Authorized by the Icelandic Tourist Board
Iceland tourism's official quality label
SPECIAL TOURS SUPPORTS THE LOCAL CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL
To see photos from today click HERE
WHALE WATCHING CLASSIC
Sea was perfectly smooth as we started sailing into Faxaflói bay, although clouds were covering the peninsula of Snaefellsness. We were arriving at the feeding grounds when we saw our first Minke whale. We could see the body coming to the surface and disappearing on the horizon, when one of the guests spotted another one, further away to the north. The minkes are really elusive and hard to approach so we headed a bit further away looking for other species. It didn´t take us long before we spotted a pod of white beaked dolphins! The pod was between 5 and 7 individuals, including 2 babies, they were really calm and chill around us, they came to check us out a couple times and we had a lovely look at them from up close!
After 20 minutes we saw another pod of dolphins more active on the surface, really fast and jumping in the distance so we headed towards them. As we left the first group, they started to be faster and tried to catch up with the boat and soon with the others dolphins! We were at some point surrounded by dolphins! What a great start of the day! After a while we started to go forward looking for bigger species… And not even 5 minutes later we could spot our first Humpback whale from the day! They were two animals feeding together and as we got closer we could see that they were using a very particular feeding technique : bubble-net feeding! We a great sight we had! They surfaced a few times really close to us, it was amazing! On our way back we crossed the path of a couple minke whales and even porpoises! So all 4 main species were seen in our first tour ! Woohoo ! We were also surrounded by puffins all tour, it was great!
– Florine
Tour Status: ON
Sightings: YES! Humpback Whales, Minke Whales, White-beaked Dolphins and Harbour Porpoises
Tour Status: ON
Sightings: YES! Humpback Whales, Minke Whales, White-beaked Dolphins
Another beautifully flat and calm day out in the bay. We sailed from Reykjavik out towards our whale watching area and even on the way out we spotted a pod of our white beaked dolphins. Deciding to not stay too long with these dolphins we continued out to the feeding grounds. Out there we spotted more dolphins which stayed with us for some time, swimming underneath the boat, jumping and fishing right next to us. Feeding is always a spectacular behaviour to watch. A little bit later we came across some minke whales and whilst watching these minke whales we also spotted our third species of the day, a humpback whale! We watched this whale surface many times, it was really chill and relaxed, heading in a really straight line towards Reykjavik! Three species and a fantastic whale watching tour from with Special Tours today.
Tour Status: ON
Sightings: YES! Humpback Whale, Minke Whale and White Beaked Dolphins
10:00
It was a calm morning with very good conditions for whale watching. The surface was almost mirror flat, the sky overcast and everyone in good spirits as we headed out on our morning Express tour. It didn’t take long before we stumbled upon two minke whales! You can never be too optimistic with these shy whales, but one of them was not shy at all and seemed quite curious about our ship, swimming in circles around us and coming extremely close, close enough for us to see the white bands on its pectoral fins and smell its fishy breath. We said goodbye to this friendly minke and found two humpback whales feeding, one of them surfacing multiple times head first with its mouth full of water (and hopefully fish!). This whale lifted its fluke multiple times as it was diving and while we were waiting for it to come back up we noticed splashing in the distance – from white beaked dolphins! There were also two minke whales swimming around us, and as we were looking around for the humpback whale we spotted two harbor porpoises. This means that every species present in Faxaflói was to be found in this little area! This is the first time that I have experienced this as a guide and it felt very Special. This must mean that this area had a bounty of fish to offer for all these different species, some of whom are solitary creatures. Even on our way back we saw multiple minke whales and a large pod of white beaked dolphins, so the bay is teeming with life.
– Rebekka Þórisdóttir
Tour Status: ON
Sightings: YES! Humpback Whales, Minke Whales, White-beaked Dolphins and Harbour Porpoises
14:00
The wind had picked up a little bit on our afternoon tour, but the conditions were still incredibly good. We sailed for a little bit with many puffins flying alongside us until we saw two whale watching ships on the horizon. They were observing a mighty humpback whale with a strong blow and we were able to join them very quickly. This whale was traveling very fast so we had to work to keep up with it. We observed it coming up a few times and it stayed for a long time at the surface without diving, very focused on its trajectory north. A lot of other ships had joined us at this point and the humpback didn’t seem to be slowing down so we decided to leave it in peace on its journey. We sailed for a bit and came upon another humpback whale who appeared to be very relaxed, blowing only slightly when coming up and then lounging at the surface for a while. We also spotted a minke whale who surfaced simultaneously alongside the humpback, which was a very Special sight. We spotted another minke whale a bit further away and this one was massive! We were able to catch up with it and it surfaced very close to the boat before disappearing. We hung around for a bit until we spotted the blow of a third humpback whale and sped to catch up with it, when it all of a sudden surprised us by surfacing right next to our boat, exhaling loudly and going down for a dive! We were able to see it once more as it took a few breaths and finally lifted its fluke as a signal that it was time for us to head back to Reykjavík after another successful tour.
– Rebekka Þórisdóttir
Tour Status: ON
Sightings: YES! Humpback Whales and Minke Whales
21:00
Tour Status: ON
Sightings: TBD
Today the ocean was super calm! For this first tour of the day, we expected to have more waves out in Faxafloi bay but in the end, it was really calm. Perfect weather to spot some whales. So we went out in the bay on our fast boat Dagmar. We saw the first blow at the surface. We went closer and we discovered a humpback whale! It was pretty small so probably a young one, a juvenile. It was sailing in the area, it was really close to us. We could hear the blow from the whale it was really nice! Later we spotted a group of white-beaked dolphins. They just came in our direction. Again they were pretty close to us. It was a group of 5 dolphins with babies. In the same area, there were a lot of birds flying around us! Some puffins, arctic turns, seagulls… They were all feeding in the area. we also spotted 2 minke whales there. Birds, dolphins, and whales can all feed on the same fish that´s why we can find them together. And the weather was so nice today that it was kind of easy to look at all those whales around us. We saw 3 different species here and it was a wonderful show!
– Alice
Tour Status: ON
Sightings: YES! – Humpback Whale, Minke Whale and White Beaked Dolphins
For this second tour of this day, we had really great hopes to meet some marine mammals out in the bay. We met a lot of them in the morning so we were pretty confident to find something again. And we were right! We saw 3 different species in less than 30 minutes! We spotted at first a humpback whale! But we saw another blow a bit north of us so we went there and it was another one. Suddenly some white-beaked dolphins arrived in the area. It was a group of 5 individuals. They were not really interested in our boat but they stay pretty close still to us so it was really nice. Later we realized that some minke whales were also here in the bay with us. They were pretty busy feeding in the area so they did not come close but we saw them a few times. There were also a lot of birds feeding around us: arctic turns, seagulls, puffins…A wonderful harmony. We saw again another humpback whale and we stayed with this one for quite some time. It let us travel by its side so it was wonderful! Soon it was time for us to say goodbye and go back to the harbor. But with a lot of great memories!
– Alice
Tour Status: ON
Sightings: YES! Humpback Whale and Minke Whale
For this last tour of the day, we went with a few passengers on board. The sea was even calmer than it was before. It took us some time to find something in the bay but we know the whales are here somewhere in the bay so we kept looking for them. After some research, we spotted the blow of a whale. We went closer but we did not see it anymore. But after a few minutes, we saw another blow at the surface around 300 meters away from us. And suddenly, this whale breeches! It was a humpback whale! It was beautiful! So we went closer to see this whale maybe it would breach again. Unfortunately for us, it did not but the whale was really friendly. it came really close to the boat, less than 10 meters away from us. It was so special! At some point, it went for a deep dive so we had to wait for it to come back to the surface. But in the meantime, we saw 2 minke whales in the same area! The bay was really full of life today! The humpback whale came back to the surface so we were surrounded by whales and birds as well which were feeding on fish here. Later we decided to explore the bay a bit more and we saw a few minke whales here and there. They were not paying attention to us but we could see them at the surface and it was really nice! One popped up just in front of us! W felt so lucky to see so much wildlife here in Faxafloi bay!
– Alice
Tour Status: ON
Sightings: YES! Humpback Whale and Minke Whale
Authorized by the Icelandic Tourist Board
Iceland tourism's official quality label
SPECIAL TOURS SUPPORTS THE LOCAL CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL