Humpback whale found on a whale watching trip in Iceland.

Whale watching in Iceland is always wonderful, but it is always extra special to find a humpback whale.

by Lucky Byfleet

Success! We found loads of harbour porpoises and found a beautiful humpback whale as well as a lot of great cormorants, fulmars, gulls, eider ducks and guillemots.

The day was grey and windy but still with good visibility and our courageous customers eagerly jumped on board our elegant superyacht Amelia Rose. There was a small chop to the sea but our boat cut through it easily as it left Reykjavik harbour here in Iceland. As we left the port we could see there were a lot of birds in the area around the islands. This isn’t unusual but the sheer quantity was, so we waited around a little while, watching the water underneath the birds.

It wasn’t long before we saw some dorsal fins and found a load of harbour porpoises, little did we know how many of them we would see throughout the trip, so we stopped and watched these friendly, curious cetaceans feeding and playing before continuing our journey out to an area we know is rich in fish, after all this was a whale-watching boat trip, so we wanted to find much larger cetaceans.

A little further out we found a large humpback with a distinctive fin. It was wonderful watching it fish and circle the boat, a real moment to remember for all of our customers who all got great photos of this amazing creature. The rest of the trip went well, the inside of the yacht being a warm snug place for the customers to retreat to when they got too cold in the wind on the top viewing deck with our guides.

Several people found their way to the wheelhouse where they chatted out with our friendly captain, who showed them the instruments he uses to plot our route and find our whales. From the wheelhouse it was nice and warm and cosy, but still with the incredible views of the mountains and islands around us.

Many people come to see the wonderful wildlife here, but they also come to see the bewitching northern lights, and we take people out again on our lovely super yacht Amelia Rose. When you book a whale watching tour with us you get 50% off your northern lights tour!

For more information on our boats, our trips and any accessibility questions please email us at seatrips@seatrips.is  or have a look at our FAQs.