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 - It was in a beautiful flat sea that we started our morning sail. We stopped to see some puffins in Akurey for a good 10 minutes, we had so many puffins calmly floating in the water, i would say we had more than hundreds around. After this stop we navigated toward the open sea where the fog was all around us. Great mystical conditions : heavy fog and a calm sea without any trace of wind. Our first species seen was the white beaked dolphins, a pod of about 5 to 10 individuals were playing around our boat. It was a beautiful sighting that lasted quite some time with the dolphins being quite social. We then decided to explore the area on the look for a bigger cetacean and we did not get disappointed : a humpback whale appeared in the fog calmly moving toward us, it stayed calm on  the surface for a good 20 minutes barely a few meters away and we could get a great look at its massive body, white pectoral fins, and hear its loud blow. After that amazing sighting we saw another pod of white beaked dolphins, about 3 individuals, and got a glimpse at some harbour porpoises. Just like that, 2h had passed and it was then time to head back home. Beautiful morning. 

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

12:00 - Today we sailed with very calm seas but cloudy skies. The first stop was at akurey to see some atlantic puffins, the weather was really good, the sea was full of sea birds and the bay was full of fish. We started to check the areas where we were succesfull in previous tours and we searched for a while but all the cetaceans were shy today. After seing some gannets doing dives againts the water our hopes increased but unfortunately no whales appeared. We had to start to head back to the harbour and gave complimentary tickets to everyone for hopefully the passengers have another chance of seeing whales with us again.

Crew: Captain Siggi & Guide Rodrigo

14:00 - The weather got even more beautiful this afternoon and the sea looked like a mirror. In these clear conditions we could see wildlife everywhere very clearly. We got to see humpback whales and minke whales in one area, then white-beaked dolphins, and finally another humpback whale that stole the show. This individual was breaching with its full body out of the water multiple times. He or she also came to investigate our boats and rolled onto the stomach just a few meters from us. With these beautiful moments in mind we sailed back to Reykjavík with the sun shining onto us. Before we reached the harbour we had the chance to come across another pod of white-beaked dolphins who were interested in our boat, and we also took a short sight-seeing trip past the Reykjavík coastline. 

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

16:00 - This afternoon the weather improved and the sun was actually shining. As usual we started with a stop in akurey for the passengers to see some atlantic puffins.After the small island of akurey our search for cetaceans started. Didn't took to long before our first humpback whale appeared breathing very loudly at the surface and doing some nice dives, other 2 Humpback whales showed up in the distance and everyone got a good view of them. After spending some good quality time with these gentle giants we had to start our way back home and finished another very succesfull whale watching trip.  

Crew: Captain Siggi & Guide Rodrigo

20:00 - We started our sail under grey skies but a flat sea. After a nice puffin stop we sailed off to try to see some cetaceans. After some time exploring the area and looking out for all the birds in the area we arrived in an area where we had some minke whales. We stooped to try to observe them and we saw some black backs appearing around the boat. It was a short sight but definetely a nice moment. For the rest of the trip we navigated the area on the look for humpback whales, quyite a lot of blows appeared in the horizon but quickly disappeared the animals being quite elusive. Our other tour got the luck opf seeing a humpback breach, and the animal quite close to the boat doing a fluke dive. We did not get this luck evcen though we were still pleased with our own short lived sightings. On our way back we decided to offer our passengers some complimentary tickets if they wanted so they could come back on the Elding bigger boats and hopefully enjoy a longer sighting. All in all it was still a really pleasant sail in the bay.

- Melanie   

Crew: Captain Daniel & Melanie , Captain Gunni & Rodrigo

Happy 1st June! Today we are running whale watching tours at 1000, 1200, 1400, 1600 & 2000, 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