Species seen today: White-beaked dolphin, Minke whale, Humpback whale

Birds seen today: Northern gannet, Great cormorant, Arctic tern, Herring gull, Black-headed gull, Atlantic puffin, Great black-backed gull, Eider duck, Black guillemot, Common guillemot, Arctic skua

08:00 - We set sail on this sunny and beautiful day in Reykjavík. We stopped for the usual puffin watch on Akurey to warm our hearts even more! After that, we went full speed towards the middle of the bay in search of something bigger than a puffin, maybe a whale! After some 20 minutes of search, we stumbled upon a big flock of birds, we were expecting something to come up and so it did. A blow was heard 50 metres from us, it was a humpback whale!! So close to us that we could even see the white pectoral fins. Amazing sighting and 200 metres away there was another humpback! We went to that one because this first one decided to go for a longer dive. After a while, a really fast fin emerged from the side of the whale, 1 single white-beaked dolphin playing with that gentle giant. We decided to leave this really nice whale and investigate another flock of birds, and we had a glimpse of a very fast minke whale! The captain was happy and the time was over on this very non-Icelandic day in Faxaflói!
 

Crew: Captain Megan & Guide Pedro

10:00 - The sea conditions were nice with little wind and almost no white cap in the bay. And the weather was even better! It was sunny and the landscape was amazing. We saw some puffins in Engey and went out to explore the bay in search of cetaceans. We first spotted little splashes in the distance and once closer could observe a lonely white-beaked dolphin. Close by was the rest of the pod, 6-7 more of those white-beaked dolphins that seemed to be hunting. A calf came to see us followed by an adult that brought that rascal back to the pod. We continued and found a humpback whale going for a dive. We were waiting and the whale was not easy to observe, going for another dive quickly a bit further. Then in an area close by where other boats were a humpback whale started to pectoral slap the surface! We went there, keeping distance because of the other boat to see that. When they left we went closer and could see humpback whales going for dives a bit more calm. One seemed to be resting going for very short dives but without deep diving. We could have a great sighting with this one and started heading back home.  Thats when we saw a big splash we stopped for a few minutes to observed a humpback whale peduncle throwing and tail slapping! Amazing!

Crew: Captain Daniel & Guide Miquel

12:00 - We went out with a burning sun that reminds me of my sunny Portugal in search of cetaceans but first a quick stop by Akurey to see the mighty puffins on their breeding colony. We point the bow to the middle of Faxaflói and away we go! After about 20 minutes we spotted a blow in the middle of a big flock of birds. It was a humpback whale that was lunge-feeding with a lot of velocity and splash! Right after that another blow was seen not too far from us, another humpback! And again two other blows in line with this humpback, another two showed up! We also had a few smells of minkes in the area but we didn't see them. After being in the middle of 4 or 5 humpbacks during an hour we had to start heading back to the harbour, with a big smile on our faces! :)

Crew: Captain Reynar & Guide Pedro

14:00 - We started this sunny afternoon with a quick stop at Engey, one of the puffin breeding colonies around Reykjavík. After some up-close encounters with those lovely birds, we sailed further into the bay in search of something bigger. Out of nowhere, a humpback whale jumped out of the water. Turns out there were two individuals - after the breach they were a lot more calm and we could follow them for quite some time. We quickly realised that there were humpback whales everywhere around, and we often saw them lunging out of the water under flocks of birds. We wanted to try to find some other species, so we searched an area where minke whales had been spotted and indeed we could catch a glimpse of those fast and slender whales. On the way back to Reykjavík, a pod of 6 white-beaked dolphins swam towards us and were very interested in our boat so we could see their beautiful white-streaked bodies underwater. An amazing tour!

Crew: Captain Daniel & Guide Eline, Captain Reynar & Guide Miquel

16:00 - This afternoon the weather was very good, some wind but clear skies and a lot of sun. Didn't took us too long until we started too see some wildlife. The area was full of birds, and this is a really good indicator that is a lot of fish in the area. After waiting for some minutes some minke whales started to appear. These animals are very fast and elusive but were at least 5 around us and one of them came in very close to the boat we could almost see the entire body. After enjoying our time with the minke whales we went to search for another individuals, and luckily we found them. Humpbacks!! Humpbacks everywhere!! We saw around 6 to 7 different humpbacks all around the boat, and 3 of these animals were travelling together coming to the surface multiple times at the same time. While we were watching the whales also white beaked dolphins came to join the party. The sky was clear we could see all the peninsulas and whales and dolphins were everywhere, an amazing tour!

Crew: Captain Megan & Guide Rodrigo

20:00 - This midnight tour was one of the best ever. The sky was clear and the sun was shining, the puffins were everywhere and our hopes of finding the cetaceans were very high as well since the tours today were very sucessfull. Today we had to go a bit more further away than usual but was totally worth it. We could spot blows all around the boat we were sorrounded by 10 Humpback Whales or even more. Were so many that we started to lose the count, one of them was tail slapping multiple times so we stayed there to spend some quality time with this individual. After enjoying the company of this magnificent beast another 2 humpbacks were calling for our attention in the best way possible, they were breaching!! They did it once and then stopped still almost everyone in the boat saw it. The tour passed super fast because of this animals eventually we had to start to head back and on our way back home white beaked dolphins and minke whales appeared as well to say hello, the perfect way to finish the tour. 

Crew: Captain Daniel & Guide Pedro; Captain Eggert & Guide Rodrigo

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