Whale diary

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.

It was however a very strange experience with the whales. We saw about 2 minke whales, one of which we saw surface well maybe twice and the rest of the time it was mainly the very faint blow the crew spotted. We were waiting for one of the individuals to surface again when a humpback whale surfaced out of nowhere. Surfaced twice and disappeared again into the blue yonder.

We spotted a second minke whale that we could see from closer, we even saw its blow which is not often with those type of whales. We finished the tour with 6 white-beaked dolphins playful and curious coming under the boat. It was so nice to be with then in the sun, seeing some of them jumping and bow riding.

We were looking at minke whales trying to get closer but still looking further away to find something else when the captain found a humpback whale. A pod of 6-7 white beaked dolphins came with us to see the humpback, sometimes very close of our boat, bow riding and then playing around the whale. We could admire this amazing animal surface from a few meters. What a nice experience !

Next was an awesome humpback whale that we know so well. Individual called Tattoo that we´ve known since 2016 and had over 90 different encounters.

We went more south when the captain saw something. He manoeuvered very well and we could had one magical sighting of a minke whale. It was only a dozen of seconds but wonderful to observe this whale calmly surfacing, stay very close to the surface, surface again and disappear.

The birds carried out their job well as they led us to a minke whale that was seen to be moving very quickly. As we waited for it to resurface, the whale breached twice, displaying its body for the lucky passengers that witnessed this rare behaviour. After the breaches, the whale evaded our gaze once more.

We travelled towards the south to begin with where we came across the pair of humpback whales who entertained our passengers from the earlier tour. Again, they decided to show their acrobatic abilities with the smaller individual breaching on two occasions.

After some time our patience proved fruitful, as white beaked dolphins begun to approach the vessel and investigate. On our journey we stopped for a minke whale that gently cruised across our path, surfacing neatly on a handful of occasions, before lifting and rolling its back for a dive.

Just off the coastline of the Grótta lighthouse in Reykjavik, you may even have seen the blows from there on a clear day. We saw the blows of 3 humpback whales but only followed and spent most of our time with 2. It was quite difficult conditions but Captain Leo kept the boat as steady as he could.