Over the course of 2024 we had some incredible whale watching moments. We saw a huge amount of baleen whales including humpback, minke and fin whales. Along with, three species of toothed whales: white beaked dolphins, harbour porpoises and orcas! One of the highlights was Elding’s best day in recent memory, we saw over 50 humpback whales, around 10 fin whales, some minke whales and white beaked dolphins all feeding together close to Keflavík.
Graph showing the percentage of tours throughout 2024 that we did not give out complimentary tickets. This effectively means the tours that were successful with good sightings. For example, in October and December every single tour was successful with great sightings. Throughout the whole year over 90% of our tours had great sightings.
As you can see in the graph showing the success rates for 2024, the winter was particularly successful. This was, in fact, the first time in recent history where winter had a higher success of seeing cetaceans compared to summer.
From 2016 to 2023 summer had a higher success rate. This is what we would expect as some of our cetaceans migrate to warmer waters in the winter. However, in 2024 the winter had a slight higher success rate. There are a few reasons this may have happened. Firstly, the humpback whales have been feeding close to land in winter making them easier to find. Also, as humpback whale populations increase there will be more juveniles. Juveniles, usually, don't migrate as they are not sexually mature. So, they stay in their feeding ground.
Humpback Whales
Humpback whale lunge feeding. Photograph taken by Rob Hyman.
Compared to 2023 this was a sensational year to see humpback whales. In total we saw them on 78% of tours; this is a massive 20% increase on the number from last year. For about three quarters of the year we saw an increase in the number of humpbacks. By going to last years blog you can see the change in the numbers. We had very good sightings at the start and end of the year, from November to February we had a 96% success rate. This is because over winter months the humpback whales have been coming much closer to land, especially to the island Viðey. Sprat, a prey species of fish for humpbacks, have been coming very close to land in recent years and so the whales have followed. As we then spend more time close to land we also see many more seals; we see seals on 43% of tours across November to February.
The success rate of seeing humpback whales throughout 2024.
A very common question we get asked on our tours relates to the time of day to see humpback whales. People often wonder if there is an optimal time to see this species, the answer is no. This next graph shows how often we see humpbacks at different times of the day. You can see there is always a high success rate no matter the time of day.
This shows the success rates of seeing humpback whales based upon the start time of the tour. As each time has great success and there is little difference between each one it shows each start time is roughly as likely as the others to see humpbacks.
We also regularly check which humpback whales we are seeing through photo identification. There is an explanation of how photo identification works in a previous blog. Some of our favourites include Neila, Davy Jones II and Pep! Neila is particularly exciting as we had seen her 4 years in a row from 2021. But now at the start of 2025 we have seen her again making it actually 5 years! We often saw her socialising/ feeding with Pep. We had seen them often in pairs in 2021 together too. Davy Jones II is another long term favourite. We have seen them very often in the last 4 years too. They quite regularly interact with our boat too which is really cool.
Minke Whales
Minke whale surfacing. Photograph taken by Rob Hyman.
April to June were some of the best months for minke whales in 2024, this is a bit earlier than last year where June to September were the prime months. Overall, we saw them on 44% of tours. This species can often be a bit harder to see as they are very fast and often don’t produce visible blow. Quite often the months we see more minke whales is correlated with when there are less humpbacks. These species compete for the same species of fish. This year we also had periods where we would see a minke whale hanging around very close to our harbour.
Minke whale sightings across 2024.
White-beaked Dolphins
White beaked dolphin leaping out of the water. Photograph by Rob Hyman.
Whenever we see white beaked dolphins we can be reasonably confident we are going to be in for a great show. Very often they will bow-ride and jump for us to see. Sometimes, we can even identify which individuals we are watching via markings on their dorsal fins. We have been seeing some of the same dolphins within Faxaflói Bay for 17 years now. Across 2024 we saw them on 36% of our tours which means they may have been a bit more elusive. But in June we did see them on ¾ of our trips. This is particularly exciting as summer is the most common time for us to see mothers and calves!
White beaked dolphins (WBD) sightings in 2024.
Harbour Porpoises
A pair of harbour porpoises. Photograph by Elfyn Pugh via ORCA
Harbour porpoises are the shyest and smallest cetaceans we see during our tours and across Iceland. They can be really fast so you have to be eagle eyed to spot them sometimes. As with the dolphins, this species does actually stay in Iceland all year round. You can see that from September to April is actually when we see the most of them. This could, again, link to the humpback whales being a bit closer to land. As their name suggests harbour porpoises do spend their time closer to land (within about 10km). So, during winter when we are also spending more time close to islands to watch humpbacks we are also more likely to spot these porpoises. Over 2024 we saw them on 23% of tours.
Harbour porpoise sightings in 2024.
After a great 2024, we are really excited to see how 2025 goes. As of writing this blog we currently have a 100% success rate for seeing humpback whales, so fingers crossed this amazing success continues throughout the year!
Rob Hyman
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