The ever changing weather Iceland is so known for, did make its appearance today in the fjord. From sun over rain to strong winds, we were able to experience it all. Sailing took us quite some time till we could reach the area where we spotted our first cetaceans. To the East side of Hrisey we got to see a minke and one humpback whale. Good looks of fluke and dorsal fins were possible, but not the easiest. Hence, we had to be quite active in moving around the boats. Nevertheless, we truly enjoyed being out and about with whales in sight. The weather is expected to change a lot during the next few days and with it we hope for a change in the quantity of cetaceans we are currently seeing. After all, it is summer and the main season for whales, dolphins and porpoises around Iceland. In hopes for more sightings further out in the fjord, the evening tours left from Dalvik, a village North of Akureyri. We saw a relatively large group of white-beaked dolphins with lots of calves but left them soon to find some bigger cetaceans. However, our time was limited and the sea conditions further out where we were expecting humpback whales deteriorated during the tour and did not allow us to go as far as we wanted. On our way back, we tried to find the dolphins again but as they were not in the same area anymore, we decided to offer all our passengers complimentary tickets so they can join us on another tour for free with hopefully better sightings, either in Akureyri or Reykjavik.

Departures today: CLASSIC 9, 13, 17 & 20:30 EXPRESS 10 & 14

Text and pictures by Babsi Neubarth