Right Whale Once Again!

24.Jul 2018

WHALE WATCHING CLASSIC

9:00

Tour Status: ON 
Sightings: YES – Minke whales

13:00 

After yesterday´s sightings, anticipation was high for this tour. We tentatively told a few of today´s guests about how exciting yesterday had been and how we might be able to spot something with the glassy water conditions. If we had have known what was about to befall us, we would have screamed from the rooftops! The northern right whale returned to us once again!!!! Our guiding might have been a little quiet this tour as all the guides were too busy crying (and no, that is not an exaggeration) to explain anything about what was going on until towards the end of the tour! We have now discovered this whale is a ten year old male last sighted in CANADA in JULY, which makes him quite the swimmer! With his adorable floppy tail and giant blowholes, we can see why he would want to travel around the world making friends! How absolutely fantastic, and how lucky we are to spend time with these magnificent creatures.

Catherine Cushenan

Tour Status: ON 
Sightings: YES- Northern right whale 

17:00

Today has been one of the best days on the ocean by far, and this evening tour was no exception. We had one of the best minkes most of the crew have ever seen! He snuck up on us extremely well, from a distance we almost mistook him for a basking shark as the head was pointed out of the water for so long. Then all of a sudden, a big loop out of the water- clearly a minke whale! To top it all off, he breached within ten metres of the boat!!! Again, we had to turn off the microphone in an attempt to remain professional, but probably our squeals could still be heard all throughout the boat. It only makes things better that the whole ocean was still, letting us spot every passing minke and see quickly as a pod of white beaked dolphins came to check us out, too- but we couldn’t quite compare it to the most brilliant minke in the world!

Catherine Cushenan

Tour Status: ON 
Sightings: YES – Minke whales, white-beaked dolphins

WHALE WATCHING EXPRESS

10:00 

After some “sunny” days the typical Icelandic weather resumed and painted Faxafloi bay in shades of blue and grey. Thankfully the whales could not care less about the weather and we were met by 3 minke whales lunge feeding under an excited flock of birds. Black-backed gulls, northern gannets, puffins, common guillemots, kittiwakes, and skuas all tried to get their share while the whales fed very close to the surface.
There was at least one juvenile minke whale of 4-5 metre length as well as one adult in the mix. Especially the youngster was fearless and fed within metres of the boat. We could see its white belly as well as the white band these whales have on their pectoral fin.
Our guest were delighted and the whales seemed to show off their skills to the “oh”s and “ah”s of the passengers. After watching this impressive spectacle for half an hour the birds and whales calmed down just in time for us to leave and head back to Reykjavik.

-Carina Gsottbauer

Tour Status: ON 
Sightings: YES – Minke whales. 

14:00 

On our second Express tour of the day we once again met the North Atlantic right whale that is currently giving a very rare guest performance in Faxafloi bay. It was once again a very impressive sight and the whale repeatedly showed us its magnificent fluke when diving. We also could easily see the rough white patches on its head which are characteristic for this species.

After spending some quality time with this gentle giant we headed out further and soon observed minke whales. There were a lot of these sleek whales around and we could see 2-3 at the same time. After seeing our fill we sailed back to Reykjavik only interrupted by another glimpse at the right whale.

Tour Status: ON 
Sightings: YES – Northern right whale, minke whale

21:00

Tour Status: CANCELLED
Sightings: N/A

RIB EXPRESS

09:00 

We had a great first tour of the day on our RIB boat, Dagmar. When we had reached the feeding grounds we spotted a playful pod of white-beaked dolphins. The dolphins were feeding and jumping around happily. As we were moving through the bay we saw a great number of minke whales surfacing, with some of them popping up very close to the boat. A fantastic way to start the day!

-Emil Sölvi Ágústsson

Tour Status: ON 
Sightings: YES – Minke whales and white-beaked dolphins.

11:00 

We sped our way to the feeding grounds for our second tour of the day. The bay seemed a little less active than on our first tour, but our first sighting was a beautiful minke whale. We spotted a few other minke whales on our journey through the bay before ending our tour with a lovely pod of white-beaked dolphins. The dolphins, as always, put everyone on board in a good mood and we felt very satisfied with the tour as we made our way back to the Old Harbour in Reykjavík.

-Emil Sölvi Ágústsson

Tour Status: ON 
Sightings: YES – Minke whales and white-beaked dolphins. 

14:00 

We sailed very quickly into the bay as we had heard that there might be a rare whale in the area. We were still rather close to the harbor when we saw a breath-taking North Atlantic right whale! It was the same whale we saw the day before and we got an excellent look at it and took in all its beauty. We searched the bay to find something else to show our passengers and, in the end, WE were found by a gorgeous young minke whale. The minke whale was very curious and even poked its head out next to our boat to check us out! On our way back, we also spotted a lone harbour porpoise and I was utterly thrilled with the sightings on an almost perfect tour.

-Emil Sölvi Ágústsson

Tour Status: ON 
Sightings: YES – North Atlantic right whale, minke whale and harbour porpoise.