Species seen today: Minke whale, White-beaked dolphins

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

10:00 - We had grey skies but a heart full of joy and warmness hoping to see some cetaceans! We stopped by Engey to check on the gorgeous puffins and then we headed out to the middle of the bay. After sailing for around 15 minutes we had our eyes in a pod of 6 white-beaked dolphins that started to play with the boat by popping out very close to us! We left them alone so they could be in peace once more, and after a few minutes of scanning in the area, we saw another pod of 8 to 9 white-beaked dolphins! These were more playful, they jumped quite high, 3 at a time sometimes! It was awesome to see these dolphins so happy to see us! We started to go to another area full of birds feeding on the surface when we noticed some fins popping up here and there, they were from 3 minke whales feeding on some schooling fish that were embedded in bait balls made by the whales themselves and the birds on the surface, pure nature! Our time was up and we started to get back to the harbour.

Crew: Captain Daniel & Guide Pedro; Captain Örn & Guide Rachel

12:00 - This morning the weather conditions were nice but no sun. We went straight to same area as yesterday to try to find the humpback whales and the minke whales. Unfortunately there was no humpback whale but was full of minke whales. There was 5 minke whales around the boat coming super close. After spending some time with this animals we continued our tour to search for other of the common species. The boat was at full speed when out of nowhere some white beaked dolphins appeared to play with us. This dolphins were super curious and jumping a few meters from the boat multiple times. This dolphins were the star of the show making everyone happy to see them.  

Crew: Captain Einar & Guide Rodrigo

14:00 - The conditions were similar than this morning with a bit a clearer sky. We went towards the south this time to explore an area that no boat have explore in the past few days and we went quite far without spotting any life. So we came back Northwest until we spotted a group of 8 white-beaked dolphins that were swimming fast. We folowed keeping a respectful distance and one or two of them quickly appeared close to us and passed under the boat. We then spotted a glimpse of minke whale, but we could not find it again. We found another pod of 5-6 white-beaked dolphins that quickly disappeared. We went back home and gave complimentary ticket to our passengers. 

Crew: Captain Daniel & Guide Miquel; Captain Örn & Guide Rachel

16:00 - With a few openings in the sky, no wind and no waves we sailed out to the middle of the bay, but first a stop at Akurey to check on the puffins. After that, we started to head out into an area with a lot of activity and we had our first sighting, a pod of 4 white-beaked dolphins that passed under the boat and made a few scares to the people on board. Very fun!! After that, we saw lots of birds flocking and feeding in a tornado shape! We saw a couple fins of minke whales and one of them came as close as 5 meters from us!! Very cool! We then made a scan to the West in order to try to find something else, and we did find another pod of dolphins! Amazing! We got back to the harbour very happy with all the nice species that we found in Faxaflói.

Crew: Captain Örn & Guide Pedro

20:00 - With a bit of rain but no wind and no swell we went out again in search of some cetaceans in the bay! A quick stop in Engey to check on the beautiful puffins and off we went to the middle of Faxaflói! We were going fast but we stumbled upon a pod of 5 white-beaked dolphins that did some tail slaps and pectoral fin slaps, really great for us! They came under the boat and were at touching distance from us! After a while, we went in search of something else. We scanned the most active areas of the bay that we knew had some action on the previous tours, but as sometimes happens, we didn't spot anything. We had some puffins bobbling on the surface but that was it. The time was over and we got back to the harbour. And because the tour wasn't as expected, we offered complimentary tickets so that our awesome passengers could have another chance on seeing what else the bay has to offer.

Crew: Captain Daniel & Guide Pedro

 

Today, our whale watching at 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00 and 20:00 are confirmed. Puffin Tours are ON at 9:00, 13:00, 14:30 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.