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 sea was a bit choppy to start with, but after a few minutes of some fun waves we reached a much calmer part of the bay. The first sighting we had was with a minke whale, who we got to observe for one surface sequence until we lost sight of it. Next, we found lots of curious white-beaked dolphins. A pod of around 20 individuals came to play with our boats and we were almost within touching-distance of these beautiful animals. After some wonderful moments we set off in search of some whales, and we were rewarded by two humpback whale individuals swimming side by side. After a few breaths at the surface we saw their enormous flukes lift out of the water, taking the animals deep down on a longer dive. With this beautiful goodbye we thought the tour had reached the end and we headed towards Reykjavík, but the sea still had one surprise in store for us: another group of playful dolphins were jumping high out of the water, giving us a spectacular bonus sighting to finish off this unforgettable tour.

Crew: Captain Gunni & Guide Eline, Captain Daniel & Guide Pedro

14:00 -  Today we sailed out with really good weather conditions. The skies were covered in clouds but there was no wind. After the stop in akurey to see some altantic puffins we went straight to the spot were whales where previously spotted. It took us some minutes before arriving there and after 2 minutes waiting on the are we spotted a blow of an humpback whale. This individual did some dives very close to the boat and at the distance another humpback whale was breaching we tried to get closer but this animal dived after the breach and we couldn't find it again. Some white beak dolphins appeared jumping really close to the boat 7-8 of them, everyone was very happy with the dolphins. A perfect way to finish the tour. 

Crew: Captain Daniel & Guide Rodrigo

16:00 -  We went straight out to the area where humpback whales had been found earlier today and were happy to see lots of seabirds scattered around in flocks. With so much fish around, we thought there would surely also be a cetacean in the area. We soon found a minke whale who came up a few times, but then we left it to feed by itself when it went for a deep dive. Next, we spotted the blow of a humpback whale and also some big splashes in the distance. On our way to the big splashes we were distracted by jumping white-beaked dolphins. The dolphins came really close to the boat and were in a very playful mood, but after some time we observed another humpback whale blow just 300 meters from us. We watched this humpback whale for two surface sequences and then we headed back to the harbour. 

Crew: Captain Gunni & Guide Eline

20:00 -  This evening started with really calm sea and no wind. It took sometime before we arrive to the spot where the previous tour found the cetaceans, but eventually we arrived and what a show! There was 2 Humpback Whales sorrounding us all the time, the captain turned the motors off and was a magical moment. The animals were following the fish and the fish came close to us and and a enormous humpback whale surfaced 3 meters from the boat, they were doing lunge feeding and some beautiful fluke dives as well. Also close to the boat 1 minke whale appeared, everyone could see it for multiple times and even smell it, a very stinky one! Another amazing tour today.

Crew: Captain Daniel & Guide Rodrigo

 

Today we are running whale watching tours at 1000, 1400, 1600 and 2000 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