Species seen today: Humpback whale, Minke whale, White-beaked dolphin

Birds seen today: Great cormorant, purple sandpiper, arctic tern, arctic skua, northern gannet, black guillemot, common guillemot, atlantic puffin, northern fulmar, great and lesser black back gull, herring gull, brent goose, eider duck

10:00 -  Today the sea conditions were good with some swell but long enough to go fast without bumps. The sky was covered in clouds but still allowing a good visibility. We had a short stop at Engey to see the puffins close to their burrow, or in the water around the island, and left to see what we had in the bay today. We did not have to look for very long before we spotted a blow. We got closer and were expecting to see a humpback whale in the area. We actually saw the whole humpback because the huge mammal decided to breach, jumping completely out of the water with a nice spin! Incredible. And it started jumping 5 or 6 times in a row. We got very lucky on this tour. The humpback stopped this active behaviour and got calmer, just swimming and going for shallow dives. We left the area and looked for other species and its only toward the end that we spotted a pod of 4 white-beaked dolphins, with on of them being a youngling. They came under our boat a few times and then took some distance. A great end to a great tour.

Crew: Captain Daniel & Guide Eline, Captain Gunni & Guide Miquel

12:00 - We set out to seek some cetaceans, we have been very hopeful since yesterday due to having lots of minkes and humpbacks everywhere. We were presented with some white caps and some swell, which never helped in trying to find a blow or a splash. There were lots of birds in the area, especially arctic terns! A blow was seen once but when we got there, it vanished in thin water. Eventually, after almost one hour of searching, we had a very quick glimpse of a minke whale but that was it! We carried on but the time wasn't enough and so we went back to Reykjavík. A stop on Akurey to see some puffin action and researchers on the spot was a delightful sight! Complementary was offered but the passengers seem to have a good time out at sea and no one asked for them!

Crew: Captain Eggert & Guide Pedro

14:00 -  The swell got higher with the wind picking up and the way out was a bit bumpy, but our adventurous passengers loved it. We had before going out of course a stop at Akurey and Engey depending on the boat (we left the harbour with two boats). We took different road during this tour. One boat saw a blow and had a glimpse of a humpback whale that was producing this blow, but the animal was going for shallow dives and was hard to follow. In the mean time the other boat saw a minke whale breaching! Then there was the rumors of orcas so they left to explore an area, unfortunately they could not find them. On the first boat they finally managed to find another humpback whale and after a while observing the animal, it went for a deep dive, showing its black tail.

Crew: Captain Daniel & Guide Miquel, Captain Gunni & Guide Eline

 

Today we are running whale watching tours at 1000, 1200, 1400, and puffin watching tours at 0900, 1300, 1600.

 

For more information come see us at Ægisgarður 5D, email us at info@whalesafari.is

or call us at +354 497 0000