Whale diary

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    humpback whale and passengers
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    In total we got to see 4 humpback whales, 3 grey seals and many seabirds! Moments after setting off we could already see many blows from close to Viðey and as we arrived we realised there was a pair of humpbacks with two solo feeders. They regularly came up lunge feeding and we saw so many fluke dives.

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    humpback whale and passengers
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    It didn't take more than 10 minutes to spot our first cetacean, a humpback whale blowing away near the shores of Viðey! It was in the company of two other humpback whales that were doing different things. This first individual was doing short dives and the other doing more erratic dives. We also saw 4-6 seals in total today!

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    humpback whale and passengers
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    We had the most wonderful tour today with 3 humpback whales! We had hardly sailed past Engey before we saw the individual from the past days, logging at the surface. We quickly moved on to find Calamity that was being quite curious and came very close to the boat. We then observed Ekki that finally showed us a fluke dive!

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    humpback whale
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    Soon after leaving the harbour we saw a blow from a humpback whale (Ekki) and it was feeding on lots of fish underneath us. We then saw 1-5 seals and one came very close to the boat. We then spotted a second humpback whale (individual from yesterday) and another blow, likely from a third humpback whale (Calamity).

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    humpback whale
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    Not long after leaving the harbour we saw 6-7 seals - then a blow - and then another! We had one humpback whale (Calamity) to our front and one behind us (Ekki) and then a third humpback whale! This new whale to the area had very pretty spotty skin pigmentation and was logging at the surface for about 3-4 minutes at a time.

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    humpback whale
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    We started our morning with a bang and right away we found a humpback whale (Ekki) very close to Engey! We even found a small pod of harbour porpoises very close by and by the shore we found some grey seals and lots of great cormorants! We came back to the same area and we found another humpback whale (Calamity).

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    humpback whale next to icy cliff
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    About 5 minutes after we left the harbour, we already had our first encounter: a humpback whale (Ekki). Today it even rolled, showing the white fluke underneath! We then saw another humpback whale (Calamity) which came very close, passing underneath us. The landscape and the whales were just amazing today - great tour!

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    humpback whale dorsal fin
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    We sailed out in glorious but very cold conditions. Shortly after setting off we were greeted by a seal - in total we saw 3 during the trip. We then saw a quick moving harbour porpoise before we found our first humpback wale (Ekki)! After spending a good time with this individual we found a second humpback whale (Calamity).

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    humpback whale
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    A freezing cold wind was blowing from the North today, bringing swell and waves deep into the bay. We found a humpback whale (Ekki) quite early in the tour and we could see its beautiful white flippers. In the same area there were 2 harbour seals, one of them was showing its tummy laying down on its back and looking at us. 

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    humpback whale
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    As we were leaving the harbour, our first humpback whale (Calamity) that was going for long dives and then it breached right in front of us! On the other side of Viðey, we spotted our second humpback whale (Ekki) that was lunge feeding, showing its mouth and long pectoral fins. We also spotted about 10 curious grey seals!

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    The sky was beautiful, the winds were calm, and the wildlife was abundant! We spotted the first humpback whale within twenty minutes. In the same area, we saw a few harbour porpoises and two grey seals popped their heads out of the water. We continued our journey and found another humpback whale (Ekki).

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    grey seals
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    It's was very foggy day, but the sea looked calm so we head out into the clouds to look for some cetaceans! We saw several birds feeding on the surface and there were at least 3 grey seals by the islands but not a single fin was found for the rest of the tour. We therefore gave complimentary tickets to our passengers!

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    humpback whale fluke
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    The tour started with light wind and sunshine, then moved onto rain and fog, and for the rest of the tour we had swell. We encountered two groups of 1-2 harbour porpoises and a lonely grey seal at the beginning of the tour, and about halfway through we could see a big splash created by a humpback whale (Calamity) from a great distance.

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    humpback whale
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    We first found the humpback whale 'Calamity', very close to the harbour near Viðey and observed it do a few fluke dives. On our right the head of a grey seal popped out of the water. We left the area and searched for the other humpback whale that we call 'Ekki' and found it very close to land on the other side of Viðey. On our way back we spotted a harbour porpoise.

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    humpback whale
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    With a beautiful rainbow, we sailed to the islands, expecting that the whales were still there. After about 25 min, we got to see a big blow and we were sure we had a humpback whale (Ekki), especially when we got closer to it. After spotting 2 grey seals on the way further out, there was another humpback whale (Calamity) that showed us its wide fluke when diving!

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    humpback whale
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    Today we saw a harbour porpoise that jumped very high out of the water. We continued our journey and saw 6-7 grey seals including some that came really close to us. We then saw a humpback whale (Ekki) that showed us many arched backs before diving. On our way back home we got another surprise as we saw second humpback whale (Calamity)!

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    humpback whale blowhole
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    We had strong winds today, but that didn't stop us from sailing the shores of Reykjavík. A few minutes into the tour, we spotted a humpback whale (Calamity) surfacing beautifully. After a while, we decided to see if the other humpback whale (Ekki) was still around and we found it closer to Esja. It came very close and very classily, pooped right in front of us!

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    humpback whale fluke
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    We had to go very close to the mainland to find the wildlife from the previous days. A passengers screamed while pointing on our left side, and there it was, a humpback whale (Calamity)! As we were repositioning the boat, we spotted a second blow further out which turned out to be another humpback whale (Ekki). We also spotted a grey seal in the shallow waters!

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    humpback whale pectoral fin
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    During the early moments of the tour we spotted lots of seals as we travelled around Viðey. In total we saw about 10 grey seals and 5 harbour seals in addition to 7+ harbour porpoises. Eventually we found 2 humpback whales at the foot of Mt Esja. They regularly came up for breaths and one of them (Calamity) even rolled and lifted its pectoral fin out of the water!

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    humpback whale fluke
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    We sailed out on a very windy afternoon in search of cetaceans. On our way out of the harbour we saw 3 harbour porpoises before finding our first humpback whale (Calamity). We then found 4 grey seals and 2 harbour seals. We then also spotted the second humpback whale who was lunge feeding quite a lot!