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.