Whale diary

We first find a minke whale. The animal was probably feeding and a bit difficult to follow so we continue until we found a pod of white beaked dolphins swimming in the same area than a humpback whale.

We also found a humpback whale in the same area that was very relaxed, probably resting. We could observe it for a while and it gave us two very nice fluke dives. Meanwhile they were other minke whales around us further away. We also saw the first baby guillemots of the season, which are probably the cutest living creatures. During the way back we saw a group of 4-5 harbour porpoises, 2 other minke whales. Perfect tour.

At first, we found a humpback whale. The whale was incredibly calm and resting close to the surface, not giving us the humpback-typical beautiful fluke dives. Therefore, we decided to move on to other things, and just as we turned, the humpback breached behind us – that's life sometimes!

Then we found an area with about 3-4 minke whales that seemed to be feeding, much more difficult to photograph and then a pod of 4 white-beaked dolphins to finish the tour nicely. On the way home passengers moved into the warmer saloon and enjoyed some refreshments that could be purchased at the onboard cafeteria.

We went to the same area where a humpback was seen in the previous day but we could not find it. We did find a minke whale that we saw surfacing a few times. The animal was elusive and challenging to spot so we decided to continue our tour.

There was a minke whale in our back when we were with the humpback but we could not spot it again. We found a second humpback whale that we could see two times. Then it was time to go back to Reykjavik after this very nice morning.

At least 5 minke whales in the area feeding amongst the diverse and abundant seabirds, we had some great close encounters. Then we decided to travel further and saw a large blow, humpback whale! It was an individual we’ve seen many times over the last months and it was fantastic, surfacing often and showing its fluke also when diving down.

We saw 2 minke whales during the tour. One in the beginning that we could see surfacing during a while. And one almost in the end when we where much down south that surfaced very close to the boat but disappeared very fast. We also saw a white beaked dolphin jumping with big splashes.

We spotted again splashes and a blow from the whale and approached the area. It was a humpback whale! The animal was swimming very fast and we could see it a few times. We went back and found, probably, another humpback whale. We saw the blow a few times and one beautiful fluke dive.

We headed straight out into the open ocean as we had heard that the whales had been active this morning, and that is exactly what we found. We quickly encountered a pod of the tiny harbour porpoises and along with them a single minke whale. Very soon, a pod of white-beaked dolphins came to check us out.

We did have some wind from the southeast, maybe 6-8m/s but very little swell. We sailed out to the area we saw humpbacks on the previous day but instead found an awesome minke whale that came up many times so all passengers were able to see it and even get some photos too, which is not always an easy task with minke whales.

We felt the cold a little more on the way home so most headed inside and got a nice warm drink. We were very lucky today and saw two humpback whales and a very quick surface from a minke whale. One of the humpbacks did a couple of tail slaps and few nice high flukes as they went down. 

Today was a little more challenging than usual, we had a little more swell that caused a slightly bumpier ride but everyone really enjoyed the adventure. We first visited the island of Engey to visit the cute little puffins and then sped offshore to go searching for the whales. A large flock of birds helped us locate the first cetacean, a minke whale that we were able to see many times but only 2-3 times well.

We looked a bit longer but the animal was not showing itself anymore. We continued and found other whale watching boats observing a minke whale. We had a few good sighting of this individual surfacing a few times and we decide to go further north to try to find something else. Good call ! We found a humpback whale that we could follow.

We quickly found a humpback whale, it was quite relaxed, resting near the surface and coming up for breath now and again. At the same time that we spotted the humpback, we saw a few white-beaked dolphins at some distance to our left.

After a while we went more south and found a humpback whale. The animal was very busy feeding, coming up only two times before it went back for a dive. We also spotted a minke whale it the same area a little bit further. We went a bit closer to Reykjavik and found a second humpback whale.

After saying good-bye to the puffins, we went further out to sea, but the fog was very thick and the lack of visibility made whale spotting tricky. However, our persistence was rewarded with a humpback whale sighting. The individual stayed in our proximity for quite a few minutes, surfacing frequently to pose for a picture.

After looking a bit we quickly found a first minke whale. It was a very nice and close sighting. During the tour we will be able to see at least 2-3 other minke whale. We went further out and found very quickly the same humpback whale that we saw yesterday.

We continued our tour and saw a black form slowly moving through the frog. We approached and found a humpback whale very relaxed and sleepy, staying near the surface. We could stay with this young individual for a very nice moment. We also saw a minke whale very quickly during the way back.

We sailed for about 1.5 hours before we saw our first whale sightings, a humpback whale that was being very playful with 4 (2 mothers and calves) white-beaked dolphins. At first we thought the whale was getting annoyed by the dolphins but after closer analysis we could see the whale was just rolling and having fun with them.