Authorized by the Icelandic Tourist Board
Iceland tourism's official quality label
SPECIAL TOURS SUPPORTS THE LOCAL CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL
To see photos from todays tours please click HERE!
We sailed out full of enthusiasm, not certain what to expect. The sea and weather were quite good, it was a little rough but nothing compared to most of last week. Personally, I was very excited to finally sail out in good conditions again. We saw some Atlantic puffins on the way out and a couple of other cool seabirds. Within an hour we met the first mammal species of the day, we saw three white-beaked dolphins! That was a beautiful encounter, it was short because they did not feel like hanging out with us, but we got a good look nonetheless. Very soon after the dolphins, we saw the next animal: a common minke whale. It turned out there was not just one, during the next 30 minutes we could see many of them, but they are so difficult to see. Luckily, we finally got a very good encounter, a large minke whale came up right in front of our boat. That was beautiful!
– Iris
Tour Status: ON
Sightings: Yes – Minke whales, White-beaked dolphins
The bay was sunnier this afternoon, so definitely a good time to put on some sunscreen and enjoy the Icelandic summer! Sea conditions were a bit on the rough side, but sailed bravely across the waves. Some whales were spotted in the morning, so we felt pretty confident that we could find them again, and we did! We reached an area where many birds were flocking and soon a minke whale appeared. It had probably been snacking on fish for the whole day, and now it was swimming in search of the next school to swallow. We kept on looking for other animals and in addition to the minkes swimming around us, we managed to spot a pod of white-beaked dolphins. They were swimming compactly and we noticed that there were at least a couple of calves in the group. We kept on observing them for a while, then they sprinted to the side and soon disappeared between the waves. In the end, we came across another minke that was just finishing its meal, so we managed to see it lunge feeding one last time before swimming away.
– Massimiliano
Tour Status: ON
Sightings: Yes – Minke Whales and White Beaked Dolphins
We sailed out with a small group of excited passengers. There were also some enthusiastic birders on board. They spotted many different species throughout our tour: majestic northern gannets, plenty of northern fulmars, some soaring Manx shearwaters, aggressive Arctic skuas, floating common guillemots, and of course their close relatives: the unbelievably cute Atlantic puffins! We had a good atmosphere on board with these lovely passengers. But we were not lucky this time, we sailed out further and further, there was no sign of cetacean life in the Faxafloi bay this evening. Unfortunately, it seemed that the whales had left us alone. We could still enjoy the birds, the surrounding mountains and the beautiful changing sky. And, of course, everybody was invited to come again for free!
– Iris
Tour Status: ON
Sightings: No – All our passengers are welcome to join again for free
Our tour started with a cloudy sky and a windy sea, but the sun eventually broke through the thick cover and started shedding its light on the bay. It didn´t take us long before we spotted the first animal, as a minke whale showed up right in front of us. These seasonal visitors show up in the bay to feast on its abundant resources and that’s probably what this individual was looking for. We soon realised that it was not the only one though. Different species of birds were flying around or just sitting on the water, and with them, many more minkes showed up from time to time. We also encountered a small group of white-beaked dolphins. A mother and calf pair even swam towards us only to reappear on the other side of our boat with other members of their pod. They didn’t seem interested in us so we decided to keep observing from afar before looking for more whales. We eventually met more minkes: apparently three individuals were swimming around us. It was the last encounter before having to go back to the harbour, but we were sure that we were going to see the animals again.
– Massimiliano
Tour Status: ON – Very Rough Seas
Sightings: Yes – Minke Whale and White Beaked Dolphins
Dear Reader,
it was supposed to be rough out there. Many people were kind of nervous because of that. We always study the weather maps and look at the conditions before deciding to go out or not. Safety is our biggest concern on all of our trips! When the Captain made the call, we ventured out into the bay. To our relieve, it wasn’t really that bad. Some movements here and there, but more like the thrill of a smooth rollercoaster than anything else. It just added to the experience. Weather was also nice, with beautiful sunshine that had been so scarce recently. So, all we needed were some whales. We needed to head out quite far before we came across lots of birds- one of the cues that there might be a cetacean species here, that might be feeding on the same fish as these birds. And soon after we did actually manage to see a minke whale that was beautifully spotted by one of our passengers. A true team effort! We saw a few of these minke’s as we moved around, one of them coming up right in front of us, not even 20m away from us, out of nowhere! It disappeared just as quickly. But there was another one that came up two, three times in a row about 50m in front of us. It seemed like these minke whales were really busy feeding and we are basically on their buffet. As we had to turn around we even came across a whaling boat, one of the last two remaining in Iceland. It was very absurd to see them so closely. But we also saw the smoke of the recently erupted volcano. What beautiful scenery indeed! I recommend everybody to go there if they can, whilst in Iceland. It is so worth it. I really hope that our passengers also think the same about our tours: “Wow, that was really worth it!”
Thanks for reading
Daniel Blankenheim
Tour Status: ON
Sightings: Yes – Minke Whales
Tour Status: ON
Sightings: No – All passengers are invited to a complimentary tour.
Tour Status: ON
Sightings: Yes! Minke Whale and White-Beaked Dolphins
Tour Status: ON
Sightings: Yes! Minke Whales
Tour Status: ON
Sightings: Yes! Minke Whales
Authorized by the Icelandic Tourist Board
Iceland tourism's official quality label
SPECIAL TOURS SUPPORTS THE LOCAL CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL