17th April 2024

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

Birds seen today: Atlantic puffin, black guillemot, black-legged kittiwake, european shag, Northern fulmar, Northern gannet, razorbill, eider duck, common guillemot, lesser black-backed gull, black-headed gull, greylag geese, Arctic skua

09:00 - There was a little more whitecaps on the ocean today compared to yesterday. But this didn´t stop our excitement as we headed out to see puffins and cetaceans. We stopped by Akurey to begin with to see many many puffins. They were lots sat on the water in all directions. After having a good look at these cuties we headed out to find some bigger animals. Once we got further out we kept seeing large flocks of birds feeding. We hoped to see some cetaceans with them but having been to 3/4 flocks we saw none. Then just as our hopes were lowering, blow! Ahead of us we saw a big blow. We had to wait for a few minutes to see it again whilst it dived but then it reappeared and we saw it was a humpback whale! It surfaced 3 times before going for a huge fluke dive. It seemed to be a really big humpback. It then resurfaced under some birds and started to roll and show it´s pectoral fins. We then watched it for a few more minutes before we had to head back to the harbour after a great morning.

Crew: Captain Gunni & Guide Rob

12:00 - We sailed out at 1200, with a quick stop at Engey before we headed out. Engey is one of the puffin islands where they come to breed and it was wonderful to see them nice and close. We then went out into the bay to find cetaceans and after over an hour of sialing found 3 humpback whales! One was Gustav from the previous day. Two, including Gustav, came extremely close! We did spot 2 more, so think we saw 5 humpback whales in total. Amazing end to our tour!

Crew: Captain Megan & Guide Anna

15:00 - Having heard about all the excitement on the last tour we were eager to head out so we went straight out to find the whales. The sea was much calmer now with no white caps but fairly big swells. About 20 minutes into the tour we saw a splash and dorsal fin, it was a white beaked dolphin. There was about 4 in total but they were fairly elusive not coming up too often. We then also saw a minke whale but only for a brief surface so we carried on further. We then saw a big flock of birds feeding and right in the middle we saw 2 big blows. We had found a couple of humpback whales! This pair were very close together, one we know called Gustav. They came up lots and fluked many times. We also saw a 3rd humpback close to us and a 4th a bit further in the distance. The pair, in particular, came really close to our boat and we could see their whole bodies through the water. One even did a little tail slap. They were likely feeding due to there being so many diving birds including an Arctic skua chasing the other birds. In the midst of this mahem we saw another 2-3 minkes and about 30 dolphins. One of the minkes surfaced just a few metres from the front of our RIB. The dolphins were also in a great mood, maybe excited by all the food as they jumped lots and swam very fast. We then, unfortunately, had to head home after an incredible tour.

Crew: Captain Gunni & Guide Rob

Today we are going out on ALL of our tours - at 09:00, 12:00 & 15:00!

For more information, come see us at Ægisgarður 5D, email us at info@whalesafari.is

or call us on +354 497 0000