Daily Diary – June 7th 2023
Daily diary of whale watching from Reykjavik Old Harbour, on the yacht Amelia Rose, on June 7th 2023 – written by Lucky.
The weather was mild but a little overcast as we set out from Reykjavik Old Harbour to go whale watching on our yacht Amelia rose. The ocean was calm and visibility was good, so we weren’t long out in the feeding ground before we saw the smooth black back of a minke whale! They move fast through the water, about twice the speed of a humpback whale.
It was wonderful to see this incredible animal but we wanted to see what other species were out in Faxafloi today. Not long after we came across white beaked dolphins. Often they are an absolute joy to watch and today was no different. They were bow riding the boat and leaping from the water. Today the pod was about 10-20 strong which was a good size. Sometimes we just see a few together but on rare days we see hundreds.
We continued out on our search for whales and eventually saw a great blow in the distance so headed towards it. There was a humpback for sure, given the size and shape of the blow! When we got closer we saw it dive, showing us its tail flukes. A great photo moment for everyone.
The humpback fed happily around us for a long time, but eventually we needed to start heading home to Reykjavik. So we left it behind us, watching it out the back of the yacht as we went. We were well clear of it then in the distance we saw a huge splash – a breaching humpback! So we motored on over to it to see if it would jump again. It didn’t but showed us its fins as it dived close to the yacht.
All in all, it was a wonderful day on the water!
Here are some of the animals we saw today.
White-beaked Dolphins
Puffins
Northern Gannets
Arctic terns
