whale, before running of time and returning back to Reykjavík, still thinking on the amazing encounter we had with the dolphins.

Crew: Captain Pedro & Guide Ricardo

14:00 - The swell of Faxaflói greeted us as we headed out on our afternoon tour in search of whales. There was a slight drizzle every now and then, but we didn't mind. As we sailed around the bay, we spotted multiple different species of birds. Then, we saw what looked to be a whale's blow in the distance, underneath a large flock of gulls! We made our way over there, and patiently waited for the blow to re-appear. After a few moments with no signs of a whale, we continued on our journey and headed in a different direction. Another flock of birds was spotted, among them some Atlantic puffins, but no whale was to be found there either. At this point, we were starting to run out of time and our hopes of seeing a whale were dwindling, but then we heard that a whale had been spotted not too far from us, and we raced to its last known location with the wind in our face. At last, we had spotted it: the elusive humpback whale! This whale was moving slowly, and we were lucky enough to see it lift its fluke two times before we were forced to say goodbye and head back home. On the way back, we made a stop at Akurey, our beloved puffin island, to say hello to our feathered friends! A lovely end to the day.

Crew: Captain Megan & Guide María, Captain Pedro & Guide Sigrún