Thursday, 16 July 2026

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

All Classic Whale Watching tours are on schedule today from Reykjavík! Remember to dress according to weather and feel free to borrow our thermal overalls if needed!

Report from Eldey: There was some swell in the sea today after some windy days, but we were very happy to sail out into Faxaflói on this clear morning. Lots of birds were flying in the bay: northern gannets, Atlantic puffins, great skuas, and even European storm petrels! The birds kept us company as we were searching for the whales, and even kept us entertained while we were with the whale, as the skuas chased after herring gulls and Atlantic puffins ran on the water right next to our boat. Of course, the true star of the show was the humpback whale, and we spent a good while with one individual that was surfacing a bit irregularly, but most likely feeding. He showed us his fluke once in a while, and we even got to see his full lower body as he threw his peduncle in the air! It was difficult to leave right after this action, so the captain gave us a few extra minutes to take in the beauty of this enormous animal before we started heading back to Reykjavík. 

-Eline van Aalderink 

Report from Eldey: We ventured out again in the afternoon, still some swell after the past windy days here in the bay. On our way out, we were lucky to see many beautiful seabirds - Northern fulmars, Northern gannets, great skuas, and even some small storm petrels! After about an hour of sailing, a tall blow appeared ahead! To our delight, it was a humpback whale! The individual seemed to be feeding, and we could follow some beautiful fluke dives very close to the boat. While admiring the humpback, 3 different minke whales also popped up in our surrounding, one was just a few meters away. As it could not get any better than this, 5 harbor porpoises surfaced on our starboard side. They made a few more surfaces in the same spot, before popping up by the bow and then taking off. We admired the humpback whale for a few more fluke dives, before we changed direction back to the city again. On our return, we were lucky to spot 4 travelling white beaked dolphins, However, these were fast on their way so we let them take off and continued our return. That left us lucky to be able to tick off all our main species as seen! 

- Maja Andersson

Report from Hafsulan: Seas were still quite rough this afternoon, with a light drizzle and fully overcast skies. We ventured more south in the bay to be a little bit more protected from the waves, never the less it was quite a bumpy ride for the first 30 minutes. One hour in and we still had not found any signs of whales, but as always, nature is unpredictable and we never loose hope. Patience finally paid off, and we spotted a few blows in the distance!! It was two humpback whales feeding about 800 meters from each other. We first sighted one of them, which surfaced pretty close to our boat before showing off its majestic tail as it went for a dive. We then turned towards the other whale, which was bubble-net feeding alone! We could see the near perfect ring of bubbles before the whale emerged right in the middle with a bug open mouth. Simply spectacular! We could not have asked for more, everyone went back home a little tired from the rough seas, but full of joy, and more knowledgeable about whales. 

-Matteo Poggio 

Report from Eldey: We sailed out into a rainy and swell-y Faxaflói, and we were excited to find out what we would see this late afternoon. The bay was full of birds, and out of nowhere a minke whale came up within a hundred meters of the boat. As we watched the minke whale surface, we did continue our track because our colleagues from the earlier tour had told us about an exciting area with lots of activity. When we got to this area, we were not disappointed at all - there were four humpback whales spread out over less than a square kilometer and also around 15 white-beaked dolphins. The dolphins were jumping and swimming to our bow, splashing around the humpbacks, and looked like they were having a great time. The humpback whales were calmer, most of them probably feeding and one of the individuals created a bubble ring right next to us! On our way back to the harbour the captain spotted another humpback whale, and this individual came up right in front of our bow! What a way to end this great tour full of wildlife. 

-Eline van Aalderink 

Northern gannet, northern fulmar, Atlantic puffin, great skua, Arctic skua, European storm petrel, great black-backed gull, lesser black-backed gull, herring gull, eider duck, black-legged kittiwake

Report from Eldey: The last tour of the day left the harbor with a think fog and a constant drizzle, we had a mile of visibility a long swells. Not the best conditions of spotting whales but this did not discourage us, as nature is always unpredictable. In fact this turned out to be one of the best tour of the day. We saw our first humpback whale thirty minutes into the tour, spotted by one of our passengers, this individual seemed very shy but then showed up right next to us. An amazing first sighting, and we moved on with the tour. After a while we spot more blows in the distance, around three humpback whales around us. One of them is bubble-net feeding! We approach and observe the whale for several feeding bouts, as it blows perfect rings of bubbles and then lunges straight up, out of the water with its mouth fully open. INCREDIBLE! Its gets time to say goodbye, and as we start to leave, a pod of white-beaked dolphins appears out of nowhere. Around 5 individuals coming close to the boat and checking us out. We finally start heading back home and the dolphins decide to leap out of the water, over and over again. An incredible end to our safari. 

-Matteo Poggio