Saturday, 18 July 2026

• 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

All Classic Whale Watching tours are on schedule today from Reykjavík! Remember to dress according to weather and feel free to borrow our thermal overalls if needed!

Report from Eldey: We had nice weather today, when we departed for our morning tour. The sky clearer and the wave swells weaker, in comparison to the previous days. Out at sea, our first sighting appeared only about 20 minutes into our tour, consisting of a group of three humpback whales. They were amazing to hang out with, and we spent some good time seeing the whales feeding. All three of them were using a technique called bubble-net feeding, where they developed circles made out of bubbles, to force the fish into tight bait balls, before the whales lunged their head out of the sea, full of fish in their mouth. After leaving the humpbacks, we quick sighted a pod of seven harbour porpoises, followed another sighting of five white-beaked dolphins. The dolphins were also delightful to be with, as we could see them only a few dozen meters in front of our boat. The tour continued on, with even more sighting, including a 4th humpback whale, followed by a minke whale (a quick sighting) and then, one last, fifth sighting of a humpback whale. In the end, this turned out to be an incredible tour, full of wildlife, and an amazing start to our whale-watching day.

-  Janiek Schrijer

Report from Hafsúlan: When we sailed out this morning, the sea was very calm and quiet. The mountains were in a misty veil with only the mountain tops towering over the clouds. After a short sail, we already had our first sighting, two humpback whales swimming alongside each other! They were a little sleepy at first, but then they woke up and started lunge-feeding! We saw some bubble net spirals as well - a clear indicator that these whales were doing fishy business. Everybody was beyond impressed by the feeding displays we got to witness. By the humpback whales, we also spotted two minke whales, but we gave these shier animals some space. After a while, we moved on from the humpback whales and explored the waters a little. This was when we spotted a pod of 10 to 15 white-beaked dolphins. The dolphins were swimming slowly in a tight group. We passed them by a few times. They were not too interested in the boat, but also did not seem to mind our presence. After more slow swimming, they started accelerating, creating splashes of white water in their wakes. We did some more cruising and found another minke whale. This one was a bit closer to us than the previous ones, but we didn't stay with it for long. The ocean just kept delivering, because we ended up finding another humpback whale! This one was non-stop lunge-feeding, oftentimes blowing whole spirals by itself before going for the lunge. Quite close to this whale, we found the same humpback whales from earlier again. They were still bubble net feeding. We were absolutely speechless when they ended up doing it right next to our boat. This trip was incredible with so much wildlife, so many bubbles and a LOT of lunge-feeding!!

- Hannah Carstens

Report from Eldey: Mist surrounded us in an eerie but peaceful way. The sea was calm and quiet, which made spotting wildlife not that difficult. Especially when there are two humpback whales not even 20min outside the harbour! These whales were bubble net feeding! Blowing bubbles in a spiral and coming up from below, jaws open at the surface and taking in huge gulps of water. We could clearly see their baleen plates as they came up. Then a third one joined the party! Three of these magnificent whales bubble net feeding is not something we see everyday. After a while, we decided to continue our adventure and found a big pod of white-beaked dolphins! 20 to 30 dolphins were swimming everywhere we looked, some jumping over and over again, even doing a little spin sometime! Small dorsal fins were popping up with the bigger ones, so we got to see some cute dolphins calves! On our way back, we stopped by the humpback whales again that were still bubble net feeding. Suddenly, the bubbles appeared right next to the boat and the three whales came up mere meters from our boat! A perfect ending to this trip.

- Elefterios Manioudakis

Report from Hafsúlan: The ocean laid flat this afternoon and the sky was misty and grey like in a dream. Bird life was amazing too with big flocks of Atlantic puffins out on the tour. We did not have to go far until we had our first sighting of the day. A minke whale appeared on our right side and surfaced a couple of times in the calm waters, allowing us to see its body from the side as it gracefully swam past us. Next up we had a very quick singular harbour porpoise but unfortunetely only a few people were able to see it. A bit further away but still close to shore we stumbled upon 3 humpback whales together, and they gave us an absolutely amazing show. They did repeated bubble net feeding over and over and over again until we lost count completely. It was insane! All three coming up vertically at the same time with their mouth wide open. Some where even holding there mouth wide open for quite some time at the surface. They did proper bubble net spirals which made it easy to understand when and where they would come up since the bubbles gave it away. The feeding happened so many times that we missed out on looking at many of the events, simply because it was so much. In between the bubble net feeding they were quickly and powerfully diving and trumpeting loudly as well as showing off their beautiful flukes. We stayed for a good while until we continued a bit further. On the way we had around 2 more minke whales and the tour finished off with a pod of about 6 white-beaked-dolphins. They were a bit elusive however so we did not stay too long. What a magical day out at sea!

- Frida Skarfors 

Report from Eldey: It was a misty afternoon when we set sail. Visibility was not even 100m around the boat, which gave the impression we were alone in the world. Luckily not really alone, because we heard rumors about whales somewhere in the mist. The rumors turned out to be true, a trio of humpback whales appeared! These whales were feeding, making bubble lines and even lunged at the surface two times! Then one of them decided they had enough so they swam away from the now pair of whales and swam right along our boat, coming very close. We also decided to part ways with these whales and continued our adventure. After a while, the mist cleared and we spotted a blow in the distance. One blow turned into 4 and then we saw humpback whales all around! They were not together, but they were all feeding, doing beautiful fluke dives and surfacing right in front of the boat. After a last look, we made our way back, enjoying our evening sail. 

- Janiek Schrijer