Whale Diary

10:00 - We set sail in gloomy skies and cold winds, but nonetheless very ready to see some whales! With calm seas visibility was very high so after some time we spotted a blow in the distance! As we were sailing in that direction, suddenly dorsal fins appeared on our right. A pod of white-beaked dolphins surprised us! They were very curious, coming close and started bow riding! We could clearly see the white patches trough the surface and it was amazing to see them this close! After a lovely time, we decided to go back to the place we saw the blow. It turned out to be a humpback whale! This one treated us to a beautiful fluke dive, before disappearing for over 8 minutes. When we were waiting for it to surface again, another humpback whale blow could be seen in the distance. So we went over there, marveled at the difference between this individuals and then made our way back to the harbour. 

Crew: Captain Gunni & Guide Janiek, Captain Pedro & Guide Maria Ana

12:00 - The clouds had lifted for the start of our tour this afternoon and after a quick stop by Engey to see the adorable puffins, we sailed out into the bay. Our first sighting was a minke whale! We spotted this individual in the distance and as we came into the area, we realised it was moving in all directions. The second time it did a surface sequence, it was quite far from our boat but the third time was super close! We all got a good look at the whale and even smelt its stinky breath! We then continued on our journey and spotted 2 harbour porpoises. One of them was logging at the surface but as we got closer, they disappeared beneath the waves. After that, we spotted some more fins coming out of the water. It was a pod of 6 white-beaked dolphins. These dolphins were super curious and came up to the boat multiple times! They were swimming around just underneath us and all around it was incredible! After that, we had to start heading back to the harbour but as we were sailing back we spotted a blow in the distance and saw it was a humpback whale! This individual also came really close to us and we could see its huge white pectoral fins through the water - amazing! After watching it for a while, unfortunately, we had to continue our journey back to Reykjavik but it was with happy smiles after the last 2 hours!

Crew: Captain Anna & Guide Guide Emily

14:00 - The tour started with cloudy skies and a bit of rain. After a quick stop by Akurey to see some puffins, we sailed out into the bay. As the sky started to clear up we sailed further to the area where we were this morning, and then we started noticing some fins! It was a pod of 6-8 white-beaked dolphins. These dolphins were very curious swimming around us and underneath our boat! After that, we spotted a blow in the distance and as we got closer we saw it was two humpback whales! They were moving slowly and showing off their fluke as they went down! After watching it for a while, unfortunately, we had to continue our journey back to Reykjavik but we still had time to watch another humpback whale in a beautiful fluke dive before we headed home.

Crew: Captain Pedro & Guide Maria Ana 

16:00 - It was raining quite a bit when we left the harbour this afternoon. In true Icelandic fashion we had a lovely look at the puffins in heavy rains, but that did not make them any less adorable! After that we headed out in the bay and spotted a pod of harbour porpoises! There were four of them, playing hide and seek with us. While we were looking for the porpoises, a minke whale appeared. This was a big whale and very calm so we could get a good look at this beautiful animal. We decided to continue our search for other wildlife, so we said goodbye to the minke whale and went back into the rain. On the radio came the news that one of the other whale watching boats found something, so we headed over in that direction. Suddenly, a second minke whale appeared! This was a smaller one and you could really see the difference in the dorsal fin, confirming that we were seeing two different individuals. Further out in the bay we could start seeing a blow in the distance, belonging to a humpback whale! The humpback whale was feeding and diving, showing its fluke. The birds were very useful in this case, because they would swarm just before the whale surfaced. Super cool to see! Shortly after, we needed to turn around because we were far out at sea and after 40 minutes we were back in Reykjavik, soaked to the bone but very happy about our adventure.

Crew: Captain Emily & Guide Anna

20:00 - In the evening, the rain had finally stopped and we were greeted with calm seas after leaving the harbour. We made a quick stop by Akurey island to watch the sweet Atlantic puffins, then we headed out further in the search for whales. Soon, three harbour porpoises made an appearance close to us, and we stopped to see if they would surface again. They were a little shy, so we decided to continue our journey outwards. We then spotted a pointy dorsal fin ahead, and sped up in that direction. To our delight, it was a minke whale! We could watch it surface several times and it was most likely feeding in the area. A little later we spotted a second minke whale, however this one was travelling quite fast, which made it a little trickier to stop and watch, so we continued our way. Suddenly, we saw splashes ahead! As we got closer, we realized that t was a pod of 6 white beaked dolphins what were doing full jumps out of the water. As we got closer they put on a beautiful show for us - bow riding, surfacing side to side of the boat, and jumping some more. Just when the dolphins had calmed down a little, we saw a larger blow on the horizon - so we changed direction to find out what it could have come from. It turned out to be two different humpback whales! We first stopped to watch the first one do some nice shallow dives, but then headed on a little further to also watch the second humpback whale do some gorgeous fluke diving. We could clearly see its striking pectoral fins, and hear its loud impressive blow. The seabirds were flocking just when it surfaced, giving us a clue that the whale was having dinner just underneath us. What a fantastic ending of a great day, with all our four main species spotted.  

Crew: Captain Gulli & Guide Maja