Saturday, 27 April 2024

We sailed out with small waves and a northern breeze in our fjord.
On our tours, we encountered Harbor Porpoises as well as three different Humpback Whales by Hjalteyri!
We spotted the first blow just south of Hjalteyri, where we encountered Magnea, one of our spring Humpbacks this year. A bit north of Hjalteyri, we watched the second Humpback, Camel, and while we observed this whale surfacing, we spotted a third Humpback north of us! So exciting to have three Humpbacks in such a close area to each other!
We were lucky to have plenty of great and close encounters with the whales when they surfaced, mostly after quite short deep dives. Hearing their breath and seeing a Humpback Whale surface just next to us is incredibly impressive every single time.
What a nice day out on the water!

During our second tour, we spotted two Humpback whales close to Hjalteryri. We got extremely lucky since this time we found Magnea tail throwing in front of us a couple of times. And when we continued north we found again Camel. And all around during the tour, we could spot lots of Harbour porpoises surfacing.

Text & Pictures: Cheyenne & Gisela

Departures of the day: Express Tours 10:00 & 12:00 o’clock.

Friday, 26 April 2024

We started our tours on a completely glassy but cloudy and slightly windy morning on our lovely Eyjafjörður.

During our morning tour, we encountered Magnea—our celebrity Humpback whale, just by Hjalteyri. Calmly swimming around us showing a high fluke. But around us, we also saw all kinds of bird life!

Countless Long-tailed Ducks, Northern Fulmars, Great Northern Divers, Goose flying across the Fjörð and of course our lovely Black-headed gulls.

But a bit further north we also encountered a second Humpback whale just North of Rauðavík

On our afternoon tour we also encountered Magnea, however, a little further in Rauðavik we found our second resident Humpback Camel. This was quite the encounter with this whale is all I can really say. This whale probably breached at least 30 times. Thirty. so many breaches and head-slaps, unfortunately, we had to leave this whale while it was still partying at the surface as it simply just would not stop. It was crazy.

Text & Photos: Gisela & Mac

Departures: Express - 1000 & 1400 O’Clock

Thursday, 25 April 2024

The weather today was in line with previous days. A glass-like sea greeted us in the morning and this slowly turned into some light surface waves in the early afternoon.

In total, we saw 2 Minke Whales and 1 Humpback Whale. The first Minke was swimming around Strytan, however, this whale proved very challenging to spot as it was only taking singular breaths and travelling great distances between them. The second Minke was a little further North, East of Hjalteyri, and this individual exhibited much more consistent surfacing behaviours—groups of roughly 4 breaths followed by a dive and roughly 4 minutes below the surface. The Humpback Whale was just West of this and this individual, Magnea, spent a great deal of the time at the surface in each encounter with less than 3 minute dives. This behaviour was later observed again in the afternoon as the whale continued to show a similar pattern. Two particular moments of note were a tail throw while we were engine off observing the whale and, something I have never seen before, a breaking of the surface to breath mid sequence, but, keeping the blowholes closed and not actually taking a breath. The whale also appeared to stretch out slightly while it did this showing a subtle difference in movement and left us wondering why this may have been.

Text & Photos: Mac

Departures: Classic - 0900. Express - 1000 & 1400 O’Clock.

Wednesday, 24 April 2024

The sea conditions today were perfect. The water surface remained like a mirror throughout the day with almost zero wind and clear sunny skies.

In total today we saw 4 different species of Cetacean: Short-beaked common dolphin, Humpback Whale, Minke Whale and Harbour Porpoise. Not a bad hall. Our rarely seen dolphin species was once again spotted just in front of Akureyri harbour in the morning and interestingly not seen again in the afternoon; this is in line with our sightings of this dolphin from previous days. Its presence is still a little bit of a mystery to us, but, it certainly seems to be no chance event as this location is where we encountered a pair of the same species just last year; the first recorded sighting of this species in the North of Iceland and one of only few encounters for the whole country.

We then saw a Humpback Whale further North in between Svalbarðseyri and the Green buoy. This Whale, Magnea, was exhibiting short 3-minute dives and spending minimal time at the surface. A little further towards the buoy a Minke Whale was also encountered, however, proved challenging to regularly locate because of the great distances it was travelling between breaths.

On our afternoon tour we were only able to find the Humpback Whale, in the same place, however, now the whale was sleeping in the form of logging. These encounters with this sleeping whale will probably go down as some of my favourite encounters with Humpbacks. Being the only boat in the water and the perfect sea conditions allowed us to stay motionless with the engine off crucially putting minimal disturbance on the whale during some of its most vital behaviours. These encounters really were amazing and being able to do it in ethical fashion such as this leaves me with little words to describe the moment.

And, if that wasn’t enough, our first sightings of Arctic Turns and Skua truly do signal the commencing of summer here in Iceland.

To add to the list of marine Mammals a further species was spotted in the form of a Harbour (or maybe grey but who can tell these things at a glance) Seal. This guy was hanging around Akureyri and was seen on both tours.

text & Photos: Mac

Departures: Classic - 0900 O´Clock. Express: 1000 & 1400 O’Clock

Tuesday, 23 April 2024

For the second day in a row, we started our tours on a completely glassy, sunny and windless morning on our lovely Eyjafjörður.

During our morning tour, we encountered Magnea, our celebrity Humpback whale, just North of Svalbarðseyri calmly swimming around us showing a high fluke. But around us, we also saw all kinds of bird life!

Countless Long-tailed Ducks, Northern Fulmars, Great Northern Divers, Goose flying across the Fjörð and of course our lovely Black-headed gulls.

During our afternoon tour, we spotted again Magnea, but that was not it because we were also lucky enough to spot two Minke whales one of them feeding close to Magnea just to the Western side of the fjörð in front of Svalbarðseyri. And the second one was just North of Hjalteyri.

Text & Photos: Gisela

Departures: Express - 1000 & 1400 O’Clock

Monday, 22 April 2024

We started our tours on a completely glassy, sunny and windless morning on our lovely Eyjafjörður.

Our first sighting was the very rare Short-beaked common dolphin (you can clearly see the hourglass shape on its side). Just North of Akureyri harbour.

Next we found Magnea our celebrity Humpback whale, just North of Svalbarðseyri calmly swimming around us showing a high fluke. But that was not it, because by Strítan we found two more whales! One Humpback whale and one Minke whale. All together with several Harbour porpoises along the way.

Text & Photos: Gisela & Mac

Departures: Classic - 0900, 0900 & 1300 O’Clock. Express - 1000 & 1400 O’Clock

Sunday, 21 April 2024

The weather today made manoeuvring fairly tricky as a strong Western wind was creating large waves before switching directions to the South. We did, however, have comparatively warm air temperature and clear sunny skies.

We first saw a Humpback Whale by Svalbarðseyri. This whale was diving and returning to almost the same spot every time for roughly 6 minutes. Because of this, we managed to see the whale fairly close to the back of the boat without having to move which was very favourable considering the sea conditions. a second whale looked to be spotted right in the distance back towards Akureyri, however, this individual was diving for a very long time and when travelling through this area we could not find it. Although, after not finding this whale, another Humpback was found just North of Heiti Foss. This was Magnea and it was on a trajectory travelling South only showing the fluke one time.

During our afternoon tour we successfully found Magnea again, our celebrity Humpback for the week but this time it was North of Svalbarðseyri. After enjoying the many high flukes it was showing us we had to start heading back because of the strong wind, but that was not all because we ended the tour on the highest note! Just before Heiti Foss, to everyone’s astonishment, we found a Short-beaked common dolphin. Extremely rare in these waters of the north of Iceland!

Text & Photos: Mac & Gisela

Departures: 0900 & 1400 O’Clock Classic

Saturday, 20 April 2024

We sailed out with southern wind and swell in our fjord today, but with higher temperatures, so it finally was not as cold anymore.
During our tours, we spotted a total of three different Humpback Whales! The first two whales were encountered by Svalbarðseyri and the third Humpback was seen south of the green buoy!
It was a very exciting day in Eyjafjörður. During our afternoon RIB tour, we saw tail slapping and overall had beautiful and close up encounters with the whales on our tours! On the way back, we even saw one seal jumping out of the water!
What a great day!

Text & Pictures: Cheyenne

Departures: Classic - 09:00, 10:00 & 13:00 o’clock. Express - 10:00 & 14:00 o’clock.

Friday, 19 April 2024

We had a beautiful day with great conditions! We went out in the afternoon with one group.
The wind from the south brought good weather and warmer temperatures, and barely made waves in the fjord.
We first saw Harbour porpoises when exiting Akureyri, and quickly saw 2 Humpback whales a few hundred meters away. They came close to us a few times, then separated. It seems like one of the whales started falling asleep since it was having quite an erratic comportment.

We then sailed with the other whale for a while and had amazing encounters until we started heading up north to check the fjord.

We were able to find a third humpback whale by Svalbarðseyri who was actively feeding. It was coming up regularly for one breath at a time. We then headed back home with plenty of sighting!

Text & Pictures: Yoann

Departures of the day: Classic Tour 14:00 o’clock.

Thursday, 18 April 2024

We had a moderate Northern wind in the fjord today and fairly low visibility with snowy conditions.

Our first encounter was with a Humpback Whale just North of Akureyri. This was Magnea and it was surfacing in almost the same spot each time. The dives were also just for a few minutes which meant we were able to see the whale very close largely without moving. A second Humpback was found a little further north, just North of Svalbarðseyri. This was Ind 20, diving slightly longer than Magnea and with longer inter-breath intervals.

On our midday tour, we encountered Magnea again but this time it was swimming roughly in a circle and making short dives which indicates that it was most likely feeding, we found it once again North of Akureyri. We kept sailing North and we also found Ind 20 but this time it was sleeping calmly and slowly surfacing in between the waves.

On the way back we also encountered a small pod of Harbour porpoises surfacing barely 10 meters from the boat making everyone “Awe” with their cuteness. And of course, during the whole trip, we saw countless Long-tailed ducks, Black guillemots and Northern fulmars!

Text & Photos: Mac & Gisela

Departures: Classic - 0900 & 1300 O´Clock. Express - 1000 O’Clock.

Wednesday, 17 April 2024

Today in our lovely Eyjafjörður we had the most ideal conditions for spotting. With a cloudy sky yet windless and waveless fjord ahead of us.

Just north of Akureyri, in between the hot waterfall and Svalbarðseyri, we encountered two Humpback Whales. One of them was our dark fluke frequent visitor for the past couple of weeks but the second one was an individual with a black and white fluke. Both whales were perfectly synchronized diving for just a few minutes, while one was deep diving the second one would surface so we had a constant sight of whales. A little further north, roughly around the green buoy, we found our third Humpback Whale. This whale stayed mostly in the same spot and exhibited very high flukes, flicking the tail on each dive.

Our afternoon tours were spent with our first 2 Humpbacks from the morning and this time we had the addition of a pod of roughly 30 Harbour porpoises.

Text & Photos: Gisela

Departures: Classic - 0900 & 1300 O’Clock.

Tuesday, 16 April 2024

We had great weather today, a minor northern wind and clear open skies made for ideal spotting conditions.

Our first encounter was with a Humpback Whale just north of Akureyri. This was our dark fluke individual Magnea. The whale was moving around quite a lot across the width of the fjord and diving for just a few minutes. A little further north, roughly around the green buoy, we found our second Humpback Whale. This whale stayed in mostly the same spot and exhibited many very high flukes, flicking back the tail on each dive.

Our afternoon tours were spent with the second whale by the green buoy once again as we were unable to locate Magnea further south.

Text & Photos: Mac

Departures: Classic - 0900 & 1300 O’Clock. Express - 1000 & 1600 O’Clock.

Monday, 15 April 2024

The weather fluctuated greatly today, with rapidly changing visibility from snow and a strong northern wind. This, together with a large Northern swell, ultimately pushed us toward the decision to cancel our afternoon and Rib tours.

We sailed north of Svalbarðseyri, roughly in line with the green buoy. Here we encountered a Humpback Whale several times. We had a mixture of distance to the whale, on one occasion surfacing very close to us, but we were greatly hampered by the sea conditions. On our return journey, however, we were treated to some great encounters with 2 more Humpbacks. These whales were surfacing very regularly, rarely down for longer than 2 minutes. These whales appeared to be feeding, evident through surface straining behaviours and our fish finder onboard confirmed a 10-meter-thick band of fish down at the bottom of the fjord.

Text & Photos: Mac

Departures: 0900 O’Clock Classic

Sunday, 14 April 2024

This was a perfect day, with a glassy ocean and a lot of sightings. There was no wind and a lot of sun. We encountered harbor porpoises, as well as a diversity of birds, but the best part was meeting two humpback whales very close to Akureyri (around Svalbarðseyri) .
Both whales were coming up frequently, and we were able to see them well. We even saw these two whales coming up at the same time, and they were only meters away from each other, the photographers on boards were in paradise!
The sun was warming us up and it was great to hang out on the boat surrounded by the cetaceans. We are very excited for tomorrow!

Text & Pictures: Yoann & Cheyenne

Departures of the day: Classic - 09:00, 10:00, 13:00 &14:00 o’clock. Express - 10:00, 13:00 & 14:00 o’clock.

Saturday, 13 April 2024

Today we had incredible conditions! Flat sea, hardly any wind and even sunshine in the afternoon.
During our tours, we encountered plenty of birds in the fjord as well as a few pods of Harbor Porpoises.
We also spotted three different Humpback Whales between Akureyri and Svalbarðseyri! This was very exciting. During the morning tour, we encountered two of them and then we saw all three during the afternoon tour. We saw one of them feed and all of them resurfaced very frequently, a number of times right by our boat!
We had an absolutely beautiful day and are very excited to sail out again tomorrow!

Text & Pictures: Cheyenne

Departures of the day: Classic Tours 09:00 & 13:00 o’clock.

Friday, 12 April 2024

Today, we had a little swell in our fjord, but generally the weather was fine.
On the tours, we spotted two different Humpback Whales!
In the morning, we sailed out in heavy snow and spotted one Humpback by the green buoy.
On our afternoon tour, we saw a different Humpback just north of Akureyri and again the same whale from the morning tour just north of Svalbarðseyri! How exciting!
We had pleasant, close encounters with both of them and saw a variety of birds as well!

Text & Pictures: Cheyenne

Departures of the day: Classic Tours 09:00 & 13:00 o’clock.

Thursday, 11 April 2024

Great day on the water in Eyjafjörður! We had hardly any wind and beautiful sailing conditions with a bit of snow throughout the day.
On our tours, we spotted plenty of Harbor Porpoises and two Humpback Whales, all of them were north of Svalbarðseyri!
We had amazing encounters, we first spotted one Humpback Whale and while waiting for it, we spotted another blow a bit further north of us. The second Humpback was heading south quickly and we saw both of them very well. One of them surfaced right in front of our RIB boat, leaving everyone on board very excited about seeing the whale this close, as it continued to take a few breaths before lifting its fluke and going down for a deep dive! An incredible encounter.
Our fjord is filled with wildlife and we are having great tours with the cetaceans of Eyjafjörður!

In our afternoon tour we encountered a different Humpback, Ind 20, just around the corner from the harbour opposite Heiti Foss. This whale surfaced many times around us, frequently emerging around the sides and in front less than 20 meters.

Text & Pictures: Mac & Cheyenne

Departures of the day: Classic Tours 09:00 & 13:00 o’clock. Express Tour 10:00 o’clock.

Wednesday, 10 April 2024

Today we had a moderate Eastern wind making the fjord surface quite choppy in patches with less protection from the mountains. The skies started off with around 50% cloud cover, however, this decreased to less than 10% by the end of the day.

On our morning tour we sailed out to East of the Green Buoy where we saw 3 Humpback Whales. From our fish finder data we could see very large patches of fish near the bottom of the fjord and this is presumably what the whales were here for. One of the whales, Camel, swam north fairly quickjly and by the time the rib arrived it was no longer sighted.

In our afternoon we sailed to the same place and observed the other two whales once again, diving and surfacing frequently. On 1 occasion the whale surfaced very close to us allowing all of our passengers to hear the mighty breath.

Text & Pictures: Mac & Cheyenne

Departures: Classic - 0900 & 1300 O’Clock. Express - 1000

Tuesday, 9 April 2024

The weather started today fairly flat but a strong Eastern wind meant the waves picked up quite considerably throughout the day.

On our morning tour we observed a Humpback Whale, very close to the harbour, seen swimming right next to the hot water fall Heiti Foss. This was Magnea and it was doing several standard low fluke dives, staying in a fairly similar spot. On one occasion the whale surfaced right in front of the bow of our boat and then proceeded to exhibit some resting or sleeping behaviours. On our afternoon tours we once again saw this whale and an additional Humpback located in between the green buoy and Hjalteyri. This whale was the one and only Camel and was demonstrating some extremely high fluke dives.

Text & Pictures: Mac

Departures: Classic - 0900 & 1300. Express - 1400

Monday, 8 April 2024