Author: laki

Despite wind in other parts of west Iceland, causing our other whale watch to be cancelled, the water of our amazing fjord, Steingrímsfjörður, out from Hólmavík was glass calm this morning, being protected from that wind direction. In this glassy sea we had incredible encounters with white-beaked dolphins that came over to the bow to bow-ride for a long time, whilst other tried to distract us with huge leaps next to the boat. Amongst the dolphins, like so often, we saw a number of pilot whales also. Then, out where the humpbacks are we had great looks at the same three whales, once again travelling and deep feeding together.
In the afternoon the toothed whales were gone, but more humpbacks had moved in and our threesome had become a four, with another whale travelling together with Darwin, Torch and ‘no name’. These four gave us some amazing looks as we just drifted with them. There were many other humpbacks in the fjord, too many for us to get a look at all of them! There were more whales than passengers on board. Come and join us! Judith (Tour guide)

We were back on the water today after strong wind, but the whales had not abandoned the fjord and we had plenty of humpbacks around as well as both pilot whales and dolphins. The white-beaked dolphins were in playful mood, coming over to the boat and leaping high out of the water on both tours, particularly the afternoon trip. They were amongst some long-finned pilot whales. Then out with the humpbacks were got some great looks at tails, in particular in the morning when we had six whales in a very small area, four of whom were travelling together. Judith (Tour guide)

Today we could finally go out on sea in Breiðafjörður again, and both our tours were very successful. We spotted Minke whales, white-beaked dolphins, and pilot whales on both trips, which are the three species we are seeing here mostly at the moment. Especially in the morning, the pilot whale sightings were spectacular, with a big feeding frenzy underneath dive-bombing gannets! Marie (Spotter)

On a windy day in west Iceland it did not stop us getting on the water for two tours out of Hólmavík because of our incredibly sheltered fjord! We were rewarded with many humpback sightings, close and far from us there were humpback whales all around. We got to see some new whales in the fjord as well as our three ‘friends’ that have been hanging together for days now, Darwin, Torch and ‘no name’! These three whales, travelling together, have been entertaining us for days now as they often come up so close to the boat. Judith (Tour guide)

What a period we are having in Steingrímsfjörður where you can often be outnumbered by whales rather than people! On the morning tour we started with an incredible encounter with breaching white-beaked dolphins with pilot whales. The dolphins looked like they were having so much fun with many huge leaps out of the water. Then we saw lots of humpback whales in a small area, once again. With groups of three and two along with singles, we can almost just watch a whale at every moment sometimes as they come up one after the other at times.
On the afternoon tour we did not have to travel too far to find our favourite group at the moment, still together, Darwin, Torch and our yet to be named whale that has been travelling with them on and off for the last week. We got great looks at these three coming up regularly, close to the boat. Judith (Tour guide)

We had one trip out of Ólafsvík in the morning today, and were, once again, spoiled with a lot of Minke whale sightings. We got to see several individuals really close to the boat, and spotted them lunging through the mackerel at a distance. We also got some brief looks at fast-moving harbour porpoises. Marie (Spotter)

On our tours out of Hólmavík we had three species seen, with the large number of humpback whales still deep feeding in the deep water around the island of Grimsey, as well as long-finned pilot whales and white-beaked dolphins around. Judith (Tour guide)

We had two wonderful tours out of Hólmavík today and could see pilot whales and dolphins socialising before we had even got on the boat! Many people from town including the school children had come down to look at them. On the water we watched them with dolphins leaping around and pilot whales spy-hopping, then went out to the humpbacks with 12-15 in the area. Amazing! On the afternoon trip all three species were in the same area and so we got looks at all three once again, one after the other as the all milled around in the deep water. Judith (Tour guide)

We had two tours out of Ólafsvík today, and our morning tour got to see three different species of cetaceans – Minke whales, white-beaked dolphins, and a pod of pilot whales! Our afternoon trip had Minke whales all around the boat for the majority of the tour, and even some sunshine! Marie (Spotter)

We had one awesome tour today from Hólmavík with three species. We started by watching some pilot whales and also white-beaked dolphins amongst them. However, once we went out to the humpbacks who were deep feeding, we almost didn’t have to move the boat for over half an hour as whale after whale surfaced next to us. We drifted with the engines off, just watching many humpback whales coming up and then going down again, with one at the surface almost constantly. Of course we are the only boat there with them, with no other boats around to disturb the whales or us. Judith (Tour guide)

On our morning tour out of Ólafsvík today we had the first EVER account of Northern
bottlenose whales in Breiðafjörður that we know of!!! After we had looked at 11 Minke whales, we
encountered the Northern bottlenose whales in the deeper waters, as all five of them came up in a
resting line. We then had to wait for 25 minutes to see these whales come up to the surface again,
but got some great looks at them when they surfaced next. After that, we waited another 40
minutes, but, unfortunately, did not see them again. Northern bottlenose whales are some of the
dive champions of the whales, and we were lucky to see them again after 25 minutes on our first try.
In the afternoon, we spotted at least 15 Minke whales, and got to see a group of about 60 pilot
whales again, so this was a very successful and interesting day! Marie (Spotter)

It is was humpback day out of Hólmavík again today with at least eight whales seen in a small area and a group of three entertaining us with coming up close together on both tours. This group included both ‘Darwin’ and ‘Torch’. Can you see why they got their names? Judith (Tour guide)

On a beautiful day in the Westfjords, we had two trips out of Hólmavík and spent them in the company of 8-9 humpback whales in a small area of the fjord, as well as pilot whales. The humpbacks in the morning were briefly in a group of 4, making for a spectacular sight and sounds in the morning light. In the afternoon, after watching the humpbacks we found the long-finned pilot whales again and they were with a group of white-beaked dolphins that came to play on the bow wave of the boat. Judith (Tour guide)