Puffin Express Cruise to Akurey from Reykjavik
Overview
- 1-hour puffin express cruise from Reykjavik
- Experience Icelandic native species and see puffin and other seabirds in their natural habitat
- Learn interesting facts about seafowls from your knowledgeable guide
From $53.00 USD
Lowest Price GuaranteeDuring your trip, learn from your expert guide about the puffins as well local seabirds, such as northern fulmars, gulls, arctic terns and black guillemots. Warm up with a fresh cup of coffee while watching the sweet seabirds nesting and diving into the sea after their next meal.
Between May and August every year, the puffins nest on the island. The rocky outcroppings and slopes that form protected areas are perfect for hatching and raising young puffins. Riding on a custom-designed boat means that you can get as close as possible to the funny little birds. Use of binoculars on your tour is also included. When you reach the island, you'll circle it a few times before the captain turns off the engines, allowing you to enjoy the bird life in peace.
Your 1-hour tour ends with drop-off back where you started.
Reviews
Viator Traveler's Reviews
Great puffin-watching tour! This was one of the highlights of our trip! As the boat pulled close to the island, we could see swarms of puffins flying around, and bobbing in the ocean. They were flying past our boat, and the captain did a great job of getting us as close as he could. We could see them on the island, emerging from their dens, and then taking off into the air. Our guide, Iris, was very knowledgable and shared great information!
I got great photos from this trip. I used a 400mm lens, this was sufficient to get great detail on the puffins, I'll attach one. I was worried that all my photos would turn out blurry because we were on a boat, but the water was quiet enough. I've been practicing with this photo setup for a year or two, that really helped.
We took the 8am tour, hoping that the winds would be less then and the water would be less choppy. It worked out great! I don't know if mornings are always quiet on the water we checked the weather forecast and saw that the winds would be lowest in the morning on the day we wanted to go. It takes 15 minutes to get out to the islands, you spend about 30 minutes there, then 15 minutes for the trip back. I'm fairly prone to sea-sickness, but I was fine the whole trip.
The boat has an enclosed cabin with windows that you can sit in if it's too cold. The back half of the boat is open, with bench seats running on either side. I suggest you dress warmly so you can stay outside and see more puffins! Even though we got a fairly warm day, the wind really makes you cold. Dress as if you were going skiing--windproof coat over a fleece jacket water- or windproof pants over regular street pants. I was too warm in this getup on the dock, but once we got on the water I was happy I had worn everything. Once we got to the island, the captain stopped the boat and we could stand up to take photos or look through binoculars. They provide binoculars, there were about 10 pairs available, but I didn't try them.
This tour is so accessible from Reykjavik and doesn't take much time. You don't get nose-to-nose with a puffin, but you get close enough to see what they look like, to see that they're carrying fish in their beaks, to watch these flying footballs attempt to land.
