Reykjavik Whale Watching Diary 3rd May 2014

Tour @9am

A scenic sailing trip with porpoises and one shy minke whale

This morning greeted us with a fresh breeze which of course doesn´t distract us from going whale watching.

There was quite a bit of swell and we took a very long sail around to find whales. It was a really beautiful morning with very nice clouds and  a yellow glow over Reykjanes peninsula and we even got to see the snow capped Snæfelsjökull-glacier. It is incredible that Snæfellsnes is still so snowy while the summer has clearly arrived in town.

On our way we saw many pods of harbour porpoises and they showed themselves really well as well. So all in all we saw at least 20 porpoises all over the bay.

When we finally found a minke whale, he was quite elusive and didn´t show more often than 3 times…so our passengers had a hard time really seeing him, this is why we offered complimentary tickets so our guests can join us one more time to get a better look, not only a glimpse.

The gannets were a pleasure to watch though, as always, they were plunging into the water and sometimes so close to the boat, that we almost got wet from the see spray.

On the way back the wind had gotten a little stronger but we just enjoyed the view on this beautiful morning here in Iceland.

minke whale, harbour porpoise, puffin, gannet, zwergwal, schweinswal, Basstölpel, Papageitaucher

Tour @1pm

A rainy sail with a minke whale and a lot of porpoises.

So it had started raining as we embarked in Reykjavík.

As this morning, it took us quite a sail to find a minke whale and after we finally did, he showed himself very well and was swimming one time around the front of our boat, so everybody got a really good look. This minke though was quite occupied feeding, the same behaviour we had seen in minke whales the last couple of days.

It showed some times again, but usually only the dorsal fin, so it was a little harder to watch.

After we hadn´t seen him in a while we saw an area with a lot of gannets feeding and plunging into the water and this is where we saw him again.

All over the bay were harbour porpoises, they were literally everywhere and we enjoyed their company. All in all we saw maybe 20 of them, just like this morning.

We had quite a lot of puffins sitting around on the bay and we could see how they really prefer diving to flying when in doubt.

minke whale, harbour porpoise, puffin, eider ducks, zwergwal, schweinswal, papageientaucher