Author: laki

 What an incredible orca encounter we had today! After a long search in the waters of Breiðafjörður, we were rewarded with watching two groups of orcas coming in from the West, along with a brief Minke whale sighting. The Minke whale was rather elusive, but the orcas came to check out our boat, and a female with a small one came really close while the boat was stationary. It was almost like she wanted to show the little one what was to be expected from our boat, as if saying: “And here we have Láki Tours; they don’t do anything, they just look at you.” Two other members of the group were not that interested in the boat, but started playing and fooling around with each other. One of them, a young male, even showed the sea snake on the surface (if you don’t know what that is, check the last picture). This was the perfect tour – we are already excited what tomorrow will bring!
Marie (Tour Guide)
‪#‎lakitours‬ ‪#‎boattour‬ ‪#‎whalewatching‬ ‪#‎orcas‬ ‪#‎killerwhales‬ ‪#‎blackfish‬ ‪#‎orca‬‪#‎killerwhale‬ ‪#‎orcababy‬ ‪#‎orcacalf‬ ‪#‎seasnake‬ ‪#‎Iceland‬ ‪#‎Westiceland‬‪#‎nature‬ ‪#‎wildlife‬ ‪#‎ocean‬ ‪#‎whales‬ ‪#‎minkewhale‬ ‪#‎May‬

We had a second 4-species-day right away – but today we exchanged the Minke whale for a lot of orcas!! During the tour we came across a small pod of white-beaked dolphins that approached the boat shortly, a sperm whale showing us the fluke at a distance, a humpback whale lunge-feeding very close to the boat, and two different groups of orcas socializing, feeding and travelling! Well, if that’s not an amazing outcome, then I don’t know what is. When we approached orca group number 2, we could even see a breach from one of the juveniles at a distance, and there were lots of babies playing with each other in between diving gannets and bigger orcas hunting herring underneath the surface. One juvenile approached the boat before hurrying back to the feeding frenzy. Ah, what a day! We hope for many more like this to come this summer!
Marie (Tour Guide)
‪#‎lakitours‬ ‪#‎boattour‬ ‪#‎whalewatching‬ ‪#‎orcas‬ ‪#‎killerwhales‬ ‪#‎blackfish‬ ‪#‎orca‬‪#‎killerwhale‬ ‪#‎orcababy‬ ‪#‎orcacalf‬ ‪#‎whales‬ ‪#‎spermwhale‬ ‪#‎pottwal‬‪#‎humpbackwhale‬ ‪#‎buckelwal‬ ‪#‎dolphins‬ ‪#‎whitebeakeddolphins‬ ‪#‎Iceland‬‪#‎Westiceland‬ ‪#‎nature‬ ‪#‎wildlife‬ ‪#‎ocean‬ ‪#‎sunshine‬

We had an incredible day on the water today! Our whale watching tour encountered four different cetacean species – humpback whales, sperm whales, white-beaked dolphins, and a Minke whale! We didn’t have to go far for the first humpback whale encounter that was soon followed by another one. Both humpback whales were lunge feeding, showing us the baleen in their mouth when they came to the surface! They came both very close to the boat and this made for some fantastic picture opportunities. On our way towards the deeper waters we then had a brief look at a Minke whale that also came fairly close to the boat. When we reached the Northwest, we spotted at least 10 sperm whales – and we got to see six (!) of them resting next to each other. What a sight! Very hard to capture on camera, but I managed to get at least five of them showing their bodies on the surface simultaneously (last picture). On the way home we also spotted a pod of five white-beaked dolphins which was the icing on the cake. The diversity here at Snæfellsnes is stunning at the moment!
Marie (Tour Guide)
‪#‎lakitours‬ ‪#‎boattour‬ ‪#‎whalewatching‬ ‪#‎whales‬ ‪#‎humpbackwhale‬‪#‎buckelwal‬ ‪#‎spermwhale‬ ‪#‎cachalot‬ ‪#‎pottwal‬ ‪#‎Minkewhale‬ ‪#‎zwergwal‬‪#‎dolphins‬ ‪#‎whitebeakeddolphins‬ ‪#‎Iceland‬ ‪#‎Westiceland‬ ‪#‎nature‬ ‪#‎wildlife‬‪#‎ocean‬ ‪#‎May‬ ‪#‎diversity‬

Today we went out towards the tip of the peninsula, and further into the deeper waters of Breiðafjörður, and after a long search we were rewarded with some stunning looks at 8 sperm whales, 4 of which lifted their flukes out of the water for us to admire. While the boat was stationary, one sperm whale came swimming towards the boat and made an extremely close pass, diving down just half a meter away from the boat. While this sperm whale was exhaling, I caught a lucky rainbow shot. It was a sunny day on the water, and we hope our next tours continue to be that good!
Marie (Tour Guide) 
‪#‎lakitours‬ ‪#‎boattour‬ ‪#‎whalewatching‬ ‪#‎whales‬ ‪#‎spermwhales‬ ‪#‎pottwal‬‪#‎cachalot‬ ‪#‎Iceland‬ ‪#‎Westiceland‬ ‪#‎ocean‬ ‪#‎sunshine‬ ‪#‎flukes‬ ‪#‎wildlife‬‪#‎nature‬

 Today we were expecting the sperm whales again, but we, unfortunately, did not get to see any. We did a long search in the West, and, later on, towards East, and came across a pod of white-beaked dolphins at the end of our tour. This group included several mother-calf pairs, and one dolphin baby made a close pass at the boat, sticking its head out of the water. We had a bumpy, but sunny ride, with a good look at the glacier. Tomorrow’s tour is cancelled due to bad weather conditions, but we are hoping to go out on Tuesday again.
Marie (Tour Guide) 
#lakitours #boattour #whalewatching #dolphins#whitebeakeddolphin #ocean #wildlife #nature #sun#Iceland #Westiceland

It’s the 4th trip of the summer season only, and we are having a big sperm whale meet up here at Snæfellsnes! We spotted at least 30 (!) sperm whales in the waters of Breiðafjörður today, and that includes only the individuals we had in the proximity of the boat – there were so many more blows out towards East and all the way to even the shallow areas! We even got to see a simultaneous dive of two sperm whales in front of Hellissandur (see picture). In between all these flukes going down, we also encountered a male orca going about his business. And right at the beginning of the tour we were greeted by a pod of about 10-15 white-beaked dolphins, including three mum-calf pairs. The diversity and amount of wildlife we are seeing at Snæfellsnes at the moment is incredible, so book your spots with us this summer if you have not already done so!
Marie (Tour Guide) 
‪#‎lakitours‬ ‪#‎boattour‬ ‪#‎whalewatching‬ ‪#‎orca‬ ‪#‎killerwhale‬ ‪#‎blackfish‬‪#‎spermwhale‬ ‪#‎whales‬ ‪#‎cachalot‬ ‪#‎pottwal‬ ‪#‎dolphins‬‪#‎whitebeakeddolphins‬ ‪#‎Iceland‬ ‪#‎Westiceland‬ ‪#‎ocean‬ ‪#‎wildlife‬ ‪#‎nature‬‪#‎May

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We had an incredible four-species-day! Friday the 13th has definitely brought us luck, as today we were with humpback whales, sperm whales, a male orca, and … a fin whale! When we headed out towards the tip of the peninsula, we first encountered a humpback whale, but soon spotted a much bigger blow. When we headed the direction of the blow and came closer, we suddenly saw a fin whale surfacing! What a delight, we did not see fin whales in our area for the last thr…ee years! Unfortunately, this animal was travelling very fast and we did not get a close look at it. When we headed to even deeper waters, we first encountered a lone male orca, and, later on, a sperm whale that was hanging on the surface and let us have a really close look. When we journeyed closer to land, we encountered yet another humpback whale, and on the way back we were suddenly surrounded by sperm whale blows! Puffins are in the area, too. Tomorrow is another chance for you to join us on one of these breathtaking tours!
Marie (Tour Guide)

12/05/2016: What a beautiful second tour of the season we had! We could not go out yesterday due to bad weather conditions, but today we were spoiled with orca sightings. The first group we encountered just a few minutes into the tour in front of Ólafsvík. They had a  with them, and these two small ones started playing around to the delight of our passengers. We got to see a spy hop and a slow head stand (see pictures)! When we headed further towards West, we spotted another group after a longer search, and these ones were travelling slowly, coming up on both sides of the boat. Some puffins were to be seen on the water as well, and we are still having Northern gannets around, too. Towards the end of our tour even the sun came out. What more could we wish for?
Marie (Tour Guide)
‪#‎lakitours‬ ‪#‎boattour‬ ‪#‎whalewatching‬ ‪#‎orcas‬ ‪#‎killerwhales‬ ‪#‎blackfish‬ ‪#‎orca‬‪#‎killerwhale‬ ‪#‎Iceland‬ ‪#‎Westiceland‬ ‪#‎wildlife‬ ‪#‎nature‬ ‪#‎ocean‬ ‪#‎May‬ ‪#‎spring‬‪#‎birds‬ ‪#‎puffins‬ ‪#‎northerngannet‬ ‪#‎orcababy‬ ‪#‎orcacalf

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10/05/2016: Our summer season has officially started – and what a commencement we had! On our first trip of the summer we were greeted right away by two different groups of orcas! The orcas we see regularly around Snæfellsnes during springtime are out and about, followed around by lots of youngsters. We are having a bit of choppy seas at the moment, but that made for breathtaking views of the orcas surfing the waves and racing underneath the surface. We also spotted lots of puffins on our tour today, and there were still some gannets around. At the moment we are running only one tour per day, so reserve your spots early for the next weeks!
Marie (Tour Guide)

It was the last tour of our season – and what a grand finale! We had at least 7 humpback whales just outside the harbour of Ólafsvík resting in the surface and showing off their flukes. We got close looks at some of them, and when we decided to head further out, we could just go about two minutes before we came to the next two humpback whales. These were accompanied by white-beaked dolphins that approached the boat and zigzagged on our bow. Some dolphin calves were in this group as well! After we had left humpback whales and white-beaked dolphins, it did not take us long to spot the orcas. First we encountered one single male, but soon the other members of the family group would show themselves to us. We followed them on their busy travel towards East and observed them mostly from a distance, until one of the younger ones decided to race along the boat and make a close pass just underneath the surface. And there were at least 4 puffins next to our boat! After a cup of hot chocolate we got to see the humpback whales again while coming back to the harbour. It was a perfect ending to a successful season, and we hope to continue with good sightings in summer. Thank you for following our updates – see you in May! 
Marie (Tour Guide)