To see or download pictures taken on your tour, please click here.
We expected rough conditions today, but when we sailed out it was pretty alright, just a gentle rocking of our vessel from side to side. After about one hour of sailing, we came across the first humpback whale. This individual traveled further into the bay at high speed, and we had some troubles keeping up with it. Humpbacks are often very easy-going and travel at a slow speed, but this one was going real fast. We mostly see the big blows in the distance and it took us a while to get closer and see it lifting its fluke (the tail fin) above the surface to go for a dive. In the same area, though, there were two other humpbacks seen by another vessel. They were going for long dives as well but we saw both of them a couple of times. We followed one of them and just when we were about to start heading back home, it threw its tail around in behaviour we call tail-lobbing. That was awesome to watch and rewarded us for being so patient with the sneaky humpback whales!
–Hanna Michel
Tour Status: ON Rough Seas
Sightings: YES – Humpback whales
The wind had picked up a bit during the day, but still, the sea conditions were quite alright. We headed back to where the humpback whales were in the morning but instead came across a small pod of 3-4 white-beaked dolphins first. They were heading away from us at a high speed so we did not try to keep up with them but decided to head further out instead. Shortly afterwards, we saw the blow of a humpback whale and could see it go for a dive and lifting its tail above the surface as we got closer. While waiting for this individual to come up again, we saw another humpback whale breaching (jumping out of the water) and creating big splashes. It was in the distance, but we saw the whale breach at least 6-7 times. We got closer and the whale stopped breaching and went for long dives instead. We saw it a couple more times, but then saw another group of 3 white-beaked dolphins. They appeared to be up for interacting with us and in typical dolphin style swam all around us and allowed us all to enjoy their presence for quite a while. In the end, we left the dolphins and have the humpback whale another try that was still in the area. We saw it a couple of times maybe 200 meters or so away from us, but then finally it surfaced just a few meters away from our boat! That was incredible and the perfect end to our fun tour!
–Hanna Michel
Tour Status: ON Rough Seas
Sightings: Humpback whales, white-beaked dolphins
It was a very windy day and the sea was rough, so it wasn’t easy to spot any animal in the bay this morning. We were searching the bay for a while, trying to find a blow or a fin between the waves. And then unexpectedly it appeared! The big, majestic humpback whale, diving in just in front of us! It was amazing to see this amazing animal from so close! We had a high speed ride on the rib boat too, almost surfing on the waves! We stopped a boat at the nesting grounds of puffins too, admiring these Iceland’s iconic birds from a very close distance. A beautiful and adventurous day!
Iga Meister
Tour Status: ON Rough Seas
Sightings: YES – Humpback whales