Wednesday, 26 August 2026

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

Today's Whale Watching tours from Reykjavík are on schedule as shown above. Remember to dress according to weather and feel free to borrow our thermal overalls if needed!

Report from Eldey: We headed out in calm seas, excited to see what the day might bring. It wasn’t long before we spotted our first whale — a minke whale that surfaced several times nearby, giving us some great views before disappearing beneath the waves. As we continued on, we came across a large group of 40 harbour porpoises. Seeing so many together was quite unusual, and even more special because they were so close to the boat. It was a memorable sight as they moved through the calm water around us. But the surprises didn’t stop there. In the distance, we suddenly saw the unmistakable big blow of a humpback whale. We headed closer, and as we reached the area, we noticed around 10 white-beaked dolphins travelling nearby. There was also another minke whale in the same area, making it an incredible mix of marine life all in one place. On the way back towards the harbour, we also saw 10 more porpoises passing by and wake-ridind, surfing with our waves. We were also lucky enough to spot one more humpback whale. It was a wonderful final sighting and a perfect way to end an already fantastic day on the water. All in all, it was an exceptional whale-watching trip, with minke whales, humpback whales, harbour porpoises and white-beaked dolphins — and some particularly memorable encounters along the way.

- Milla Brandao

Report from Hafsúlan: We went out for more smooth sailing on calm seas. The air was a bit crisp however, so we suited up and enjoyed the sea views in our overalls. Shortly after we exited the harbour, we joined another boat in waiting for a humpback whale to show up. It was testing our patience a little with very long dives. We were very excited to observe its first surface sequence as we arrived. We got a neat display of this whale's very white fluke underside. After this, its surface sequences were very short with long dives in between it was a bit tricky to observe it. After it was out of sight for over 15 mins, we carried on in search of other wildlife. We ended up quite busy, too. We spotted a minke whale that was very small, likely a juvenile. Then, we found a minke whale that was surfacing a lot. We got to observe it very well and saw its rostrum raised upon breaking the surface. After more sailing, we spotted a pod of around 5 harbour porpoises right by a pod of 6 white-beaked dolphins. The dolphins had two calves with them, one of which was very young still. We stayed with the dolphins a bit and even got to see them leaping! After this spectacle, we carried on. We came across 3 more minke whales that we spotted briefly and another pod of 6 harbour porpoises that was zooming along the surface. What a busy time at sea!

- Hannah Carstens

Report from Eldey: This afternoon we started sailing into Faxaflói bay ready to find some cetaceans! Not far form shore, we spotted a lone minke whale passing by, in which we could see it a couple of time before continuing our journey. We passed by a few puffins that are still here (!) and not long after spotted a blow! It was a humpback whale, so calm and beautiful going down for a dive. The whale got closer to our vessel, and not only we could hear the blow, but also feel it! The spray of its breathing went to our faces and it was the freshest blow ever. We also recognized this individual: Neila! A loved female humpback that comes here every summer. Out of the blue, Neila did a tail throw... twice! Everyone was amazed with such behaviour, definitely not seen often. We then started to sail back to Reykjavik, as our time was running out, having a beautiful view of the mountains and landscape from Faxaflói all around.

- Sigrun Helgu

Report from Eldey: The wind was picking up a bit when we sailed out, but still good sea conditions to find some whales! The last remains of the sun in between the mountains, Esja was beautiful shining and with that view, we started looking for some cetaceans. After about 45 min of sailing, we spotted a big blow quite far away! When we arrived, we saw we had a humpback whale with us! This one was going for specific 3min fluke dives, and coming back up and even surprising us right next to our vessel! WOW! This is jump scare we love! It passed slowly right in front of us and we could take our time admiring it. We spent a while with this whale, and then started going to another area, where we spotted another blow! This humpback was Neila, a female humpback we encountered today already. Neila was going for fluke dives and feeding, since was being followed by a few black-legged kittiwakes. And indeed, there were many seabirds all around, so we knew that was a very productive area. We then needed to head back to Reykjavik slowly and the wind started to pick up a bit. We got hot chocolates and got warm inside, happy with all the sightings of our tour.

- Milla Brandao

Report from Elding: We sailed into Faxaflói and immediately got to see some action, as an Icelandic coastguard ship and helicopter were doing an exercise that we got to see from up close. We sailed passed them and found hundreds of seabirds flying around in the same area, so we decided to have a better look in case some larger animals had decided to enjoy the same fish as the birds. We sailed around a bit, and suddenly there it was: the blow of a humpback whale. The humpback whale was feeding, changing direction quite a bit and showing us his fluke here and there. While we waited for the whale when he was diving, two harbour porpoises came up right in front of us! We caught some very quick glimpses of them before they disappeared into the deep, and we continued our journey. We admired a stunning pink and red and orange sunset, before we headed back to Reykjavík. 

- Eline van Aalderink

Atlantic puffins, Northern fulmar, Northern gannet, great cormorant, common guillemot, herring gull, black-backed gull, lesser black-backed gull