Category: whale diaries

On our way towards West we spotted three Minke whales just a few minutes out the harbour. They came up close to the boat and seemed to be foraging in the area. Soon afterwards, we came across a small group of white-beaked dolphins that approached the boat and accompanied us for quite a while. In the deeper waters of Breiðafjörður we then had a look at three sperm whales, one of them up close, going down for a dive. On the way home we had another nice encounter with a small white-beaked dolphin group. There’s a lot of life out there at the moment!
Marie (Tour Guide) 
‪#‎lakitours‬ ‪#‎boattour‬ ‪#‎whalewatching‬ ‪#‎whales‬ ‪#‎minkewhale‬ ‪#‎spermwhale‬‪#‎cachalot‬ ‪#‎pottwal‬ ‪#‎dolphins‬ ‪#‎whitebeakeddolphins‬ ‪#‎Iceland‬‪#‎Westiceland‬ ‪#‎nature‬ ‪#‎wildlife‬ ‪#‎June‬

Today can only be described in one word: Perfection. We had an absolutely breathtaking tour in mirror-like waters and sunshine, and we got to see all three toothed whales of the area – the orca, the white-beaked dolphin, and the sperm whale! The orcas were slowly travelling and feeding, whereas the dolphins came high-speed towards the boat and accompanied us on our journey towards the West, often leaping out of the water. Three sperm whales showing us the flukes before going for some deep dives then just completed the tour! Lots of puffins on the water, and Northern gannets still around, too. We have these weather conditions maybe five days per summer season, if at all. Just incredible!
Marie (Tour Guide)
‪#‎lakitours‬ ‪#‎boattour‬ ‪#‎whalewatching‬ ‪#‎orcas‬ ‪#‎killerwhales‬ ‪#‎blackfish‬ ‪#‎orca‬‪#‎killerwhale‬ ‪#‎whales‬ ‪#‎spermwhale‬ ‪#‎cachalot‬ ‪#‎pottwal‬ ‪#‎dolphins‬‪#‎whitebeakeddolphins‬ ‪#‎Iceland‬ ‪#‎Westiceland‬ ‪#‎wildlife‬ ‪#‎nature‬ ‪#‎ocean‬‪#‎sunshine‬ ‪#‎SummerIsHere‬ ‪#‎May‬ ‪#‎puffins‬ ‪#‎gannets‬ ‪#‎birdwatching

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We went out towards West, and soon spotted a small group of white-beaked dolphins that approached the boat and swam underneath to the delight of our passengers. When we journeyed into the deeper waters, we came across three sperm whales lifting their flukes high out of the water before going down for a deep dive. On the way home, we got a brief glimpse of a Minke whale, and we saw lots of puffins and Arctic terns, too! We are fully booked tomorrow, but you can still reserve your spots with us for the rest of the week.
Marie (Tour Guide)
#lakitours #boattour #whalewatching #whales#spermwhale #minkewhale #dolphins#whitebeakeddolphins #puffins #birds#birdwatching #Iceland #Westiceland #nature#wildlife #ocean

Grey seas and grey skies did not keep us from having an awesome time on the water today! We searched the waters of Breiðafjörður towards the West, and first encountered a humpback whale lunge-feeding close to the water surface. After having a good look at the humpback, we started our search for the orcas, and spotted a single male along the way, but this male disappeared really fast. We then soon came across a whole pod of orcas that were feeding and travelling South. The little baby in the group still had coloration, but was quite fat for its age! We observed the orcas with the beautiful Snæfellsnes Peninsula in the background, the landscape half submerged in the fog at times. It was wonderful again! The weather for this week does not look too good, and tomorrow we already have to cancel the tour due to unfavorable sea conditions. Let’s hope we get out there soon again!
Marie (Tour Guide) 
‪#‎lakitours‬ ‪#‎boattour‬ ‪#‎whalewatching‬ ‪#‎orcas‬ ‪#‎killerwhales‬ ‪#‎blackfish‬ ‪#‎orca‬‪#‎killerwhale‬ ‪#‎whales‬ ‪#‎humpbackwhale‬ ‪#‎Iceland‬ ‪#‎Westiceland‬ ‪#‎nature‬‪#‎wildlife‬ ‪#‎ocean‬ ‪#‎fog‬ ‪#‎lighthouse‬

 We had a wonderful sunshine cruise this morning, and spotted two groups of about 5 white-beaked dolphins and a humpback whale. The first group of dolphins was rather shy, so we soon left them to go on a long search in Breiðafjörður, until we encountered both humpback whale and the second group of dolphins together in the same area on the way home. These dolphins were more playful and started jumping parallel to the boat, and were racing under the bow, and back and forth on both sides of the vessel. Towards the end of the encounter, the humpback whale approached the boat closely, and showed us the fluke shortly while going for a deeper dive. A great finish!
Marie (Tour Guide)
#lakitours #boattour #whalewatching #whales#dolphins #whitebeakeddolphins #humpbackwhale#buckelwal #ocean #sunshine #Iceland#Westiceland #nature #wildlife

 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