Species seen today: Minke whale, White-beaked dolphins

Birds seen today: Atlantic puffin, Arctic tern, fulmar, cormorant, black-legged kittiwake, herring gull, manx shearwater, sooty shearwater, iceland gull, great black-backed gull, lesser black-backed gull, common guillemot, black guillemot

10:00 - There was good sea conditions this morning and we could go fast on our speed boat. The sky was completely covered in clouds and we had a few drops of rain but nothing to annoying. We first stopped in Engey to see the puffins that will soon leave iceland at the end of August. We then went very far into the bay trying to find the whales. We stopped in an area to have a rest from the speed an look around and spotted some active birds feeding. We approached and spotted a first minke whale. It was hard to observe so we decided to come back a bit more in the central area where manh birds where feeding and 7-9 minke whales spread all around. There was also a 3 white-beaked dolphins and another solitary white-beaked dolphins that sometimes came to check on us surfacing on the side of the boat, doing a small jump here and there. Minke whales were surfacing here and there sometimes close sometimes far, feeding under the flocks of birds. We saw dolphins jumping in the distance but when we went there we could not find them so we stayed with the minkes until we had to head back.

Crew: Captain Einar and Guide Miquel, Captain Daniel and Guide Rodrigo

12:00 - With a cloudy sky but almost no wind and no waves! First, we passed by Akurey to check on the puffins and then we headed out to the flat sea! We started by heading south and we saw a tiny harbour porpoise just passing by. We did a turn to the west where lots of birds were and we saw lots of fins! They were from 10 or more minke whales, some were lunge feeding and creating lots of commotion where the birds were! Amazing sightings! We saw more splashes in the distance and they were from white-beaked dolphins, we had 3 pods together, some jumped, others bow-rided and others kept their distance. We had a big surprise because of a big blow close to us! A humpback whale by the name of Blackpearl appeared out of nowhere! It made a lunge feed and also some nice fluke dives before we went back to the harbour in a lot of happiness!

Crew: Captain Einar and guide Pedro

14:00 - After paying a visit to the puffins in Engey we went out quite far. We spotted a pod of 5-7 white-beaked dolphins, some of them coming close to the boat, but htey were swimming quite fast and seemed quite excited. We followed them a bit a moved toward a big flock of birds non far. There was a few minke whales, maybe 3 or 4. In the same area there was a humpback whale that was surfacing 3-4 times before going for a fluke dive showing us its tail. The large whale came back after a few minutes and we could see it like this a few times before heading back to the harbour.

Crew: Captain Daniel and Guide Miquel

16:00 - Still with grey skies and the same sea conditions, we went out in search of cetaceans! After a quick check on the puffins in Akurey, we went even further out! We started to head out to the middle of Faxaflói and after 15 minutes we had a pod of 8 white-beaked dolphins that started to play with the boat and even jump around! All fun and games for about 10 minutes and then we headed even further out. We had a few flocks of birds in the area and lots of fins of 10 or more minke whales! We spotted another pod of white-beaked dolphins and even more minkes. Lots of birds meant lots of food, so it was a food festival for these animals. In the end, we saw another pod of dolphins that were making love. A nice goodbye to this nice tour. We even got sunshine on our backs when coming to the harbour.

Crew: Captain Einar and Guide Pedro

20:00 - The weather was amazing but with a grey sky. Anyway, let's find a whale or two! First, a stop at Akurey to check the mighty puffins. After 15 minutes of going at 30 knots, we found a pod of 5 to 6 white-beaked dolphins. They were super nice and did some jumps on our side! After that, we went even further and we saw 4 minke whales! One of them came really close to check us out! We had lots of birds around us and some northern gannets diving like torpedos. In the distance we spotted another pod of white-beaked dolphins and, like the first one, they jumped quite a lot and scared us by coming at touching distance!! We stayed with them for a while and the time was over, so we got back to the harbour with big smiles on our faces!

Crew: Captain Einar and Guide Pedro

Today, our whale watching at 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00 and 20:00 are comfirmed. Puffin Tours are ON at 9:00, 10:00, 13:00, 14:00 and 16:00.

For more information, come see us at Ægisgarður 5D

email us at info@whalesafari.is or call us on +354 497 0000.