Whale watching blog in Iceland – January 20

Whale watching Iceland on a luxury yacht from Reykjavik harbour. 

Oh no! We found so many guillemots, gulls, fulmars, eiders, cormorants and kittiwakes and the landscape was beautiful. But we didn‘t find whales or dolphins so everyone got free return tickets for three years.

We couldn’t head out into the main bay towards the whale feeding grounds for the last two weeks thanks to a huge storm that would have made it uncomfortable, and more importantly unsafe for us to go out. However at last we had the all clear to go to sea and all the crew were very excited! The sea  still had a bit of movement in it but over all the sea conditions were good and the weather was quite clear with good visibility and only a few spots of rain.

We headed out to the main feeding groups and did a huge loop hitting all the locations we often see whales feeding and dolphins playing, however despite this and everyone keeping a really sharp eye out for any fins, flukes, blow or diving birds we ran out of time and headed back towards Reykjavik.

 It was frustrating to not see any whales or other marine mammals on out first trip of the year especially when we were all so excited to get back out on the yacht. However so we gave everyone free return tickets for three years so that they could join us on the ship again to go and see the wonderful whales and dolphins we have here just off the coast of Reykjavik, and find out why it is the must-do in Iceland.

Seeing whales and northern lights are rightly on the top of peoples Icelandic bucket lists, and we love showing everyone both. If you have booked onto a whale watching tour with us you can come out with us to see the aurora for half price, but still aboard the luxury superyacht Amelia Rose.

Sea Trips Reykjavik sail daily from Reykjavík Old Harbour, Iceland. Our yacht, Amelia Rose was built as a super yacht in 2003 and as such is extremely comfortable and stable. However the seas often change here, and people are affected differently by the movement of the oceans. As such we have seasickness tablets available for free at the bar. We also have warm blankets and ponchos around the yacht for your comfort, though the inside of the ship is extremely warm and snug.

If you have any more questions about our ships or the trip please give us a call.  or have a look through our FAQs.

What are the differences between baleen and toothed whales?

We see both toothed and baleen whales here in Reykjavik harbour, Iceland. Did you know that dolphins and porpoises are also part of the same family? www.uk.whales.org is a brilliant website that goes into a lot more detail however this is the basic description!

They write that;

“Baleen whales have baleen plates, or sheets, which sieve prey from seawater. Toothed whales have teeth and they actively hunt fish, squid and other sea creatures. Dolphins and porpoises all have teeth and rather confusingly are known as ‘toothed whales’ too!

Another obvious difference between baleen and toothed whales is the number of blowholes on top of their head; baleen whales have two whereas toothed whales have one. There are only 14 baleen whale species and they are generally larger than the 76 species of toothed whales – except for the mighty sperm whale, the largest toothed whale.”

If you are interested in learning more we recommend these websites, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/group/whale-facts/ and https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/whale They have a lot of extra learning materials about cetaceans all over the world.