Saturday, 25 May 2019

A bit of wind was blowing from the North today, but luckily the sun made up for quite cold temperatures. We had a lot of wildlife in the fjord. Not just three species of cetaceans, also many different sea birds showed themselves and entertained us. We saw two minke whales and three humpback whales throughout the day. Moonshine and one other humpback seem to find a lot of food right underneath the water surface because they came up almost every minute. So we all had great chances to take pictures and compare the two flukes of the whales. Tomorrow we are having two extra departures at 8 am and noon for our German speaking passengers. If you have not booked your ticket, you can either call us or book online at wwa.is

Tours departures today: Classic: 13 Express: 10 & 14

Text and pictures by Babsi Neubarth

Friday, 24 May 2019

Another day without the humpback whales disappointing us! There are at least 4-5 of them still in the southern part of the Fjord so that on our tours today we did not even have to go out very far to come across them. There is one humpback whale with a very asymmetrical pattern on its fluke that we have not see here in Eyjafjörður in previous years. The other two humpback whales that we spent most of the time with are already familiar to us, one of them was of course “Moonshine” that is becoming everyone’s favorite. Minke whales and harbour porpoises were also around today and we got two seem them pretty well in today’s nice sea conditions.

Tours out today: Classic: 09:00, 13:00 & 17:00, Express: 10:00 & 14:00

Text by Hanna Michel, pictures by Tess Hudson

Thursday, 23 May 2019

A lovely day to sail, the fjord was flat, the weather warm and the sun was shining, what more do you need? The cetaceans did not disappoint today, our morning tour saw two minke whales and 4 different humpback whales, two travelling together and two separate and a wonderful pod of porpoises. Our afternoon tours were delighted with two humpback whales travelling together (not the same individuals as the morning interestingly enough), surfacing and diving in synchrony just beautiful. More porpoises were seen throughout the day too, leaping up out of the water which was super fantastic to see.

Tours out today: Classic: 09:00 & 13:00, Express: 14:00 & 16:00

Pictures and text by Tess Hudson

Wednesday, 22 May 2019

Our favorite humpback whales were still around today! Today we saw “Moonshine”, “Raven”, “Mary” and a few more humpback whales in the fjord. On our way out we even got a short glimpse at a minke whale in the distance. The humpback whales were all spread out and on their own. Raven seemed to be resting in the morning, while Mary seemed to be feeding in an area with lots of Arctic terns around hoping for some leftovers. The sea was calm and it was a bit chilly out there today which luckily the whales made us forget easily. On our way back we saw lots of harbour porpoises around!

Tour departures today: Classic: / Express: 10:00 & 14:00

Text by Hanna Michel, pictures by Tess Hudson

Tuesday, 21 May 2019

Another wonderful day with the whales in Eyjafjörður. In the morning we headed quite far out to two humpback whales that had been spotted in an area North of Hjalteyri. On our way there we also encountered several harbour porpoises and a minke whale that we saw a few times in the distance. The humpback whales appeared to be feeding - they stayed in the same area coming up here and there and going for deep dives in between. In the afternoon we saw another two humpback whales much closer to Akureyri. One of them was “Moonshine“ that we spent quite a while with before it was time to go home. The highlight of the tour though was a group of harbour porpoises that came up super close to the boat and one of them even swam back and forth a few times as if it wanted to check out the boat. They were so close that we could easily see them swimming beneath the surface to every ones joy!

Tour departures today: Classic: 09:00 & 13:00 Express: 10:00 & 14:00

Text and photos by Hanna Michel

Monday, 20 May 2019

What a great time to go whale watching here at the moment! We saw again at least 5 humpback whales that had traveled even further South towards Akureyri than yesterday. Most of the time we spent with two of them that were feeding in the area and coming up to the surface every few minutes before disappearing again to continue feeding. In the meantime we saw the blows of other humpback whales in the distance and suddenly even a minke whale showed up a couple of times. They whales just kept feeding, ignoring us and allowing us to slowly get closer to them. Awesome!

Tour departures today: Classic: \ Express: 10:00 & 14:00

Text by Hanna Michel, pictures by Tess Hudson

Sunday, 19 May 2019

Another wonderful day with whales! In the morning we saw four humpback whales in the same area, not far away from where we saw them yesterday. The sea was calm and we were able to spend a good amount of time with them. “Moonshine” and “Mary” were among those four and all of them appeared to be feeding together with some Arctic terns and kittiwakes. Whenever they were going for dives they showed their beautiful flukes which allowes us to distinguish between them. After a while we headed further out but did not find any more whales so we headed back to the harbour and on our way good a final look at the humpies.

Tour departures today: Classic: 9:00, Express: 14:00

Text and photos by Hanna Michel

Saturday, 18 March 2019

A foggy but a beautiful day out on the fjord. It was sunny despite the fog, the day started with a very flat sea, which made spotting much easier. Not long after leaving harbour we found a Minke Whale on our morning tour and were able to watch it as it surfaced all around us. Later on three humpback whales were spotted in the distance, they were all spread out but we got a good look at all of them. A minke also joined the party and we were able to watch it for some time. Lots of harbour porpoises were also seen throughout the day. On our afternoon tours four humpbacks were seen two of which were travelling together which was just wonderful to witness as they surfaced and dove together. Simply wonderful.

Tour departures today: Classic: 9 & 13, Express: 10 & 14

Pictures and text by Tess Hudson

Friday, 17 May 2019

The day started absolutely amazing with sunshine, no wind at all and the flattest sea I have seen in a while. On our way out of Akureyri we saw lots of harbour porpoises popping up here and there and hunting fish. We often overlook these small animals on days with rougher sea conditions but today we could even see and follow porpoises from the distance! The next cetacean we saw was a minke whale that surfaced a few times in front of us while it was traveling towards the harbour of Akureyri. After leaving it we soon saw the big blows of two humpback whales in the distance and made our way towards them. These two were feeding together and by looking at their flukes we could tell that it is two “new” humpback whales that have not been given a name yet because we have not encountered them in the past. We spent a good amount of time with them before heading back home. In the afternoon, the wind had picked up quite a bit and made the way out much colder than in the morning. We came across one humpback whale again - one of those two we saw on the morning tour and it was still in the same area. There were a lot of birds around as well and in between we saw a few harbour porpoises as well. There was no sign of the second humpback whale but we did see a few big blows in the distance of another humpback whale that might be the second animal from the morning tour. Overall two very different but nice tours!

Classic departures today: 90:00, 13:00 RIB departures: 10:00

Text and photos by Hanna Michel

Thursday, 16 May 2019

Today the weather kept changing constantly, sunshine and rain interchanged every five minutes. There was a slight wind from the South making it a bit warmer compared to the very cold Northern winds we usually get. Similar to the last days, a few humpback whales were around again today, one of them being our good friend "Moonshine” who was traveling alone today and feeding together with some Arctic terns. After spending a good amount of time with Moonshine we saw another humpback whale a few times before we started our journey back to Akureyri Harbour. In the distance we were able to saw the blows of at least one more humpback whale out there in Eyjafjörður, and we saw harbour porpoises several times during our tour as well.

Classic departures today: 13:00 RIB departures: 10:00, 14:00

Text and photos by Hanna Michel

Wednesday, 15 May 2019

A exceptional day on the fjord today, our first tour was at 10 on the super speedy rib boats, only 4 minutes after leaving harbour we were already watching cetaceans! A marvelous minke whale popped up and we were able to watch this wonderful whale for sometime as it surfaced all around us. We then headed further out and spotted two more minke whales on the way out. It was humpbacks galore today as 5-6 individuals were surfacing at a range of distances. Our favorite whale of the moment, Moonshine, delighted us with some wonderful close encounters. A new whale now called Raven also wowed us with some beautiful fluking. On our 13 classic tour the cetaceans did not disappoint, numerous harbour porpoises popped up throughout the tour, as well as more minkes and of course the beautiful humpbacks. There will never be a boring day in Eyjafjörður.

Pictures by Ania Wojcik and text by Tess Hudson

Tuesday, 14 May 2019

A staggering 13 degrees Celsius today - summer is here! It was another super nice day with lots of sunshine, flat seas and several humpback whales around. The morning tour saw our beloved humpback whale “Moonshine” doing some spectacular surface-feeding together with a companion. Also in the afternoon we saw those two feeding and coming up super close to the ship at times. After leaving them, we saw another two individuals a bit further North and identified one of them as “Mary”. The whales were all coming up very regularly and just going for short dives for feeding before heading back straight down again and showing us their beautiful flukes. We got really spoiled today and I think the whales found a lot of new friends among our passengers!

Text and photos by Hanna Michel

Monday, 13 May 2019

The whales are coming very far into the fjord at the moment. We only have to sail for about 20 minutes currently until we spot our first finned friends. At least three minke whales and three different humpback whales were showing their flukes and sometimes even feeding with an open mouth at the surface. Calm waters and some sunshine made it extra easy to observe their interactions. Additionally we encountered so many harbour porpoises that it was almost impossible to count them. Fun times and fins in the fjord.

Text and pictures by Babsi Neubarth

Sunday, 12 May 2019

Hurrah the sun is back in the fjord and only the snowy mountain tops reminded us of yesterday’s winter flashbacks. On all our tours we could enjoy the presence of our three most common species, humpback whales, harbour porpoises and minke whales. Moonshine the humpback whale was still in the area next to Marie and another individual. They came close, showed their flukes and spend a lot of time right underneath the sea surface. There is not much more you can ask for of a whale. The harbour porpoises were also really adventurous today and checked us even out. Additionally we really enjoyed watching the rich bird life the fjord has to offer. Come and join us soon on a wildlife packed tour.

Text and pictures by Babsi Neubarth

Saturday, 11 May 2019

What a day - a great example of how unpredictable the weather conditions in Iceland are and how fast they can changed. We started in the morning with sunshine in Akureyri after a lot of fog had luckily disappeared. After 20-30 min we were welcomed by thick snow fall out in the fjord and strong winds. The afternoon was similar changing from summer to winter and back again. The whales were not too far out in the fjord, in the morning we saw one humpback whale very well known to us as “Mary” and a second humpback that we saw only from a bit further away. In the afternoon we could clearly identify our humpback “Moonshine” that allowed us to get quite close after we carefully approached it. Some harbour porpoises also showed up during both tours but were difficult to spot due to the wavy conditions today. An adventurous but successful day!

Text and photos by Hanna Michel

Friday, 10 May 2019

A wild, wintry day out on the fjord today, we experienced a whole range of weathers from snow flurries to warm sunshine. The wildlife was in abundance today on our tours we saw some spectacular bird life including huge flocks of northern gannets, northern fulmar, kittiwake, eider duck, long tailed duck and arctic turn. But it wasn’t only the birds out to delight us. Numerous harbour porpoises were also popping up here, there and everywhere too! Minke whales and humpback whales were also spotted. An old favorite of ours Moonshine wowed us with some exceptional close encounters and even a tail lob!! Where it half jumped out of the water and swung its tail round. Just another awesome day out on the fjord!

Pictures and text by Tess Hudson

Thursday, 09 May 2019

The Northern wind is still bringing colder temperatures, some snow and a bit of wind to the fjord. Luckily though it stayed dry for most of the day so that it was only the cold we had to battle in order to see cetaceans. A total of three humpback whales showed themselves throughout the day. Two of them went for quite long dives in the morning and made it a bit hard sometimes to follow them. In the afternoon however, we were literally over the moon to welcome the humpback whale Moonshine back into the fjord. It came super close, checked us out and showed us the fluke many, many, times. A difficult morning ended in a great encounter in the afternoon!

Text and pictures by Babsi

Wednesday, 08 May 2019

This day was a great example of how fast the weather conditions can change here in Iceland. In the morning we were blessed with sun shine and a pretty flat sea while in the afternoon we had to deal with rather strong winds, waves and even hail - winter is back. On both tours we saw humpback whales and in the morning also harbour porpoises. In did take us some time to find a humpback whale in the morning but then we could spend some quality time with a very relaxed individual. In the afternoon we had to head out a bit further to the North where we encountered four humpback whales that were not shy and sometimes were just meters away from the boat. Awesome!

Text and photos by Hanna Michel

Tuesday, 07 May 2019

Another great day with our beloved humpback whales today! In the morning we saw two humpback whales and also a few harbour porpoises that showed up while we were waiting for one of the humpback whales to come up to the surface again. The first humpback dived for rather long times and after seeing it twice we moved on to another whale that was much more cooperative and surfacing on a regular basis. In the afternoon we even saw three humpback whales but again one of them was not showing itself very nicely. The other two totally made up for this “grumpy humpy", and one of them even rolled around once and slapped its enormous pectoral fins on the water surface. A cold but beautiful day on the water!

Text and photos by Hanna Michel

Monday, 06 May 2019

Another incredible day out on the fjord. The sun was shining, the fjord was calm and there was only a little wind. Today we were delighted with numerous harbour porpoises who popped up throughout the tour showing us their beautiful brown, grey bodies with lighter undersides. They swam very close to us at points and we could see them zooming around under the waters surface. Two humpback whales also joined the party and gave us some delightful views of their wonderful backs and tails, which they raised every time they surfaced which was wonderful to see! Simply bliss!

Pictures and text by Tess Hudson