Whale Diary

12:00 - We were heading out into the bay with some rain and still some big swells but the waves were very long so it was actually surprisingly calm at sea this afternoon. With the low rain clouds, we didn't have great visibility at first but as the tour progressed it got better. Not too long after leaving the harbour, we had our first sighting of a minke whale and a small pod of 2 harbour porpoises! We were only able to see the minke a couple of times but the porpoises came unusually close to the boat! Then we saw another minke too! We decided to keep going and explore some other areas, and kept finding minke after minke! We also saw another pod of porpoises, as well as 2 white-beaked dolphins that came right up to the boat and played hide-and-seek with us going under the boat and popping up on either side. We then had to head back into the harbour but still on our way back we saw more minkes and porpoises. Over the whole tour we must have see more than 12 individual minkes!

Crew: Captain Miquel & Guide Emily

15:00 - There was still some light rain, but thanks to the very low wind it was quite nice to be out on the water and it wasn´t even so cold! We did have some high, but slow swell that made for a fun adventure motoring over the waves. Some other boats informed us that there were some whales close to the lighthouse of Reykjavík, but they were diving very long so we continued further out into the bay. There, we came across a pod of 4 harbour porpoises and lots and lots of minke whales. One in particular was very curious and came within meters of our boat! She stayed with us for a long time and came up very often to give us some great looks at her. After some time we decided to continue further out, and spotted probably about 8 minke whales on the back to Reykjavík and three more pods of 2-4 harbour porpoises. 

Crew: Captain Miquel & Guide Eline

16:00 - This afternoon was still pretty grey but for the most part stayed relatively dry. As we headed out of the harbour, it only took us a couple of minutes before we saw our first cetacean. Before we even got past the islands we saw a minke whale! It was calmly surfacing around us and we were able to see it closely many times before it started to swim away. We headed out further into the bay, very optimistic after this early encounter. We then managed to see 3 more minke whales and 2 pods of harbour porpoises. 2 of the minkes were quite shy but one of them came very close to the boat and we could see its "minke mittens"! We then found a humpback whale and as we were watching it 2 white-beaked dolphins started swimming towards us and the whale and started to harrass the humpback! The humpback was not impressed and started trumpeting loudly as well as flickling its tail and fins at the dolphins to try and shake them off. One time the whale was chased by the dolphins right under our boat! It trumpeted right next to us so loudly! Definitely got out hearts racing! After watching this amazing encounter, we were getting late to return to the harbour so unfortunately had to say goodbye. What a way to end the day!

Crew: Captain Pedro & Guide Emily