Whale Diary

10:00 - We headed out this morning in search of wildlife once again. As we were approaching one of our local Atlantic puffin colonies, we spotted a seal! It was a grey seal that was bottling in the water, just showing its head and lifting its nose every now and again. At our puffin spot, we admired the little birds and were even treated to some close fly-bys! Then, we moved out to search for more marine mammals. After some cruising and checking out some Northern gannets in flight, we found a pod of around 8 white-beaked dolphins. The group was quite scattered, but also very interactive! They were passing our boat a lot, swimming with our bow and passing underneath the boat. This was so fun! Eventually, we carried on and continued our search. We spotted a blow in the distance and investigations revealed that we had found a humpback whale! We observed a few surface sequences. The whale was doing very short dives. It was not showing its fluke every time, but we got nice fluke print series where it was swimming. We did also see a few fluke displays and noticed that this humpback had a very dark coloured underside of its fluke! When it was time to start heading back, we enjoyed some more nice ocean cruising and were very happy about our morning at sea!

Crew: Captain Emily & Guide Sam, Captain Gunni & Guide Lefteris, Captain Miquel & Guide Hannah

12:00 - We headed to the island of Akurey to visit the Atlantic puffin colony, and admire these funny little birds up close. We then headed out onto the bay in search of some cetaceans. We spotted some splashes off in the distance, our first sighting of the tour, a pod of 4 white-beaked dolphins! This pod had a mother-calf pair, and the youngster put on quite a show for us, leaping, head slapping, and breaching all over. As we tried to continue, the dolphins saw this as an invitation to play and began bow riding! What a lovely encounter! We continued on, and soon spotted some more dark fins slicing through the water, another pod of 3 white-beaked dolphins, who seemed quite interested in us, as they swam quite close, giving us a boat inspection and spy hopping to get a good look at us! As we were far out in the bay, we began making our way back and had a final spotting of another dolphins on our way to the harbour! What a lovely tour, such playful, energetic and curious!

Crew: Captain Anna & Guide Orsi

14:00 - With sunny skies, we set sail on our sea-fari! At the beginning of our tour we visited one of the three main breading islands of puffins to admire our feathered friends. After this lovely stop we set course towards the open waters. After a bit of a sail we found a pod of seven white-beaked dolphins. This pod was very playful and were bow riding and playing in the boat wakes. One individual was really showing off and jumped right next to us! This dolphins was really active and continued to jump about six more times, absolutely amazing! We then got a bit of a boat inspection, and it was great to watch them swim through the water around us. This playful pod then continued swimming to another part of the bay and so we continued. Not too far away we spotted the blow of one solitary humpback whale. This individual treated us right away to a fluke dive! When they resurfaced we could admire their pectoral fins as they swam through the waves next to us. After multiple surface sequences and flukes galore, it was time to wave our cetaceans goodbye and head back to port. What an excellent afternoon!

Crew: Captain Emily & Guide Sam, Captain Gunni & Guide Lefteris

16:00 - In the afternoon, we headed out in hopes of spotting some charismatic wildlife. Naturally, our first stop was at Engey, one of the islands hosting Atlantic puffins for their breeding season. When we began leaving the island, some tiny splashes caught our eyes, 2 sneaky harbour porpoises, a very promising start! As we continued on, heading deeper into the bay, some of our eagle-eyed passengers spotted some signs of dolphins, and soon enough, we came across a pod of 7-8 white-beaked dolphins with multiple juveniles (calves)! So we got to a couple mother-calf pairs exploring around us, inspecting our boat and even performing some leaps and head slaps! What a show, and what a privilege to see such young individuals from up close! We continued on, and thoroughly searched different areas of the bay, where we encountered busy bird life, but no cetaceans. As time was beginning to run out, we turned and headed for the harbour, but were still hopeful and kept our eyes peeled for signs of whales. As we were approaching the islands near the harbour once more, we spotted a blow, the blow of a humpback whale! With a majestic fluke dive, this whale bid us farewell, having been the perfect finale to a lovely afternoon out on Faxaflói.

Crew: Captain Anna & Guide Orsi

20:00 - Tonight's midnight trip was a bit unusual in the best ways. We had information on a minke whale right outside the marina. We waited for it, but it didn't show. No problem though, because just around the island Engey, there was a humpback whale! They are not this close that often. So, we looked at that one. We got to see some surface sequences and could anticipate where the whale would surface next because it was leaving behind series of fluke prints. It was steadily swimming at 5.5 knots. After a bit, we decided to carry on and explore the bay a bit. We got some nice motion with the swell out there. After some drivinig, we spotted something in the water. It was a grey seal. Usually, we see them much closer to land, but this one was out for a swim it seemed. We saw its head and as we got closer it disappeared never to be seen again. Next, we spotted a minke whale by some birds. We went to have a closer look. Around the area we spotted it, we stopped and put the boat in neutral. The minke whale found an interest in the boat and started investigating. We got a very rare encounter with the minke whale circling the boat and surfacing very close to us several times!! Eventually, it lost interest, so we carried on. Steini spotted some dolphins. It turned out to be a group of around 8 white-beaked dolphins with three calves! At first, the dolphins were a bit evasive, but then they started coming closer. One calf surfaces directly next to the boat and then they started breaching and wouldn't stop! Then, it was time to return to port. On our way in, we stopped by Akurey and had a look at the Atlantic puffins there! The trip was absolutely fantastic!!!!!

Crew:  Captain Steini and Guide Hannah