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, eider duck and ducklings!

10:00 -  The conditions were good, cloudy but not windy with even some sun. The swell was lifting our boat up and down but we could keep going fast without too much bumps. We had a stop at Engey to see the puffins then left to explore the bay. We went down south and found a pod of 5-7 white-beaked dolphins. The dolphins came close, under the boat and behind us then reappearing the other side. It was really nice. After a while we left to go see a humpback whale sleeping in the bay that another boat spotted. We waited a bit saw the humpback blow and back, moving slowly, very lazy. Then the animal dove and disappear for a few minutes and we were going to get back when it started breaching! It jumped out of the water probably 5 or 6 times then started pec slapping, tail slapping, peduncle throwing. We could see the underside of the animal well enought to determine its gender, a female! We were a bit late but very happy when we came back, crossing another pod of 5-6 white beaked dolphins during the way back.

Crew: Captain Eggert & Guide Miquel

12:00 - We set out to seek some cetaceans, we have been very hopeful since yesterday due to having lots of minkes and humpbacks everywhere. We stopped on Akurey to see some puffin action before we set out to the open sea. We were presented with some white caps and some swell, which never helped in trying to find a blow or a splash. There were lots of birds in the area, especially arctic terns and puffins! A blow was seen more than once but when we got there, it vanished in thin water. Eventually, after almost one hour of searching, we continued going very slowly to go toward another suspicious blow. We carried on but the time wasn't enough and so we went back to Reykjavík. Complementary was offered of course but at least some people enjoyed the puffins and all the seabirds :)

Crew: Captain Gunni & Guide Pedro

14:00 -  We left the harbour and checked Akurey this time. It was very nice to see all those puffins around the island, a lot of them flying. We went further out trying to find cetacean. The sea was choppy with a big swell coming from different direction but our captain Daniel brought us in the good area where a humpback whale was seen earlier by another vessel. We stayed long to try to see it but it was difficult the whale was going for dives and surfacing in different areas, probably feeding. We saw the blow a few times and the back of the whale very quickly. The way back was slow, with a lot of water splashing us..viking conditions! We gave complimentary tickets to our passengers to let them come back on the larger boats.

Crew: Captain Daniel & Guide Miquel

 

Today we are running whale watching tours at 1000, 1200, 1400, and puffin watching tours at 0900 and 1300.

 

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

or call us at +354 497 0000