Welcome Back Humpback Whale!

Welcome Back Humpback!

25.Aug 2018

WHALE WATCHING CLASSIC

9:00

In what could probably be called our wildest tour to date, we saw all four species this morning. We were first surrounded by a pod – this could even be called a herd as it charged with such belief in itself – of white-beaked dolphins reaching numbers of around fifty, all captured on drone, followed by several minke whales dotted about bordered by some not-so-shy harbour porpoises. Then, as we were about to set a course for home, the true star of the show, a humpback whale, turned up closer to the boat than you can describe in words to make friends! Absolutely incredible and we were very happy to be at sea today.

-Catherine Cushenan

Tour Status: ON

Sightings: YES – Humpback and minke whales, harbour porpoises and white-beaked dolphins.

13:00

Sadly the morning’s antics were not a prediction of the rest of the day. Everything suddenly went to sleep. After such an exhausting morning, it seems they need to take a break and while we enjoyed sailing in the sunshine in lovely calm seas, we were not able to make any mammalian pals to enjoy it with.

-Annika Heimrich

Tour Status: ON

Sightings: NO – Passengers invited to join another whale watching for free.

17:00

We went between seeing white-beaked dolphins and seeing minke whales like it was a game of tennis!! Two o’clock, four dolphins, twelve o’clock, a minke whale, seven: dolphins, one: minke whale and so on and so forth for the whole tour! This evening absolutely takes the biscuits for most variety of appearances at different hands of the clock! We had no idea where to look as everything was popping up at random intervals! That said, it was a great time and they kept us on our toes like the true professional tennis players always do.

-Annika Heimrich

Tour Status: ON

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

WHALE WATCHING EXPRESS

10:00

I was very hopeful that we were going to see some cetaceans when we set sail this morning because the sea conditions were absolutely perfect for whale watching. There was almost no wind and sunny skies, and as we got out into the bay there was hardly a wave in sight. As we were making our way out we sailed past a pod of harbour porpoises, which were our first sighting of the day. We kept going, however, because we spotted a pod of white-beaked dolphins in the distance. We admired the dolphins for a few minutes but, after spotting a huge blow in the distance, we realized that there might be a larger whale in the area. We made our way there with haste, and we actually spotted a minke whale surfacing right in front of our boat on the way. Once we got there, it was clear that the blow was from a gorgeous humpback whale. We followed the humpback whale around for the rest of the tour and we got a very good look at it. It even showed us its fluke a few times, generating some “oohs” and “aahs” from our passengers. As we were running out of time, we then made our way back to the Old Harbour in Reykjavík, spotting a few more minke whales on the way. This was a perfect tour as we were able to see all four cetacean species that we find in the bay, and everyone on board was very pleased with the tour.

-Emil Sölvi Ágústsson

Tour Status: ON

Sightings: YES – Humpback whale, minke whale, white-beaked dolphins and harbour porpoises.

14:00

After the great success of the first tour, we were all in very high spirits for our second tour of the day. We decided to go to a different place than usual and sailed close to Akranes. Once there, we found a great number of minke whales. The minke whales were feeding and they surfaced quite regularly, so we got a very good look at those beautiful baleen whales. After the passengers had seen enough of those minke whales, we sailed further north and found a brilliant pod of white-beaked dolphins. Our passengers were very pleased with seeing the dolphins and they got a nice comparison between the toothed whales and the baleen whales. Overall, I was very pleased with the tour and really happy about the wonderful day out at sea.

-Emil Sölvi Ágústsson

Tour Status: ON

Sightings: YES -Minke whales and white-beaked dolphins.

RIB EXPRESS

09:00

What a beautiful day out on the sea. The sun was shining all day long and we had great sightings of wildlife on board Dagmar our RIB boat. On the first tour we saw first a large pod of 30-50 white-beaked dolphins. Some in a distance and some so close to the boat, breaching within 10 meters and swimming along the side of our boat sometimes 5-7 together. Then we saw 2 minke whales, and one lunge fed belly up, within 20 meters from the boat, that we could see its pinkish white belly and throat expand like an accordion twice. What an experience! We also saw a flock of 7 red-necked phalaropes (birds) floating at the surface which is not usual sight.

-Bastien Gueit

Tour Status: ON

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

11:00

The second tour was as great as the previous and the sea was even smoother. First, we saw a humpback whale, then 3-4 beautiful minke whales with one juvenile of this year, that came several times close to us and were definitely feeding. And we ended the trip with the same humpback whale but with no other boat around, and saw it lunge feeding mouth high up above the surface several times in a row. Fantastic!

-Bastien Gueit

Tour Status: ON

Sightings: YES – Humpback whale and minke whales.

14:00

The third tour was maybe the least productive of the day but we first saw one minke whale not so far out but just three times and gone. So we went further out and circled the bay until we saw 2-3 minke whales near Akranes at the end of the trip really close and really nice.

-Bastien Gueit

Tour Status: ON

Sightings: YES – Minke whales.

16:00

Nature was rewarding us with great sighting on the last tour. First 3 beautiful harbour porpoises seen several times close to the boat that we could hear their little puff when they breathed and see their brown colour. Then we spotted two minke whales in two different area and saw them very well and close several times. And on the way back ten white-beaked dolphins put on a show.

-Bastien Gueit

Tour Status: ON

Sightings: YES – Minke whales, white-beaked dolphins and harbour porpoises.