Responsible orca and
whale watching

Orcas, or killer whales, are highly intelligent apex predators that live in close family groups and have complex vocalisations, traditions and hunting strategies. In West Iceland, they feed mainly on herring, although some individuals travel as far as Scotland, where they also hunt mammals.

Láki Tours is the only whale watching company in Iceland to encounter orcas regularly, with the best chances of seeing them from March to June.

The humpback whale is one of the most popular species to encounter on a whale watching tour, and for good reason. Humpbacks are particularly well known for their spectacular surface activity, including breaching, pec-slapping, spy-hopping, lob-tailing and tail throws.

At Láki Tours, we see humpback whales mostly during the summer and into early autumn. In recent years, however, we have also encountered them during the spring months, showing how their seasonal presence can vary from year to year.

The sperm whale is the largest toothed whale and considered the largest predator in the ocean. There are many amazing facts about sperm whales: their ability to dive to great depths of over 2,000 metres, hold their breath for up to two hours, and their enormous brains.

Láki Tours is the only whale watching operator in Iceland that regularly encounters sperm whales. They can be found in the deeper parts of the fjord, particularly during spring and early summer.

The Minke whale is one of the smallest species of baleen, or filter-feeding, whale and can be found all around Iceland. They are fast and streamlined, often surfacing quickly before disappearing again. However, like many other whales, they can sometimes become curious around boats.

Minke whales can be encountered in Breiðafjörður throughout the year, although their presence and behaviour can vary between seasons.

Blue whales are the largest animals known to have ever lived on Earth. Although they no longer reach the enormous sizes recorded before commercial whaling, blue whales in the North Atlantic can still reach around 25–26 metres in length. Blue whales are still considered an endangered species globally and are critically endangered in the Antarctic.

With only a few thousand blue whales estimated to remain in the North Atlantic, encountering one is always a special experience. We have recorded blue whale sightings twice in 2026.

The fin whale is the second-largest animal on Earth, after the blue whale, and was once nicknamed the “greyhound of the sea” because of its remarkable speed and beautifully streamlined body. Fin whales generally spend much of their time further offshore and in deeper water, making them less common to encounter on whale watching tours. They have nevertheless been documented in Breiðafjörður, including from our tours in Ólafsvík in the past few years.

Unfortunately, fin whales are still hunted commercially in Iceland, despite growing calls for an end to whaling.

Very similar to the fin whale, the sei whale is one of the least-studied baleen whale species. It is the third-largest whale species, smaller and more slender than the fin whale, with a taller, more curved dorsal fin. Sei whales are mainly found offshore and their seasonal movements can be unpredictable, so they are relatively rare visitors to the fjords around Iceland. They have nevertheless been encountered several times on our tours in Breiðafjörður.

Long-finned pilot whales are a species of toothed whale, closely related to orcas. Like orcas, they live in quite stable family groups that are led by an adult female, or matriarch and live complex, highly social lives, passing on important knowledge and information to younger generations within the group.

Long-finned pilot whales were a very regular sighting for many years off Ólafsvík in late summer and autumn, when groups of hundreds were a frequent and spectacular sight. In the last couple of years, sightings have declined, and we are not sure why.

The white-beaked dolphin is one of the main dolphin species regularly seen around Iceland. Its thick-set, robust body with a substantial layer of blubber is well-suited to life in the North Atlantic.

Like other toothed whales, white-beaked dolphins are highly social and live in groups. They can mate and breed throughout the year, and we may encounter them at any time during the season on our whale watching tours, and sometimes on our puffin tours as well.

The shy and small harbour porpoise is probably much more common around us than we actually realise. They tend to avoid boats and, due to their small size, can usually only be spotted when the sea is very calm.

Porpoises are distinct from dolphins and have different-shaped teeth: their teeth are small and spade-shaped, rather than the conical teeth found in dolphins. There are only seven species of porpoise found around the world, and the harbour porpoise is the only porpoise species found in the North Atlantic.

The northern bottlenose whale is a very rare sight, but it has been spotted from our whale watching boat in Ólafsvík. Little is known about this species around Iceland, and they are also among the whales that can be prone to stranding.

Northern bottlenose whales are deep-diving predators that feed mainly on deep-living fish and squid. As toothed whales, they are also highly social and live in family groups, travelling and feeding together.

We are aware that puffins are not whales, but we see these remarkable birds on our puffin tours, and also on our whale watching tours from mid-May until mid-August.

Atlantic puffins spend the winter far out in the North Atlantic, living at sea and feeding through the colder months. Around May, they begin returning to Iceland and gathering near their breeding colonies. Puffins are excellent underwater hunters and can dive to depths of up to 60 metres! And that colourful beak? It is largely a breeding-season look. During the winter, puffins lose much of the bright colour in their beak and facial markings.