9th April 2024

Species seen today: Humpback whale, white-beaked dolphin, minke whale, harbour porpoise

Birds seen today: Atlantic puffin, great black-backed gull, great cormorant, herring gull, northern fulmar, eider duck, brent geese, black guillemot, common guillemot, razorbill.

09:00 - On this first tour of this lovely morning we went out in search of some cetaceans! We sailed close to the whale fjord since it was the last place we had seen a whale but no luck in this area. Continuing our journey around the bay we saw a glimpse of a blow in the distance and decided to investigate it. It was non-other than 2 humpback whales swimming together and doing very short appearences at the surface. Before going under, they were always showing the fluke, but we weren't expecting this: a breach!! At less than 100 metres from us, one of the whales decided to surprise us by showing all of itself above the water, which was fantastic to see!! Not too far from it we spotted 5 to 6 white-beaked dolphins that, very gratiously, came to say "Hi!" and went on to the distance again. On the way back we found another pod of the same species of dolphin, this one being a bit more fun. We got back to the harbour safe and sound!

Crew: Captain Bohdan & Guide Pedro; Captain Miquel & Guide Rodrigo

12:00 - This afternoon we sailed out in nice weather, even some occasional rays of sun. On the way we stopped at Engey, one of our puffin islands to check for some early arrivals. Although most of the puffins come around May, we were able to spot a few already. They were floating close to the island as well as flying through the bay as we were travelling. We left the puffins behind and sailed out in search of something bigger. First, we checked the area where we been lucky this morning but although we tried scanning the whole are we did not see the humpback whales. However, soon we saw another dorsal fin - minke whale. The first animal spotted disappeared as quickly as it appeared but after some more searching we found another minke whale, and we were able to get a very close look. So close that we could even smell the whale and find out where the nickname stinky minke comes from. On the way back we spotted yet another minke whale before we reached the harbour, just as the snow was coming in. 

Crew: Captain Miquel & Guide Rodrigo; Captain Bohdan & Guide Pedro

15:00 - The weather was much better as we left the harbour for our third tour of the day. Immediately after leaving we saw some harbour porpoises swimming very fast away from the boat. We followed them for a bit and when we lost sight of them we continued our sail straight out to open sea. After some time looking, we spotted white-beaked dolphins! It was a large group and they were very playful; they swam next and under the boat, and they jumped countless times out of the water. In the group there were adults and juveniles; it was a very beautiful moment and everybody on the boat was delighted. Next, we moved closer towards the peninsula of Akranes, and we eventually spotted a humpback whale. It was a very active and playful individual; it did many fluke dives, showing its individual fluke pattern, and spent a lot of time on the surface. The passengers could observe very well the main characteristics of the species, like its average size, the shape of the dorsal and pectoral fins, and its behaviour as it was feeding. It was a very good experience for everybody.

Crew: Captain Miquel & Guide Pedro; Captain Bohdan & Guide Aleksandra; Captain Gunni & Guide Rodrigo

Today all of our tours are ON! Running at 09.00, 12.00 & 15.00!

For more information, come see us atÆgisgarður 5D, email us on info@whalesafari.is

or call us on +354 497 0000