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AH75  Whale Watching All year round

Highlights:
  • Whale watching 


Tour Description:

On this fantastic whale watching tour you will observe the whales in their native environment which is an unforgettable experience.

We will sail on Faxaflói bay, home of a unique variety of Minke whale, the Humpback, Harbor Porpoise and the White-beaked Dolphins, which are all common sights on this tour. 
The local bird life is also diverse, including such birds as the Puffin, Arctic Tern, Gannet and many varieties of Gull.

After the tour you can explore the Whale Exhibition Center that enables you to witness the mysteries of the ocean. It is situated in an old capelin-fishing vessel “Fífill” which has been transformed into an exhibition and information centre on whales and seabirds.

The entrance to the Whale Exhibition Room is free of charge for whale watching passengers. A return transfer is not included in the tour price. The harbour is just a "stones throw" away from the city centre, so it will only take you a few minutes to reach the city centre on foot after your tour. Local busses, taxis and a shuttle service (offered by the whale watching company Elding), are available to those who do not want to go downtown (extra charge).
 
Winter whale watching is scheduled daily from 1 October to 31 March at 13:00. The most common whales in the winter are dolphins, humpback whales and killer whales, hardly any minke whales have been seen from November through March. For your comfort and warmth, we have special suits on board we can lend you, but we do advise you to wear warm clothes. We also offer hot drinks and light refreshments in our on-board café. Alternatively, you can sit inside the boat in the warmth, where you can enjoy the view from large windows.
 
There are excellent guides on all tours who tell you about your trip and describe what you can see and where to look, together with an introduction and safety guide. We tell you about the seabirds and nature in the Faxafloi bay. How much we see depends on the sea conditions and season, but our qualified guides are happy to try to answer all your questions.
 
No two whale watching trips are the same, we need to be flexible and organize your trip taking sea conditions, weather and seasons into account. We rarely have to go further than 15 nautical miles from the harbour.
 
 
 

Itinerary Details:

Daily tour departures:
January - March at 13:00
April & May at 09:00 and 13:00
June - August at 09:00, 13:00 and 17:00
September at 09:00 and 13:00
October - December at 13:00
 
Included:
Guidance as shown under Guidance below
Transfer to Harbour
Whale Watching Tour
 
Excluded:
Transfer back to your hotel
 
Closeout dates:
January 2013
1 - public holiday
 
Online Booking: Until 7:00 PM the day before the tour.
 
 
 

Guidance:

English
All departures
 
 

 
 

 

Tour is Available:
 
 
Departure: 9:00 Apr-Sep / 13:00 all year / 17:00 Jun-Aug
Pick-up: 8:00 Apr-Sep / 12:00 all year / 16:00 Jun-Aug
Duration: 3 hours
 
Complimentary hotel pick-up service.
 
Children fares:
Child (0 - 6): FREE
Youth (7 - 15): 50% off
 
Price: 8.500 ISK
location of tour

Average rating:
Pages: 1 2 3 

Jones wrote:
My friend and I were really looking forward to this trip, having seen whales off Alaska, but only at a distance from the cruise ship. In actual fact we saw absolutely nothing, and I guess the crew actually suspected this before we set out - nothing had been sighted on the earlier outing that day, and when asked what the likelihood was of seeing either whales dolphins or porpoises, we were told that since the Company had been doing the trips the success rate was c90% - on reflection we read into that that the more recent outings are in fact less successful than historic ones - I appreciate of course that all wildlife sightings are never 100% guaranteed by virtue of the fact that we are dealing with nature. The pick-up, drop-off, boat, equipment and whale exhibition centre were all excellent, and whilst we were offered vouchers for a free trip any time in the next two years, these are virtually worthless unless you are staying in Reykjavik for the next few days following your outing as I guess very few people will be making a return trip to Iceland within the next two years! The sea was very rough throughout our trip with many passengers being sea-sick. Fortunately my friend and I have good sea legs and stomachs, and the one redeeming thing that can be said about the actual trip itself is that we actually enjoyed our trip on Iceland's one and only "big dipper"! I would suggest that anyone contemplating joining this tour should make detailed enquiries about RECENT success rates before booking. I hope this review will be helpful for anyone who might be intending joining this trip. C Jones, Chester, England.
Rating:

ormrod wrote:
Good trip. Diligent searching with contact with another boat to improve chance of sightings. Guide was informative - minky whale spotted and boat manouvered several times to allow all a chance of a good view and photos. Before the sighting we had been informed that if the trip was unsuccessful everybody would be offered another trip at no cost!
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Jones wrote:
My friend and I were really looking forward to this trip, having seen whales off Alaska, but only at a distance from the cruise ship. In actual fact we saw absolutely nothing, and I guess the crew actually suspected this before we set out - nothing had been sighted on the earlier outing that day, and when asked what the likelihood was of seeing either whales dolphins or porpoises, we were told that since the Company had been doing the trips the success rate was c90% - on reflection we read into that that the more recent outings are in fact less successful than historic ones - I appreciate of course that all wildlife sightings are never 100% guaranteed by virtue of the fact that we are dealing with nature. The pick-up, drop-off, boat, equipment and whale exhibition centre were all excellent, and whilst we were offered vouchers for a free trip any time in the next two years, these are virtually worthless unless you are staying in Reykjavik for the next few days following your outing as I guess very few people will be making a return trip to Iceland within the next two years! The sea was very rough throughout our trip with many passengers being sea-sick. Fortunately my friend and I have good sea legs and stomachs, and the one redeeming thing that can be said about the actual trip itself is that we actually enjoyed our trip on Iceland's one and only "big dipper"! I would suggest that anyone contemplating joining this tour should make detailed enquiries about RECENT success rates before booking. I hope this review will be helpful for anyone who might be intending joining this trip. C Jones, Chester, England.

ormrod wrote:
Good trip. Diligent searching with contact with another boat to improve chance of sightings. Guide was informative - minky whale spotted and boat manouvered several times to allow all a chance of a good view and photos. Before the sighting we had been informed that if the trip was unsuccessful everybody would be offered another trip at no cost!

Brandt wrote:
We recently went on a whale watching tour with IcelandExcursions and thought the tour was very good. The boat takes you away from the coast and during the ride the guides give you background information about the whales, what to expect, etc. Personally, I would not recommend this tour for small children (under age of 7 probably) because the ride there and back + time to search out the whales can get pretty long. I would say the ride out was about an hour and the ride back possibly around 45 minutes. Also, depending on what types of whales are there, there may not be a lot to see, if the whales are not close--it's hard to keep the kids entertained. Originally, there were 2 boats that were scheduled to go out, but in the end, it was just one boat and it did get crowded, we opted to stand on the upper deck the entire time, but there were people sitting on the floor too. Especially on the way back when we had to pick up some speed to get back to the docks, the top deck got very windy and everybody just congregated in the covered/lower deck. I completely understand why it would be preferable to take one boat instead of two, but I think it left a lot of people in a lurch to find a comfortable place to sit during the long ride.

Dowding wrote:
Well organised tour....special suits available to protect against the cold.....excellent commentary on board....only saw one minke whale and this is the pot luck aspect of any whale watching tour!! April 1st. was too early for puffins.

li wrote:
very nice
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