Thursday, 6 July 2017

The balance of power has changed in Eyjafjordur! All the action still happens around Hjalteyri, but instead of the usual 7 humpback whales that we frequently found there for the last two weeks, we saw many new faces! One of them turned out to be Picasso, an individual we used to frequently see in Faxafloi for the last 3 years! How exciting to have a visit from our friend here! Some of them where sighted on our tours for the very first time, one was promptly named Baldur, after our awesome engineer on board. We still got to see some of our favorite humpies, including Jackson, Tattoo and the Dark Knight. The day has been easy and fruitful, with many whales and excellent weather. It's just another day in paradise!

Text and pictures by Guillaume Calcagni

Wednesday, 5 July 2017

Today in the morning was a fabulous day in Eyjafjördur: the sea was completely flat. Just southern off the old fishing factory "Hjalteyri" we stopped for the first humpback whale. However, at a distance what a surprise when a second whale just started tail slapping. Therefore, our captain began slowly heading towards the humpback, and the whale repeated many times tail slapping, and also upside down! We got excellent pictures of the fluke from this "tail slapping". Furthermore, another humpback also started tail slapping and tail lobbing. In the same tour, two slapping tails humpbacks were incredible. Moreover, we had many seabirds (arctic terns, fulmars, black headed gulls, kittiwakes) feeding around the whales. A very delightful day with the Eyjafjördur humpbacks and sea birds.

Pictures and text by Manu Bassoi.

Tuesday, 4 July 2017

On this day we could enjoy the stunning view of the fjord on all our tours. Despite a fresh breeze the sea was very calm and guaranteed smooth ride all the way. In the morning we watched 5 humpback whales. They all seemed to be feeding together at the same spot, as they always surfaced together and in parallel, building an almost perfect formation. Two of them even had a little morning exercise and breached not far from our vessel. During the day we saw 7 different humpback whales. Some of them have been around for a few days now and seem to have found their favorite feeding spot not far away from the harbor of Akureyri. So, we were able to spend a lot of time with the whales this day. On some of our tours we also had some company by the cute and shy harbor porpoises when we were on our way to the beautiful giants. All together a marvelous Icelandic summer day in Eyjafjordur with amazing wildlife.

Text by Nicole Koestner
Photos by Guillaume Calcagni

Monday, 3 July 2017

The day started with a lot of fun with our Happy and young passengers from the Magic Disney Cruise! We sailed the Eyafjord northwards just enjoying the beautiful landscape with charming fishing villages and farming all way north. Not so far we could spot our first humpback whale called “Giljagaur” (named as one of the thirteen Santa Claus of Iceland). Just some minutes after we saw another humpback known as “Tattoo” and the third whale “Grenade”. They were showing their fluke many times and sometimes we could admire them close to our boat Hólmasól as soon as we stopped. In the afternoon tour, it was fantastic as we could admire six beautiful humpbacks travelling together: “Arnar”, “The Dark Knight”, “Tattoo”, “Jackson”, “Grenade”, “Graffiti” and “Giljagaur”.  Everybody was amazed by the queue of flukes coming one behind another, such a fascinating thing to watch! There was no way to lose any fluke picture. On the next tour of the day we have seen the same whales again, but different group associations. Furthermore, there was a moment that the whale “Giljagaur” came surfacing’s so very close to the boat that all the passengers at the front got truly surprised with the powerful blow. Such an enjoyable day full of humpback’s meetings.

Pictures by Guillaume Calcagni and Tess Hudson, and text by Manu Bassoi.  

Sunday, 2 July 2017

Exceptional day out at sea on this Sunday! The good weather sticked with us in all of our tour, allowing easy sighting and spectacular lights. Again today we meet our regular of the last couple of weeks (Giljagaur, Grenade, Graffiti, Arnar, Tattoo, Jackson and Dark Knight), all incredible and majestic individuals of humpback whales. With this splendid sun, they were producing numerous rainblows (rainbow in the blows), which was a bliss to the eye. Our midnight tour was particularly breathtaking with a golden light shimmering down the fjord, allowing us to perfectly see all the blows in the surrounding, making the show more exciting than ever. You gotta love that midnight sun!

Text and pictures by Guillaume Calcagni

Saturday, 1 July 2017

Conditions were just perfect today in the morning: flat seas and incredible visibility. However, today was the "Breaching Day"! In the morning tour, we had two breaches from two humpback whales almost simultaneously. That was a surprising moment, and everyone was pleased as we got great pictures and videos of the whales. Conditions were still good in the afternoon, and the humpback known as "Giljagaur" did some repeated head slapping, and breached several times. We could also appreciate some harbour porpoises swimming around, and we finished the day feeling the water spray from the hot water falls close to Akureyri harbour. An enjoyable day with plenty of humpback breachings.

Photographs and text by Manu Bassoi.

Friday, 30 June 2017

It was a beautiful day to be out on the fjord! It was wonderfully sunny and mirror flat for our first tour which delighted us with some beautiful humpback whales travelling together and feeding! Gulping huge mouthfuls of fish, krill and water into their mouths, such a fascinating thing to watch! On the next tour of the day we got to see lots of different group associations which changed as we watched them. Our favourites were out to show us their beautiful flukes including; Arnar, The Dark Knight, Tattoo, Jackson, Grenade and Giljagaur  The rest of the days tours were filled with wonderful landscapes, fascinating birds, even more feeding whales, and engine off whale watching with wonderful surfacing’s so very close to the boat it even made our rib boat captain Össur jump!

Picture and text by Tess Hudson.

Thursday, 29 June 2017

Today the wind decided not to show up on the morning tour, which was excellent with such pleasant seas. Just after ten minutes sailing from Akureyri and we spot our first two humpback whales, which we know as "Graffiti" and "Granade". Afterwards, we met again the humpback "Dark Night", who was resting, followed by other two whales: "Jackson" and "Tatoo". In the afternoon, sailing was smooth but progressively became windy, but it was not a problem to meet our first whale, the humpback "Dark Night". The whale was proving to be very hard to watch as it surfaced some distance away from the area it was first seen. We waited for some time and moved towards another humpback that was not far away. The animal was moving slowly and showing the fluke sometimes, which was very appreciated by the passengers, and many beautiful photos were taken by the wonderful fluke of "Tatoo". On the way back, many arctic terns were seen flying across the fjord, with fulmars, arctic skuas, and black headed gull also being seen throughout the trip. Furthermore, there were also some small groups of harbour porpoises in both tours. Once again a very fortunate day.

Photographs and text by Manu Bassoi.

Wednesday, 28 June 2017

Another gorgeous day has almost passed in the fjord with a little wind, sun and some rain here and there. We went out from early morning till late at night and could encounter at least 5 humpback whales on every single tour. They were a lot of fun today mainly feeding and switching around a lot so we were very excited to whiteness these social interactions. Tattoo, Dark Knight, Arnar and Jackson were a few of the individuals that we could enjoy today. Sometimes the whales were alone, in pairs and even 4 of them together. If the whales are in a small group we just always are so excited because we can sometimes even hear them communicating in low growls. Here in Eyjafjördur one really does get closer to nature and we love it.

Pictures and text by Babsi Neubarth

Tuesday, 27 June 2017

The end of June is proving to be as successful as the rest of the month has been so far. A partially clouded sky and only a little bit of wind made sailing a lovely experience today. The humpback whales on our two tours were at their almost usual spots in the proximity of Hjalteyri. Fjall and one of our Santa Clause whales were busy feeding all around the boat and our adored Tattoo seemed to be a bit tired since we saw it resting for a long time under a sunny sky. Overall there must have been at least 5-6 humpback whales in the fjord today. Next to that we also saw very cute harbour porpoises under a flock of feeding arctic terns. Once more we had a really good day here in the North of Iceland so do not miss out on a chance to seeing one of the majestic Eyjafjördur humpbacks and join us on a whale watching tour soon!

Text and pictures by Babsi Neubarth

Monday, 26 June 2017

Eyjafjördur today was a gorgeous day, flat seas and many whales. We only have to sail to Hjaltery to find humpback whales. When we were looking out on the morning tour, we spotted three humpbacks that we already know: Dark Night, Graffiti, and Tatoo.  They were swimming in different localities and showing their flukes many times, and the pictures were amazing with flat seas.  In the afternoon tour, there were the same whales, however now they were swimming together with another well-known individual,  Giljagaur, and they were feeding. Everybody was just amazed by the moment that the whales came close to the vessel's bow when it was stopped. Furthermore, we could also spot a minke whale further north. A very exciting day with the Eyjafjördur whales.

Text and pictures by Manu Bassoi.

Saturday, 24 June 2017

What a fluketastic day! Throughout the day we saw many different humpback whales including; Jackson, Arnar, Tattoo, Sting, Dark Knight, Grenade and many, many more. We were treated to some fantastic behaviour such as logging, fluking and surfacing behaviour exceptionally close, only one or two meters from the boat! Truly exceptional! We were also delighted with a mass of bird life including; black headed gull, kittiwake, northern fulmar, eider ducks, arctic terns and pomeranian skua. The midnight tour was a beautiful way to end the evening with the sun going down, wonderful rainbows and the many majestic humpbacks. Definitely, a tour not to be missed. 

- Pictures by Guillaume Calcagni and text by Tess Hudson

SUNDAY, 25 JUNE 2017

Seen today in Eyjafjord - a Minke and 5 Humpback whales!

Friday 23 June 2017

Wow! What an exceptional day to be out on the water! The day started out with some rain but a nice calm sea. We saw lots of different humpbacks surfacing and feeding. Some really close to us! Of course of regulars were out in their drones including; The Dark Knight, Fjall, Sting, Arnar and Tattoo. We saw some very interesting group associations;  there was a group of three and one of two, they then came to feed together and then split off again into a three and a two again but made up of different members. Our next tour was definitely our star of the show though. Not only did we see group association behaviours but we were spoilt by up close logging, pectoral slapping, rolling, spy-hopping, tail lobbing, head slapping and most fantastically breaching!! It was such an exceptional tour and one of my best by far. All of our 167 passengers went away extremely happy. Our final tour of the day delighted us with even more group associations this time four whales were coming up all together and sometimes only meters from the boat. Such a spectacular day!

- Pictures and text by Tess Hudson

Thursday, 22 June 2017

A Beautiful day to be out of the water! The day started off most fantastically with some wonderful whales including some of our favourites; Arnar, Manu, Tattoo and Grenade. The four of these whales were diving and feeding together coming up with their mouths full of water and food. What a fantastic event to witness! Later on in the tour we were very lucky to witness not one but four breaches! So incredible on just one tour too! We were also joined by another whale called Giljagaur, which translates as Gully Gawk and is one of the 13 Icelandic Santa clauses, as this animal was first spotted just before last Christmas. On the next tour as these whales seemed fully fed they came up to greet us in slow measured movements. One of our regular whales also joined the party and we got to see a lot of the whale Fjall. A minke whale also popped up as did a few beautiful harbour porpoises. The next tour on our amazing speedboats also did not disappoint with more whales and even a bit of sunshine. On the last tour of the day the sun was setting in the background as even more wonderful whales surfaced all around us. A beautiful end to a lovely day. 

- Pictures and text by Tess Hudson

Wednesday, 21 June 2017

What a day the fjord had in store for us today! The day started out beautifully with sun and a wonderful flat sea. We saw 4 different whales including some of our regular favourites such as; The Dark Knight, Fjall, Nibbles and Tattoo. These animals surfaced wonderfully for us, and were often raising their beautiful flukes into the air as they went for deeper dives.  The next tour on our larger boat Hólmasól was a tour not to be missed, as we saw more beautiful whales one of which (The Dark Knight) even tailed lobbed three times! What wonderful behaviour to watch! The whale Fjall also surprised us all by suddenly surfacing only a meter from the boat! Right in front of us, giving us all an enjoyable jolt. The final tour of the day started well with some wonderful large blows and a very close encounter with the majestic humpback whale. However, the weather suddenly picked up so we had a rather bumpy return. Nevertheless, this just added to the fun of being out on the fjord and all got to experience the only rollercoaster Iceland has to offer.

-          Pictures and text by Tess Hudson

Tuesday, 20 June 2017

Fantastic day in Eyjafjördur today with flat seas in the morning and evening tours. Not a day to be missed, as the humpback whales were relaxed, and we could enjoy them resting on the surface, blowing strongly, and slapping the pectoral flippers in the water sometimes. We were in the big boat, Hólmasól, and there was a moment that one humpback just breached as we were leaving. In the afternoon tour, there was a  moment that two humpbacks swam and surfaced directly next to us at the starboard bow of the boat when we were just stopped waiting for their next appearance. However, the remarkable moment of the evening tour was a minke whale just swimming close to us and showing its mouth many times, as the animal was feeding in the area and did not seem bothered about us. Utterly an amazing day in the Eyjafjördur. 

Pictures and text by Manu Bassoi.

Monday, 19 June 2017

One could say that the weather conditions were the exact opposite to yesterday. It started off quite windy and cloudy but ended in beautifully calm seas and a bright blue sky during the midnight tour. Also today the Eyjafjördur humpbacks did not disappoint us. Six-seven humpbacks on the morning and afternoon could be observed and 8 whales in the evening. Many of them were very close to Akureyri from the morning onwards. We saw many of our favorites including Dark Knight, Fjall, Jackson and Arnar and met an old fellow from Faxafloi again, a humpback whale called Shaniqa. It is really interesting to see that we have more and more matches between our Eyjafjördur and our Faxafloi Photo-ID Catalogues. The midnight sun tour was indeed something special since four whales were literarily only 5 minutes away in the harbor area so we could start watching whales immediately before making our way further out into the fjord. A very fine day today with plenty of humpbacks and sun.

Text and pictures by Babsi Neubarth

Sunday, 18 June 2017

Today we could witness the sometimes moody Icelandic weather, starting off with super flat and calm seas over rain and wind picking up a lot within a few hours after the morning tour. That did not stop us from many good sightings in the fjord including special things like pec slapping and even a breach on the 13:00 tour. We saw a total of 6-8 humpback whales in the morning, about 5 in the afternoon and 3 in the evening. Dark Knight, Arnar and Jackson were some of our regulars which we could admire today. Food really must still be fantastic in the fjord since we saw them mainly feeding. After a successful day we are excited to see what tomorrow will bring.

Text and pictures by Babsi Neubarth

Saturday, 17 June 2017

Lovely conditions expected us on two tours today, calm seas, sun and a bit of rain here and there. The mix of clouds and sun was responsible for a lot of stunning light effects on the landscape surrounding us. You sure can tell that it is summer now with fields glooming in lush green. Once more we found the humpback whales in the area around and a bit behind Hjalteryi. On each tour we saw at least 4 humpbacks. Manu, Dark Knight and Arnar were some of the regulars which we encountered today and which came very close to the boat, feeding and one maybe just to check us out. Whatever the reason, we really love these close encounters. So wildlife in Eyjafjördur please keep on being like this.

Text and pictures by Babsi Neubarth