Species seen today: Humpback Whales, Minke Whales, White Beaked Dolphins

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 - We set sail on this very calm day at sea, with just a bit of swell and almost no wind. We passed by one of the puffin islands, Akurey, to check them out before heading towards the bay. After some wave bumps, we started to see a big flock of birds feeding on the surface of the water, and very shortly after a pair of minke whales feeding gracefully and slowly, a very nice sighting! Soon enough, another joined the party but there was something bigger to find not too far away. It was another pair, but this time it was humpback whales, lunge feeding with another enormous flock of arctic terns and kittiwakes! Amazing, we were so lucky to see these gentle giants in their natural habitat! But, it wasn't over. Another sighting that came to us after the humpbacks, was a pod of 10 white-beaked dolphins that were curious about the boat and the people, we could see them under the boat and as short as 1 meter from us. We were blessed by mother nature itself! We slowly started to head back to the Reykjavík harbour, but not without a goodbye from the humpbacks and the occasional minke popping in front of us! Amazing day out there!!

Crew: Captain Reynar & Guide Pedro

11:00 - We set out to the area where the other Thruma had seen humpback whales. On our way there we were very pleasantly surprised when a white-beaked dolphin leaped out of the water very close to us. Many others followed, and before we knew it there were jumping dolphins everywhere. Some of them came incredibly close to the boat. Next we arrived at the place where there were a few humpback whale individuals. They were definitely feeding, as were the hundreds of seabirds that were calling and crying above our heads. Towards the end of the tour we were able to get very close to one of the humpback whales and out of nowhere this individual surprised us with the most beautiful breach - the full body twirling in the air! With such a wonderful tour it feels great to be able to get back on the water after stormy weeks. 

Crew: Captain Gunni & Guide Eline

12:00 - After a stop in Akurey to see puffins flying, chilling in the water, are walking around on the island, we left for a ride in the bay in search of cetaceans. We did not need to search for long. We went in an area with a lot of birds until we spotted two blows in different areas around. One of those two humpback whales did a peduncle throw, throwing the lower part of its body outside of the water! Impressive behaviour so we tried to observe this active individual. But the humpback was having a calm behaviour afterwords and difficult to follow. Going for only one surfacing before diving again, changing direction a lot. We decided to find a third whale that our captain spotted. This one was easier and we could admire a beautiful fluke dive. A lot of Arctic terns were around us with many razorbills and guillemots in the water. We spotted also two minke whales quickly appearing in the distance. During the way back we crossed two pods of 6-8 white-beaked dolphins. We stopped and observed them, they were very calm but a bit careful to not get to close to us, maybe because of the presence of calves.

Crew: Captain Daniel & Guide Miquel

14:00 - This time we stopped in Engey to see the puffins. They were not a lot around the island, probably busy further away in the bay feeding. We still manage to see a few ones swimming close to us. We went further out and quite easily spotted a blow from a humpback whale. We got closer and could recognize that it was Gustav! The whale went for a deep dive. We saw that many boats were getting closer and decided to look for something else. We then found a pod of 6-8 white-beaked dolphins that got curious and were swimming under the boat, around us for a good 15-20 minutes. It was great to share this moment but we had to speed up and move fast..splashes were visible in the distance! We were curious to see what was doing them. When we arrived in the area we understood that it was a breaching humpback! The animal breached probably 5 times, but also showed other behaviour like peduncle throw, pectoral slap, tail slap. What an incredible show! After all those efforts, the humpback whale got calmer and went for a gentle fluke dive. It was time for us to go home, crossing another pod of 6-7 white-beaked dolphins during the way back.

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

Today we are running a full schedule of tours after a long 2 weeks of cancellations! We have Puffin tours at 0900 & 1300, and Whale Tours at 1000, 1100, 1200 & 1400!

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

or call us at +354 497 0000!