Whale Diary

10:00 - Today, Reykjavík woke up to a cloudy day, but with almost no wind in Faxaflói Bay. The conditions for sailing were amazing. With high hopes of spotting marine life, we headed north, making our usual stop at Akurey to observe the puffin colony. Puffins could be seen both on land and floating on the surface of the water. These little fellows are almost ready to lay their single annual egg. We continued sailing, and one of our big boats informed us that they had spotted dolphins in the area. When we arrived, we found a pod of 7–8 white-beaked dolphins. After spending some time with them, we headed to a different area farther south. At the distance, we spotted a large blow and many birds flying around. It was clear that we were approaching a feeding area. We soon confirmed this when we noticed bubbles rising to the surface. Who was creating these bubbles? A humpback whale! This is one of the feeding techniques used by this species. Then, out of nowhere, just a few meters from our boat, a huge open mouth appeared at the surface. We could clearly see the baleen plates, thousands of keratin filaments that whales use to filter their food from the water. What a cool and amazing moment! It felt like watching a live nature documentary right before our eyes. Another of our boats found a second humpback whale in their way back home, they stopped for a few minutes to see this individual that was travelling along. What a fantastic whale watching day!

Crew: Captain Pedro & Guide Maja, Captain Emily & Guide Maria

12:00 - This afternoon we were getting ready in our overalls and quite warm in sunny Reykjavik. Eager to set sail we left and stopped at Akurey on our way out! After a dose of puffins we set sail, and ventured out. We spotted a small pod of 6 white beaked dolphins, they were quite friendly and came quite close. We stayed with them for a bit but as we were still quite close to the harbour, we wanted to head out a bit further into the bay. We headed further out and sailed around, spotting lots of birds and fish! Oddly enough no cetaceans were in this spot so we continued on. We sailed around a little longer and then found another pod of 8 white beaked dolphins! We did eventually have to sail towards home, spotting 3 harbour porpoises on the way home!

Crew: Captain Anna & Guide Megan

16:00 - We set sail once again in the afternoon, very excited to see what else this day could have in store for us. Luckily, the rain had stopped and the visibility was still pristine - perfect conditions for spotting. We made a stop by the island of Akurey to check on the cute Atlantic puffins flying back and forth towards their breeding grounds. All of a sudden a grey seal popped its head above the surface, seemingly happy because it had caught a large fish that it was munching on. After a lot of pictures of both the puffins and the seal, we continued our journey outwards to look for whales. After some sailing, all of a sudden small triangular dorsal fins showed up next to us - it was a pod of 3 harbour porpoises! The further we drove, more and more pods of harbour porpoises made an appearance. We must have seen at least 20 harbour porpoises throughout the tour. At one point we stopped the engines, and could hear their little exhales just next to us. All of a sudden, two larger blows showed up in the distance - it was 2 humpback whales! We watched this duo make some nice dives, and noticed quite a few seabirds flocking around. Then, they started lunge feeding, launching their grand mouths straight up in the air. We saw them fluke dives, and even do some trumpeting noises. What an incredible sight! Harbour porpoises also joined in and popped up around the same area, also taking part in the abundant fish beneath us. We stopped the boat and admired this wonderful wildlife scene, until it was time to head back towards the city again, all filled with joy and beautiful memories. 

Crew: Captain Megan & Guide Maja

20:00 - A calm Faxaflói bay greeted us yet again as we made our way into almost pristine conditions, bar a few raindrops here and there. On our way out, we stopped by at Akurey island where we were met with some adorable puffins to start the tour before we headed further out straight towards the area we had seen cetaceans at during the morning, and we were in luck! Just when we arrived, we spotted a blow in the distance and we moved closer. It was a humpback whale! This whale was being followed by birds, so likely feeding just below the surface. This theory was confirmed when the whale suddenly lunge fed right next to us, showing off its impressive baleen plates! It was even blowing bubbles in an attempt to trap the fish it was feasting upon. In the distance, we spotted another blow, and we slowly made our way over there after we had spent some time with the first whale. The other blow came from yet another humpback! This one was also feeding, and at one point rolled over and lifted its huge pectoral fins high out of the water. Amazing! We stayed with this whale for some time too, and then we began making our way back to the harbour with a quick stop by the first humpback, whose grand finale left us all in awe. It lunge fed once again, but this time it almost lifted half of its entire body out of the water! At this point, we were already running late, so we returned to harbour still speechless after this amazing day.

Crew: Captain Eggert & Guide Sigrún.