Friday, 20 June 2025

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

Report from Eldey: We left the harbour in almost perfect conditions for spotting cetaceans, mild wind, and parting cloud cover. Shortly after, we spotted the splashes of some harbour porpoises. They were traveling rather quickly, so we headed on into the bay. After a while, we spotted a large blow on the horizon, which led to our first humpback whale sighting of the tour! It was a very relaxed individual, taking frequent breaths, resting near the surface. It was even kind enough to demonstrate the whale pump process, by pooping near the surface between two breaths. We then moved on to another blow in the distance, our second humpback whale sighting. This whale was also very calm, but a bit more active, going for longer and deeper dives, showing us its beautiful fluke in the process. As we were admiring the whale, we spotted many big splashes off in the distance, so we headed there to investigate. It was 3 pods of white-beaked dolphins, which gave us quite a show! They were jumping, twisting, leaping in the air! There must have been a feast for them under the surface, as 3 distinct groups of 6-10 individuals were all in the same area, exhibiting the same acrobatic behaviours. As the dolphins began to calm down, we headed back towards the harbour, spotting 3-5 harbour porpoises along the way. What a great tour!

- Orsolya Stipsicz

Report from Hafsulan: We had an incredible morning! We layered up and headed out with some much welcome sunshine on our faces. We at first had one humpback whale. This humpback was really nice to see and gave us multiple shows of that wonderful fluke. We then had a blow behind us so we waved this humpback goodbye and checked out who was there. We then came up to not one, not two, but THREE more humpback whales! One spy hopped twice for us which was a spectacular treat! These three gave us a wonderful show with consistent surfaces. One was showing us their fluke while the other two were doing small surface dives. It is always great when you get to see one humpback let alone four in a tour! We left our humpbacks to the buffet and kept moving when we came across a pod of four white beaked dolphins. They were very curious and swam under our boat twice! After multiple surfaces we kept moving only to see a different pod of six white beaked dolphins! This pod had a calf with them so they inspected us once and then off they went so off too we went. With many humpbacks and two pods of dolphins you cannot call this tour anything short of spectacular! 

-Samantha Smith

Report from Eldey: This afternoon the sun came out and we sailed out eager to see what was in store. We spotted two blows on the way out but as there was two boats with these animals already we decided to head on to find our own. And boy did this pay off! We saw 2 humpback whales together! These two were resting and coming up together extremely close to the boat! After a few moments together we headed onwards and then found another humpback whale along with a pod of 10 white beaked dolphins! They were a little scattered but ended up swimming along side (and potentially annoying) the humpback whale! The humpback then even started rolling and pec slapping!! We then headed on and found another humpback! This one was a speedster and came right towards us, coming up right in-front of us only a few meters away! As we were sailing we also spotted 3 minke whales! After being royally spoilt we slowly headed back to harbour, seeing another minke and two more blows on the horizon!

- Anna Richter

Report from Háfsulan: This afternoon we went out once again onto the bay. It was cloudy, but no rain and no wind, so very good conditions to spot whales and dolphins. After half an hour, we found our first humpback whale. In the beginning, it was very focused on feeding, so it was at the surface just a few seconds before going for deeper dives. However, every time it did it we could see its fluke. In the mean time, a minke whale passed by to say hi, but sadly didn't stay very long with us. Then, we were lucky enough to see the humpback doing some tail slapping. It was very cool! Not very far away from us, we saw a second humpback, this was a more relaxed individual and took some breaths on the surface before diving. After taking some pictures, we had to go back to port. 

- Guillermo Monescillo Aragón

Report from Eldey: This afternoon the weather changed slighty and we headed out into a little rain. We didn't let that stop us though - the whales don't care about the rain and neither do we! We once again spotted a few blows on the way out, but as there were boats we did not want to overcrowd and headed further. Shortly after we spotted a big blow, and then a humpback whale! This one tail-slapped right infront of us and the would regularly come up and go for deeper dives! Based on the excited birds and other feeding whales in the area, there was obviously quite a feast hiding just beneath the waves. To not overstay our welcome, we left this feeding whale to head for blows seen on the horizon and headed towards our second humpback whale of the tour! We were able to spend quite a bit of time, and there were many blows in the distance in all directions, further evidence of a feeding frenzy in the area. We got a nice close-up look at the whale, and then headed back towards the harbour. On the way we spotted a very rare sight, a breaching minke whale! This whale gave us quite a show, preforming multiple breaches for several minutes! What a treat! Such a rare sight to see, a fitting finale to out amazing tour.

- Orsolya Stipsicz

Report from Eldey: This evening was rainy and choppy but that did not hold us back from going out to sea. Still excited we sailed out for our tour and what a tour it was! First we spotted some blows of a very elusive animal that vanished rather quickly, but mere minutes later we spotted something way more promising. A very active flock of birds was flying close to the water surface and then, among those birds, w spotted blows! Further inspection then revealed not one, but 2 humpback whales together! These whales were very busy feeding and the birds while the birds were trying to get their pickings as well. We managed to stay with these individuals for the longest time as they were having their feeding frenzy, with the birds often showing us where they would surface next. Feeling damp but very acomplished we then headed back to Reykjavik, concluding our evening adventure at sea.

Atlantic puffin, Northern fulmar, common guillemot, black guillemot, Arctic tern, eider duck, herring gull, black headed gull, black-legged kittiwake, Arctic skua, greater and lesser black back gull