Thursday, 25 June 2025

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humpback whale fluke

Thursday, 25 June 2025

  • CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 09:00, 11:00, 13:00, 15:00, 17:00, 20:30
  • PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00
  • PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 20:00

Today's Classic Whale Watching tours from Reykjavík are on schedule as shown above. Remember to dress according to weather and feel free to borrow our thermal overalls if needed!

CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 09:00

Report from Eldey: As we left the harbour, we were reminded of why this country is called Iceland. Cold rain, fog and chilly air made us dress up in cozy overalls, but nonetheless we were excited for an adventure! After an hour we spotted something in the fog; a minke whale! This big minke surfaced close to the boat a few times before swimming off. Shortly after, we ran into a pod of white-beaked dolphins. They were hunting, circling around each other and we even got to see a calf! It was a busy area, we kept spotting minke whales all around us, bringing the final total to at least 9 individuals. One of them even swam directly under the boat! On our way back to port, some splashes got our attention and we saw our second pod of white-beaked dolphins. We had a lovely time with them before we put on the music and sailed back home.

- Anna Richter

CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 11:00

Report from Hafsulan: We headed out from under dense rainclouds, bundled up in overalls and raincoats, onto an otherwise calm, flat bay. On our way, the rain thankfully let up, so we only had to brave the wind in order to spot some whales. We had a rather long way out, as the whales were quite far, but soon had our eagle-eyed passengers spotting the first minke whales of the tour. We saw two of them in an area we were passing through. They were certainly living up to their reputation of being shy and elusive, as we only got to see a couple of surfaces from them before they vanished. Motivated by this sighting, we continued on, eager to spot more cetaceans ahead. We soon had our eyes on a blow in the distance, a sure sign of a humpback whale! As we approached, we saw that there were actually 2 blows, a small one and a much larger one, a mother-calf pair! Such a rare sight in this bay, we couldn't believe our luck! We spent the rest of our time with this enchanting pair, getting to compare the size of the momma and baby, getting to see their fluke prints on the surface side-by-side, completely awestruck by this duo. 3-4 minke whales also made brief appearances in the background, appearing and disappearing every now and then. We could also see 3-4 more blows way off in the distance, and some seriously excited seabirds, so it was clear that there was a feeding frenzy nearby. We were quite content with our mother-calf pair, so we decided to stay and admire them, and we were so glad we did. With a final fluke dive from the mom, and an arched back dive from the calf, we waved goodbye and headed back towards the harbour.

- Orsi Stipsicz

CLASSIC WHALE WATCHING | 13:00

Report from Eldey: This moody afternoon we sailed out once more, eager for adventure! As we left tow we saw puffins fly out with us and enjoyed the views of the open ocean. Not long after we left, we spotted some splashes in the distance and headed in that direction. It was a lone white beaked dolphin jumping by itself. They were quite high jumps, but hard to interpret if this was for joy or for speed. We watched for a bit but eventually headed further out as we had spotted a big blow on the horizon! On the way there we spotted a minke whale! These can be pretty shy so we continued to the blow we saw in the distance. When we got closer we realised it was not one not two not three but four humpback whales in this location! Two were travelling together and on our right handside, and two were separate and a bit further. All of them were feeding and taking deep dives, showing their fluke. We stayed as long as we could but as we were quite far out at this point, we had to start heading back. On the way back we spotted 4 more minke whales and a pod of roughly 4 to 7 white beaked dolphins.

- Janiek Schrijer

Birds encountered today include:

Atlantic puffin, Arctic tern, Artic skua, Northern gannet, Northern fulmar, black guillemot, greater and lesser black-backed gull, herring gull, black-headed gull, black legged kittiwake, common guillemot, razorbill

CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 15:00

Report form Hafsulan: We sailed out under calm seas and cloudy skies. The first sighting was at the beginning of our tour right next to Akourey island. A pot of four harbour porpoises that surfaced quite feu times filing us with excitement for the day ahead. On our way towards the open waters we crossed course with many minke whales until we spotted our fist big blow. A big humpback whale. The sighting started with a big show of tails slaps that let us speechless. We stayed with this individual until the time was up. On our way back we came across a pot of six white beaked dolphins that came really close to our boat and were jumping and playing with the waves that our boat made. After this amazing day we came back to port after we saw all the common sighting we host in Faxafloy bay.

-Eleftherios Manioudakis