Saturday, 15 August 2026

• CLASSIC WHALE TOUR | 09:00, 11:00, 13:00, 15:00, 17:00, 19:30
• PREMIUM WHALE TOUR | 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00, 20:00

Today's 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: On this beautiful sunny morning, we set out onto the calm, flat bay under clear skies. Absolutely superb conditions for spotting wildlife! Almost immediately after leaving the harbour, we had our first sighting, a minke whale was eager to greet us as we started our journey out into the bay. We got to see this often elusive and shy species up close, a very promising start to this tour. We also got to see many adorable Atlantic puffins, who are all getting ready to head out into the open ocean as their breeding season is soon coming to a close. As we continued on, we spotted another minke whale, so it was clear the bay was super busy this morning. We also passed another whale watching boat with a humpback whale nearby, but we were eager to have a sighting all to ourselves, so we continued on (noting the location of this whale, so that we may pay them a visit on the way back). Heading deeper into the bay, some dark pointy dorsal fins soon caught our eyes, a pair of white-beaked dolphins! We soon realized there were more fins around, this pod seemed to be quite spread out, with a group of 4 coming close to check us out, and 4 more fins in the distance. This pod even had 2 mother-calf pairs! Always a pleasure to see the youngsters! Once we finished our big loop in the bay, looking for any and all signs of whales, we began turning and heading back towards the harbour, knowing there should be some whales in our path. We soon came across the blow of a humpback, but only stayed with this individual for one surfacing sequence, as there were quite a few whale watching vessels around, and we didn't want to overwhelm the poor thing. We got another sighting of a minke whale, and as we continued towards Reykjavík, we visited the humpback we had seen on our way out, so we spent the remainder of our time with this individual (while also seeing another blow further in the distance). This individual gave us a lovely farewell, coming close enough for us to be able to see the white pectoral fins shining through the surface. This area also had a lot of seabird activity, with Northern gannets plunge diving around, a very good sign that there was plenty of food around. What a lovely, busy morning out on the water!

- Knut Albrecht

Report from Eldey: The wind had picked up a little as we went out for our tour. With the sun shining bright we kept our eyes open to spot the first signs of whales and/or dolphins. Not long after passing the isle of Engey we spotted the first blows on the surface. It was 2 humpback whales, several hundred meters apart. One of these giants was feeding near the surface and we were able to get really close to get a good look at the animal. After some time, we went on to get a good look at the whale a few hundred meters further out. We went on, and in the calm conditions we were able to spot the tiny splashes of a small pod of 5 harbour porpoise. These shy little guys tend to hide amongst the waves most of the time and so we were really lucky to get a glimpse at them. On our way back to Reykjavík, we spotted 2 more harbour porpoises, and even found the first humpback whale of the tour. We took the opportunity to get another good look at some graceful fluke dives before we had to return to the harbour. What a lovely afternoon!

- Orsi Stipsicz

Report from Hafsulan: We had completely clear skies and brilliant sunshine as we set sail today out of the harbor. As we sailed out we admired our beautiful Atlantic puffins as they flew to and from the islands. As we were looking at Engey we npticed the low of one humpback whale. This individual was traveling right towards us and even swam right underneath us! After a few surface sequences we were treated to a fluke dive, and we observed that this individual had an almost completely white fluke pattern. This individual was taking nice surface durations which allowed us to admire their pectoral fins as they swam alongside us. After a really nice encounter we continued. Not even ten minutes later we spotted one minke whale! This individual gave us a few surface sequences, but were moving quite quickly. So after a few surfaces they swam to waters unknown to us and we continued. We spotted another blow in the distance of another solitary humpback whale. This individual was very curious and surfaced right next to the boat not once, not twice, but three times! It was amazing to watch as their body rose from below to surface. Conditions were very calm and so we could see their entire body through the surface. After a wonderful encounter it was time to wave our whales goodbye and head back to port. On the way back we spotted one grey seal as well! What an excellent tour!

-Samantha Smith

Report from Eldey: The weather and sea conditions remained pristine for the evening tour, which we were quite excited about as we headed out of the harbour. Once again, we didn't make it past the island of Engey before spotting a blow ahead, a feeding humpback whale! This individual was going for short, deeper dives, and it always surfaced very forcefully, all clear signs of lunge feeding behaviour. The excited birds also tipped us off that there was a lot of food beneath the surface all around, and we even got to see the Northern gannets plunge diving! We stayed with this whale for a lovely while, before heading over to another blow in the distance. This humpback also showed off many impressive fluke dives, and suddenly, out of nowhere, it even breached! Although humpbacks are famous for their acrobatic surface behaviours, we certainly don't see them showing off like this every day! After seeing such a special behaviour, we were feeling rather lucky, and we decided to head further out into the bay to see what else it may have in store for us. Our optimism paid off, as our eagle-eyed passengers soon spotted yet another blow ahead, another humpback whale! This was the third of the tour, and we even spotted another blow and some large splashes in the distance, most likely yet another humpback whale causing a bit of commotion nearby. We stayed with this (third) individual until our time ran out, and we had to turn back and head for the harbour. What a wonderful evening!

- Knut Albrecht

Report from Hafsulan: We took off from the harbour with wonderful conditions, barely any wind and bright sun shining in the sky - this was promising hopefully a beautiful sunset later in the tour. We sailed out about 40 minutes, before we happily saw some small fins breaking the surface on our side. It was a pod of 6 harbour porpoises that were travelling quite quickly, frequently coming up for some small breaths. But some bigger spouts caught our attention ahead, so we kept sailing to find three different humpback whales that were spread out in quite a big area. We approached one individual, and were suddenly treated to the view of a big peduncle throw! As there were several  individuals around, we guessed this could have been a communication signal - and sure enough, soon two of the three individuals joined together in a pair. We followed the pair and the solo individual for quite some time, and were able to witness several fluke dives, some lunge feeding, and exhales so close we even could feel their spout spray in our faces. In the end a pod of 10 white beaked dolphins also arrived and were seen interacting with the pair of humpback whales, even doing some full jumps in the end. We were all thrilled after such a beautiful tour, and were also treated to a wonderful sunset as we made our return back to Reykjavik. 

- Maja Andersson

Atlantic puffin, Northern fulmar, Northern gannet, Artic tern, greater and lesser black-backed gull, herring gull, black-headed gull, black-legged kittiwake