Saturday, 12 August 2017

Weather and sea conditions were just perfect today in the morning: flat seas and fantastic visibility. In the morning tour, we had many sightings of small groups of harbour porpoises. Sailing north in the vicinities of Hjaltery we spotted our first humpback whale "Tattoo". After this encounter, the captain continued sailing north and more three known humpbacks were just waiting for us: "Granade", "Cascade", and "Engelbert". At the way back some seabirds were seen: northern fulmars, arctic skua, and kittiwakes. However, whales, porpoises and sea birds were not the only species we got to admire today; we had a pleasant surprise of a harbour seal on the way back to Akureyri. A great day well spent out at sea. 

Pictures were taken by Guillaume and Manu and text by Manu.

Friday, 11 August 2017

Eyjafjördur today was overcast and raining in the morning, but as the whales are not worried about being wet, we were expecting a great encounter. From early morning till late evening we always observed five humpback whales including "Grenade", "Fjall", "Giljagaur", "Vivian", and our favourite fluke among all - "Tattoo". They were in a group of four individuals, and only "Grenade" was alone. The whales were showing the flukes several times, and all them in the same area not far from Akureyri. We could enjoy a group of four humpbacks diving syncronized with the flukes "waving us". Some groups of harbour porpoises also made their appearance in the morning tours. 

Text and pictures by Manu Bassoi.

Thursday, 10 August 2017

What a great day! After some days of less merciful weather, we got a day with weaker wind and overall not so chilly temperatures. And the whales! Most of the day we got two humpbacks whales going by the name of Tattoo and Grenade. So not many of them but they treated with close encounters, endless fluking and powerful blows. And for the midnight tour, they got joined by 3 others individuals: Giljagaur, Vivian and FJall! So we basically spent the day with old friends, regulars of the fjord, for our greatest joy! Today Eyjafjordur reminded us that it is truly a humpback whale paradise, and we could not be happier about it. Nice time seems to be ahead of us!

Text and pictures by Guillaume Calcagni

Wednesday, 9 August 2017

We went out today in Eyjafjord and spotted Humpback whales!

Tuesday, 8 August 2017

Today’s weather conditions were completely the opposite compared to yesterday. We started with a sunny sky and very calm seas and finished with rain and wind blowing from the North. This of course didn’t stop us from going out and finding humpback whales. The whales were mainly in the area between Hjalteryi and Hauganes where they were busy feeding on the rich fish stocks. Grenade, Tattoo, Bibliotheka, Fjall, Pepper, Enghelbert and Arnar made sure that we had close up and personal encounters with nature on each of our tours with a minimum of 5 Eyjafjördur humpbacks on the morning tour. There is nothing better than if it is the whales themselves which approach us and come very close. After all, we want to do whale watching on the whales terms here in Akureyri and that is what we got. So we definitely had a great day on this Tuesday.

Text and pictures by Babsi Neubarth

Monday, 7 August 2017

The day started raining in the morning, but after a while, it stopped, and we had only an overcast sky with some shining moments. We sailed towards the north, and one blow appeared on the horizon, a humpback whale. We stayed a while with this individual and after this encounter, northern off Hjalteyri, we spotted four humpback whales that have been seen in the fjord since the past three weeks: “Tatoo”, “Granade”, “Atnar”, and “Pepper”. It was a pleasant meeting as the whales were diving and showing their flukes frequently as in a queue, and sometimes two animals were synchronised. Furthermore, in the afternoon tour, we had a gorgeous humpback tail lobbing and two breachings! Groups of harbour porpoises were also present in all tours today, and on some occasions, we could see them quite close while we were stopped waiting for the whales. Despite the weather a delightful day with many humpbacks and harbour porpoises, and Spanish dancing with our passengers!

Text and pictures by Manu Bassoi and Babsi Neubarth.

Sunday, 6 August 2017

We had a good day today in Eyjafjördur with a bit of rain and all sorts of weather ranging from sun to strong periods of rain. Luckily the weather in Iceland is changing rather quickly so that we do not have to battle the elements for too long at a time. Humpback whales made every one of our tours a success. It was really fun to see Donald Hump, Georgio and Cascade surfacing together in the morning and observe our adorable Jackson in the afternoon. Today also marked the return of Montague, one of the smaller humpbacks that we had already seen yesterday. We were also fortunate enough to see a pec and a tail slap. Towards the end of the day the whales got a bit more elusive, so we are ready for tomorrow morning to go out and see what the Eyjafjördur humpbacks are up to then.

Text by Babsi Neubarth and pictures by Guillaume Calcagni

Saturday, 5 August 2017

After few days in a row with good sighting success, it's safe to assume that the whales came back in number in the Fjord! Even if the wind slowly picked up all day long, we still got easy sailing, sunshine and gorgeous scenery. Overall about 7 different individuals of humpback whales were seen today. We had Lumière, back in Eyjafjordur after disappearing for a couple of month, pairing with Georgio in the morning, and in the afternoon we had Donald Hump, Fjall and Tattoo traveling together. In addition we also sighted Pepper with its beautiful dark fluke, and met again Avalanche, who we reckonized from last year, with its 2 biting marks on the tip of each flukes! Times to times we also caught glimpses of crazy porpoises kamikazing in the front of the boat! Needless to say that we had a great time sailing today!

Pictures and text by Guillaume Calcagni

Friday, 4 August 2017

Marvelous day today out in the fjord with sun and just enough wind to make sure everybody had a fun ride. The humpback whales had moved much closer towards Akureyri compared to yesterday so that it took us only about 30-40 minutes to find them. On each tour we saw 6-8 Eyjafjördur humpbacks mixing and mingling. Of course Tattoo was always to be found in a group whereas Fjall for a change seemed to need some time for itself. We spend a lot of quality time with different whales on each tour and returned happy and smiling back to the harbor. Seems like the whales are ready for a great weekend and so are we. Come and join us on one of our Classic or Express Whale Watching Tours!

Text and pictures by Babsi Neubarth

Thursday, 3 of August 2017

We sailed out in cloudy conditions with a cold wind. So passengers were very happy with our red overalls and blankets. After about 20 minutes sailing we encountered our first humpback whale of the tour. The animal seemed to be travelling moving quickly clearly heading in one direction. After sailing further in the fjord we discovered a Minke whale, the animal came up several times in the same area. Since we do not see Minke whales often it is always a nice surprise to spot one in the fjord. In the afternoon we discovered that a number of the humpback whales were quite far out, after about an hours sail we encountered 8 whales of which 5 were moving together. It was a great sight seeing the animals swimming and diving together. They came up several times very close to the boat giving the passengers a great view.

Text Anouk de Plaa and pictures Guillaume Malpaccini

Wednesday, 2 August 2017

Another grand day has passed in the Eyjafjördur with a little wind in the morning, and sunny. We went out from early morning till late at night, with five tours, and could meet three species of cetaceans. First, many groups of harbour porpoises, and four known humpback whales ("Donal Hump", "Pepper", "Fjall", and "Cross Stitch").  The whales were mostly alone, but a group of three humpbacks was also spotted. However, after a long time of waiting, we finally could encounter this summer a group of about eight to ten white beaked dolphins! The dolphins were in the north part of the fjord, southern off Hrisey Island. Furthermore, the great moments of the tours were two humpback breachings and head slapping many times. We just could not believe such performance! Thanks a lot for this day!

Pictures and text by Manu Bassoi.

Tuesday, 1 August 2017

Brilliant day today, and conditions at sea were very great, especially the waters southern off Hjalteyri. Harbour porpoises were sighted at various locations throughout the journey, normally in small groups of three to five animals. We sailed the fjord northwards, and all onboard could appreciate the beautiful landscape of this area. After spending some time exploring the fjord, we finally found our first cetacean, a minke whale. Just after the minke, we spotted another species of baleen whale, a humpback whale. These were pleasant encounters as all the passengers could detect the differences between these two species of baleen whales. This humpback is already in our catalogue, and it is named "Donald Hump". Heading home more porpoises were once again on display along the fjord, as well northern fulmars and Arctic skuas. It was a good day for sightings. 

Text and pictures by Manu Bassoi.

Monday, 31 July 2017

Seen on today's tours were 1 Minke whale and 3 Humpbacks!

Sunday, 30 July 2017

The weather was overcast and cold, though we were very inspired to get out on the water to watch our magnificent humpback whales. During the morning tour as we travelled north, two blows were seen and we sighted our first humpbacks. We already know these two whales, "Donald Hump" and "Cross Stitch". In the afternoon tours these two whales were still together, and we spotted two other groups of two humpbacks each. The cetaceans were more active and also showing their fluke many times, which was very appreciated by the passengers onboard. Furthermore, there was a moment that some harbour porpoises just swam close to the bow of the boat, and everyone could see how cute and small are these tiny porpoises. Despite the weather, a nice day in Eyjafjördur.

Photographs and text by Manu Bassoi.

Saturday, 29 July 2017

We sailed out into the Eyjafjordur in quite cold conditions, with the northern winds giving the air an icy touch. So warm overalls were definitely a requirement during today's tour. Within twenty minutes after leaving the harbour we spotted our first humpback whale and it was one we have seen before, an animal called Donald Hump. Donald decided to come very close up to the boat giving the passengers great views. We encountered Donald again on our way back. After meeting Donald we had to travel for quite a while before encountering more whales. But we spotted three more animals two we were familiar with, Cross stitch and Fjalk, and were able to get close looks at two of them. During our encounters we got to enjoy the `Icelandic rollercoaster`, the boat started moving due to the waves coming from the side, so our passengers had to hold on well while watching the whales. Many of the passengers were brave and stayed outside for most of the tour to get the best pictures of our beautiful whales and the Eyjafjordur.

Text Anouk de Plaa and pictures Guillaume Calcagni

Friday, 28 July 2017

We went out today and spotted Humpback whales!

Thursday, 27 July 2017

Today we lost the bright sun and tropical temperatures, but what remained to our delight was the flat sea! Only a weak wind coming from the East was blowing on us, so we got peaceful sea conditions. It was such a relaxing sea that the whales napping really hard this morning! All we had to do was to turn off the engines, and let the whales drift toward us, and we got an encounter of a special kind. Two humpback whales were sleeping one meter away from our boat! We were blessed with some sunshine at the same time, so the water got clear enough to allow us to feast our eyes upon the beauty of their full body. The rest of the day went calmly, with the whales getting a little bit busier feeding on the evening. Among our old friends we got to see Fjall, Thor, Cross-Stitch and Noir today, as well some new faces. This summer is magic!

Pictures and text by Guillaume Calcagni

Wednesday, 26 July 2017

The weather is still amazing in the Eyjafjordur so we sailed out with full sunshine and blue sky. There was no need for overalls and blankets, t-shirts and flip flops were more fitting. We encountered our first humpback whale after 25 minutes sailing, it was Fjalk. In the distance we spotted a second individual, after a while the two whales came together and swam side by side for a while. We decided to travel further and encountered Jackson who decided to put on a good show. He started slapping his fins on the water and rolling around. On our way back from the morning tour we got a surprise when a humpback whale came up very close to Akureyri. On the afternoon tour we spotted a second species of whale, the minke whale. The animal was very calm coming up several times very close to the boat giving us some very good looks. The people on the rib tour were treated to an extra special show when an animal started breaching very close to them.

Text Anouk de Plaa and pictures Anouk de Plaa

Tuesday, 25 July 2017

Conditions were quite perfect today in the morning: flat seas and sunny. Moreover, today in the afternoon tour as soon as we left the harbour there were two humpback whales just waiting for us. These were the fast sightings we had in Akureyri, less than a minute after unmooring!  That was a surprising moment, and everyone from the boat and also from ashore was pleased as we got great pictures and videos of the "harbour whales". We could also appreciate some harbour porpoises swimming around in all the tours, and a minke whale showed up in the morning tour. Just to finish the day, during our last trip the humpback whale "Jackson" just breached in front of us. A delightful day with plenty of humpback whales, harbour porpoises, a minke whale, and some breachings.

Photographs and text by Manu Bassoi.

Monday, 24 July 2017

We sailed out in amazing weather conditions full sunshine and smooth waters. The water in the Eyjafjord was tropical blue and see through, which gave the whale watching an extra dimension because we could follow the animals very well under the water. The humpback whales had moved in bit closer towards Akureyri so after half an hour sailing we encountered our first two whales. They were just resting at the surface and we were able to observe these snoozing whales for quite a while. It seemed to be a lazy day in general, whales moving slowly just below the surface. In the evening the animals became a bit more active, they were travelling and feeding. Due to the amazing weather conditions we also got incredible views of the mountains surrounding the fjord.

Text Anouk de Plaa and pictures Anouk de Plaa