Tuesday, 17 June 2025

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

Report from Eldey: We went out with the famous Icelandic clouds covering the sun and a slight breeze from the south. In these almost perfect conditions we spotted 2 pods of harbor porpoises, one with 3, the other with estimated 6 individuals, shortly after we left the harbor. It did not take long after that when we sighted the blow of a whale in the distance. As we got closer, we got a good look at the single humpback whale that was resting near the surface between some fluke dives and also demonstrating how the "whale pump" works by releasing a lot of fecal matter in a visible brown cloud. After we spent some time with the animal, we went on and spotted a minke whale that was traveling very fast and so we were just able to get a brief glimpse of it during the few times it surfaced near the boat. Just a short time later we spotted the dorsal fins of some white-beaked dolphins. It was a pod of 8-12 individuals that also seemed to be resting or at least travel very slowly near the surface. We had a good look at them before we had to return back to Reykjavik. But the tour was not over and we again spotted a pod of 6 harbor porpoises traveling together at high speed on the surface. With four species sighted, this was an awesome tour!

- Knut Albrecht

Report from Hafsúla: We headed out on a gray but very calm day. Eventually a few dorsal fins appeared and it happened to be a pod of around 5 harbour porpoises. They came quite close to the boat and since the sea was calm the passengers got quite a good look at them. We carried on our journey since these cetaceans do pass by quickly. A black back appeared and we slowed down to investigate this individual. It happened to be 1 minke whale. It surfaced a few times in front of the boat. We spotted a large blow in the distance and headed in that direction. This came from 1 humpback whale. This individual displayed rather acrobatic behavior and did a tail lob, creating a huge splash. It did quite a few fluke dives too. From a distance we saw another blow and headed there. On the way a pod of around 5 white beaked dolphins came up along with another minke whale. The humpback whale that we went to happened to be a familiar face. Through photo ID we could determine that this individual is Mr. Bubbles. It showed us very high fluke dives over and over again which impressed the passengers. After a successful tour of ticking off four out of the four most common species in Faxafloi bay, we headed back to the harbour. 

-Frida Skarfors

Report from Eldey: in the afternoon, the rain caught us and off we went into the bay in a typical 17th of June, the Independence day of Iceland, when its always raining in Reykjavík! We dressed ourselves in overalls, keeping our clothes underneath safe and dry. We spotted a fast pod of 2 harbour porpoises next to us, but they were gone as fast as they came. After over an hour of trip, we finally spotted a big blow in the distance. We went to check it out, to find a lone humpback whale, that was beautifully deep diving. Calmly, it went down, to out of the blue - like, literally - breach in front of us! We had our cameras ready and it did it again! This one we definitely didn't miss. And it did not stopped there: it laid on its side, rose its long pectoral fin and slapped it on the surface! We stayed a little bit more with it, until we needed to start heading back home, since we were very far out in the bay. Even a bit wet, we sailed back very happy spotting many seabird around and 2 more harbour porpoises surfing with the swell and coming meters away from us!

- Milla Brandao

Report from Hafsúlan: we were greeted by droplets of rain in our faces as we left the harbour in search of wildlife! We had been sailing for about an hour when a few excited passengers pointed out a blow far away at our 12 o'clock. Once we got closer, we could see that there was a lovely humpback whale feeding away in this area! This whale was Mr. Bubbles, an individual we have become very familiar with already! We watched as Mr. Bubbles surfaced many times and gave us multiple great looks at his tail flukes, lifting them high up in the air! Then, after a while hanging out with Mr. Bubbles, we sadly had to say goodbye and head back to land. On the way home we enjoyed some nice, warm hot chocolate after this wonderful encounter.

-Sigrún Helgu

Report from Eldey: This evening we sailed onto a beautiful dark grey ocean. Luckily, the rain stopped and we were able to enjoy the calm sea and the beautiful mountains covered with clouds on the top. As we sailed, we found a very hungry humpback whale that was having its dinner. Every time it surfaced, it took a few breaths and then went for a deeper dive, so we were able to see its beautiful fluke quite a few times. We were also lucky enough to see it do some lunge feeding, which was quite impressive. After a while, we let it enjoy its meal and went back to port.

- Guillermo Monescillo Aragón

Northern gannet, Arctic skua, lesser and great black-backed gulls, black-headed gulls, black and common guillemots, common eider, Atlantic puffin, Northern fulmar, black-legged kittiwake, Arctic tern