Wednesday, 29 July 2026

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

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

Report from Eldey: We departed Reykjavík for our whale watching adventure, grateful to have calm seas (there were some waves, although they small) and good visibility, which provided us with a gorgeous view of the mountains surrounding the bay. Our first sighting was of a humpback whale, who was resting calmly and by itself. We spent some time with this individual and saw it perform a last dive into the ocean, before moving onwards with our tour. The humpback was followed by a pair of harbour porpoises. However, we did not stop for long with these porpoises, as they are very tiny and shy mammals, making it tricky to watch them. Before the end of the tour, we were still lucky to see one more humbpack whale. This turned out to be quite a fun sighting for us, since we found this large whale feeding, pushing fish up to the surface, before lunging with it's mouth open and swallowing them. After spending an amazing few hours out in the ocean, we returned to Reykjavík, with a boat full of happy people.

-  Samantha Smith

Report from Hafsúlan: We had some strong winds keeping us on our toes as we sailed out this morning. It was a bit choppy, but we sailed out full of anticipation! We enjoyed the mountain views and spotted some seabirds. And it did not take long, until we spotted a blow! We went to investigate and it turned out to be a solidary humpback whale! The whale was swimming quite calmly and did short dives, showing off its fluke every time before it initiated a dive. It showed up quite close next to us too! Then, we were spoiled with some impressive surface behaviour as this whale performed three peduncle-throws with its fluke high in the air! After a bit, we carried on and continued our search for wildlife. We found another humpback! This one maintaining a heading that brought it right past out boat. It swam past our bow, went down on our right side and reappeared a little farther away towards our left. We we speechless after seeing the whale approach us so closely! After that, we did not see this one again. It must've escaped our notice with the wind taking the usually quite visible blow away very fast. We kept searching and spotted another blow. We went to investigate and discovered that this humpback was the same individual we observed earlier on the trip. This time we had two of our rib boats observing it alongside us. We got to see a few flukes. This time, the whale seemed busier with shorter surface sequences and showing up in more unpredictable directions. Finally, it was time to return to port. We enjoyed our last moments on board still processing the incredible animals we got to witness on this trip!

- Hannah Carstens

Report from Eldey: The sun was shining through the clouds and showing some blue skies as we set out, so we popped on our sunscreen and set sail. Not too far from port we spotted the blow of one solitary humpback whale. This individual surfaced right in front of us and it was amazing to see their white pectoral fins through the surface of the water. This individual then showed off their fluke, showing us that unique pattern. This individual surfaced very close and was very relaxed, which allowed us a nice extended viewing. After multiple surfaces sequences, it was time to wave our individual and see if we could spot another cetacean. As we continued to sail we admired some Atlantic puffins that had mouths full of fish to bring back to the burrows. As we continued to sail we sotted the dorsal of 2 white-beaked dolphins. These individuals were very focused feeders and provided us with a few surface sequences before swimming off to unknown waters. We continued our sail, enjoying the sunshine, before it was time to head back to port. 

-Ricardo Almeida Mendes 

Report from Hafsulan: We had a very windy tour, cold wind from the north made for lots of white caps and watery eyes. The skies were mainly cloudy with the sun coming out later in the tour. The trip in general really tested our patience and endurance, we did not find whales until the very end, we kept searching and searching, until finally, we saw blows. We spotted blows very far in the distance, 2.7nm away! As we arrived on the scene, the show began. Two humpback whales giving us the most incredible views. First we saw whale poop, the fertilizer of the oceans! Then the whales started peduncle throwing, and one started tail slapping over and over again. Then flipped on its back and continued to tail slap! it was simply breath taking, we were all left speechless. Right before it was time to head back, the whale turns on its side, takes its flipper out of the water and slaps the water as if to say goodbye, it turns and fluke dives. We could not have scripted it any better. Goes to show that you must never loose hope and that nature is always unpredictable, and beautiful because of it. 

-Matteo Poggio

Report from Eldey: The weather in this afternoon remained similar to what we had earlier in the day, but now with the sunlight painting the bay with the colors of a cozy, yellow afternoon sky. Out at sea, it didn't take us long to spot a whale blow in the horizon. As we approached, the animal turned out to be a humpback whale. We slowed our boat and approached to a few dozens meters of the whale, so that we could contemplate the humpback, without disturbing it. The whale performed various short surfacing sequences, before diving and showing the tail, which led us to think it could be feeding. Indeed, it didn't take long for us to be certain of this, since we then saw the humpback lunge-feeding, where the whale cornered a school of fish at the surface of the sea, before opening it's mouth and swallowing them. After having an amazing sighting with this animal, we left it and headed back home, grateful with the experience nature proportionated to us.

- Samantha Smith

Atlantic puffin, Northern fulmar, Northern gannet, Arctic tern, storm petrel, lesser and greater black-backed gull, herring gull, black-legged kittiwake, common eider duck, black guillemot, common guillemot