Author: laki

We had a great time on our trips out of Ólafsvík today! In the morning, we started out by watching three sperm whales lifting up their flukes close and far from the boat. This was then followed by an amazing sighting of killer whales, that were very sociable, with several spy hops and tail claps happening. Our afternoon tour went almost the same route and got to see several sperm whale blows and flukes as well. Marie (Spotter)

In Hólmavík today we started out seeing a breaching humpback whale. Unfortunately it stopped jumping as we arrived and then we followed it for a while as it travelled inside the fjord. After this we watched another humpback that gave us some nice flukes out of the water as it dived. Judith (Tour guide)

Well there were flukes all around in both our whale watching destinations today. 

In Snæfellsnes it was the sperm whales lifting their flukes high as they went down on dives, seen on both our tours.

In Hólmavík the humpback whale we watched today took a bit of finding, but when we found it we got some great looks at it as it moved around the fjord and also lifted its tail regularly as it went down deep. 

At Snæfellsnes we had two trips with two species each today! On our morning tour, we were lucky enough to come across both sperm whales and orcas. We started out by looking at a sperm whale lifting up his fluke, and then moved on to observe the orcas travelling and foraging. Our afternoon tour was a little bit more bumpy, and we spotted the sperm whales after some scouting. As we came into the sperm whale area, at least 5 of them came up from a deeper dive. We then also spotted a humpback whale that was foraging and travelling, to finish the trip with. Marie (Spotter)

The whales made us work for it today in Hólmavík but we eventually got nice looks at humpback whales on both our tours today. The whales were not going down so deep, so not so many tails, but we did get to see at least one new whale in the fjord that has not been seen here before. Judith (Tour guide)

WOW! What a day on both our tours in both our whale watching places.
On both our tours out of Hólmavík today we got to see breaching humpback whales close to the boat! On the morning tour we saw three whales but the highlight was one which breached full out of the water twice close to the boat. On the afternoon tour we saw a breaching whale far away from us, but it kept breaching long enough for us to approach and see some amazing breaches just in front of the town of Drangsnes. Then we went to another whale which also breached twice before getting curious and blowing bubbles under the boat, giving us an amazing close look as it came over to check us out. Judith (Tour guide)

We had two wonderful tours at Snæfellsnes today! On our morning trip, we came
across a small group of white-beaked dolphins really early on into the tour. This sighting was then followed by sightings of several sperm whales in the deep water. Our afternoon tour was lucky enough to see both sperm whales and killer whales. The killer whales were travelling and socializing, with several breaches and lunges out of the water. A fantastic sighting! Marie (Spotter)

We had two trips at Snæfellsnes in really calm weather conditions today. On our
morning trip, we spotted two sperm whales, and the visibility was so good that we could even see a
few harbour porpoises very well from the big boat. As we came back to the harbour, we were
greeted by a playful group of white-beaked dolphins. On our second tour, we spotted a lot of sperm
whales and saw one fluke after another go down to the depths of Breidafjördur.
Marie (Spotter)

The two tours out of Hólmavík today were also in incredibly calm conditions. We saw a number of humpback whales on both tours, more seem to have come into the fjord since yesterday. On the morning tour we started with a feeding whale that had so many puffins around it. The humpback came up a lot and was close to shore. Then we went and looked at another two whales and ended the trip with a very special experience, where a humpback became curious and came over to check us out. The afternoon tour we spent time with a number of humpbacks popping up around us, and got to see a lot of big tails coming out of the water as well as some surface activity in the distance. Judith (Tour guide)

In calm seas and beautiful light we had two lovely tours today out of Hólmavík today. On the morning tour we watched a humpback and a Minke very close to the harbour for our whole tour. The humpback whale was slowly travelling, coming up and lot and giving us many looks at its tail.On the afternoon tour we again watched this smaller humpback for a while and then went a little further out and got to see one of our known whales here ‘Example’ which is a whale that lifts its tail very high out of the water when it dives. We also got to see it do a spy-hop at a distance. The conditions and light were beautiful out there today on our sheltered fjord. Judith (Tour guide)

We also had two very successful tours out of Ólafsvík today. On our morning trip, we had to search for a long time, to finally reach an area with lots of sperm whales around, and we got to see at least 5 of them going down for a deep dive. As we came back towards Ólafsvík, we then spotted a group of orcas that was slowly travelling in the area. When we hurried back out with our afternoon passengers, we were lucky enough to spot the orcas once again and watch them travel and forage. As we then came into the deeper waters, we saw one sperm whale lifting up the fluke next to our boat. We had a great time today! Marie (Spotter)

We had two tours out of Hólmavík today and although it took us a long time to find a whale on the morning tour, we did find a humpback moving along the edge of the fjord. On the afternoon tour we found this whale again quite quickly and we watched it go incredibly close to the shore on the other side of the fjord. There were also many puffins around and the humpback started doing some feeding under a group of birds. We also got to see a small number of harbour porpoises on this tour.

Out in Snæfellsnes today on the one morning tour there were some very windy conditions, but we found a sperm whale which we got a close look at and saw two other sperm whales go down in the distance. 

There was a lot of excitement happening on both our trips out of Ólafsvík yesterday (27th). On our
morning tour, we spotted a humpback whale just minutes from the harbour and then carried on to
find four sperm whales in the deeper waters. Our afternoon passengers hit the jackpot and, after
three sperm whale sightings, got to see a blue whale! This is only the third time in 4.5 years that we
see a blue whale on our trip – very rare and special!
Marie (Spotter)

We had a five-species day at Snæfellsnes today, with different species on each of our tours! In the morning, we scouted along the peninsula, where we encountered a Minke whale, and later on a group of about 30 pilot whales in the deep water. In the afternoon, we had to search for a really long time, to finally be rewarded with distant sightings of three sperm whales and one humpback whale, as well as a close up of orcas! Our patience definitely paid off today.

Out in the north in Hólmavík the humpback whales were in a quiet, restful mood on the morning tour but in the afternoon they were more awake. One whale breached twice, coming high out of the water, and then we found the whale we had been watching yesterday and it once again showed its curious side and played around the boat, rolling and going right underneath us. It was with another humpback, so we had two whales very close to the boat, an awesome experience.

Sometimes you don’t need a lot of whales to make for an incredible whale watch. Today, our passengers in Hólmavík were treated to an awesome experience with a curious humpback whale on both tours. In the morning tour we started watching one whale, but then another humpback started breaching in the distance. We approached the breaching whale and although it didn’t continue to be surface active, it instead became curious, circling the boat, going under us and lifting its head out of the water to take a better look. There is nothing better than watching a whale while the whale is watching you right back! On the afternoon tour we found this same humpback, which again became curious and played with the boat for the entire tour! We got to see the eye of the whale out of the water and being the only boat in the area we had the whale all to ourselves. Our whale watch here is not busy, like many in Iceland can be, and our thrilled passengers got to walk around the boat to see the whale clearly from every side. Judith (Tour guide)