Minke and fin whales: the reliable whales of the north

Most whale-watching trips in the North Atlantic are sold on humpbacks and delivered on minkes. That is not a complaint. The minke is the whale that is actually there — the smallest baleen whale in North American waters, present from spring to autumn, close inshore, and the reason a three-hour boat out of Reykjavík or Tobermory is worth the money. The fin whale is the other half of this page and the opposite animal: the second-largest species on earth, 75 to 85 feet long, and a summer visitor to deep water within reach of a few specific ports.

Minke whale, in brief

A minke reaches about 35 feet and up to 20,000 pounds, with females slightly larger than males, according to NOAA Fisheries. The body is black to dark grey-brown with a pale chevron behind the head, a white underside, and — the single best field mark in the North Atlantic — a well-defined white band across the middle of each dark flipper. The dorsal fin is fairly tall and sickle-shaped, set about two-thirds of the way down the back.

Behaviour is what makes them hard work and good value at once. NOAA describes minkes as usually sighted alone or in groups of two to three. They surface briefly, blow low and inconspicuously, and are gone; they rarely fluke. Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism notes that they dive for 15 to 20 minutes at a time and feed on capelin, mackerel or herring. If your guide says "minke, ten o'clock, close", look immediately — there is no second act.

Fin whale, in brief

NOAA gives the fin whale 75 to 85 feet, 40 to 80 tons and a lifespan of 80 to 90 years. It is a fast swimmer, usually in groups of two to seven, and in the North Atlantic it often feeds alongside humpbacks, minkes and white-sided dolphins — which is why a single St. Lawrence trip can show you three rorquals in an hour.

The identification trick is the head. Fin whale colouring is asymmetrical: dark on the left side of the lower jaw, white on the right, and reversed on the tongue. Many carry light-grey V-shaped chevrons behind the head, and the underside of the flukes is often white with a grey border. Those marks are unique to individuals. At the surface you see a tall column of blow, then an enormous back rolling forward for what feels like far too long before a small hooked fin appears near the end of it.

1. Minke — Iceland
2. Minke — Scotland and the Hebrides
3. Minke — St. Lawrence
4. Fin whale — St. Lawrence
5. Fin whale — Azores
6. Fin whale — Iceland

PeakGoodPossibleOff

Both species follow food north in spring and leave in autumn. The Azores run earlier than everywhere else because the fin whales there are passing through on migration, not feeding all summer.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Minke — Iceland	Off	Off	Off	Possible	Good	Peak	Peak	Peak	Peak	Good	Possible	Off
Minke — Scotland and the Hebrides	Off	Off	Off	Possible	Good	Peak	Peak	Peak	Peak	Good	Possible	Off
Minke — St. Lawrence	Off	Off	Off	Off	Possible	Good	Peak	Peak	Peak	Good	Possible	Off
Fin whale — St. Lawrence	Off	Off	Off	Off	Off	Possible	Good	Peak	Peak	Peak	Possible	Off
Fin whale — Azores	Off	Off	Possible	Good	Peak	Peak	Good	Possible	Off	Off	Off	Off
Fin whale — Iceland	Off	Off	Off	Off	Possible	Good	Peak	Peak	Peak	Possible	Off	Off

Where to go

Iceland — April to October. Faxaflói Bay off Reykjavík is minke water: shallow, plankton-rich and fifteen minutes from the Old Harbour. Húsavík in the north adds humpbacks and, in some years, blue whales on the deeper edge of Skjálfandi Bay, and Akureyri works the long fjord. The full picture, including which port suits which month, is on Iceland.

Scotland and the Hebrides — April to October. The Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust gives the Hebridean minke season as April to October and animals of up to 10 m, and has photo-identified over 250 individuals by their dorsal fins in those waters. Minkes off Mull, the Small Isles and the Sound of Sleat come with basking sharks in the same weeks and orcas as a rare bonus. Boats are small, prices are low, and trips are longer than the Icelandic standard. See Scotland and Ireland.

The St. Lawrence — June to October. The best fin whale water covered on this site. The Saguenay–St. Lawrence Marine Park states that nine species of marine mammals regularly frequent its waters, among them minke, fin, blue and humpback whales, and the fin whales are close enough inshore that a three-hour boat from Tadoussac reaches them. Canada covers the three coasts.

The Azores — spring. Fin whales pass the archipelago on migration in spring, alongside blue and sei whales; Visit Azores then groups sperm and sei whales with the species frequent in summer, alongside resident common and bottlenose dolphins. The Azores explains how the vigia lookouts on shore direct the boats.

Cape Cod — April to October. Minkes and fin whales feed on Stellwagen Bank with the humpbacks. They are the supporting cast on a trip sold on breaching, but they are reliably present. See Cape Cod and New England.

Reading the blow: a two-minute field guide

Almost everything you need to identify these whales happens in the first three seconds of a surfacing, so it helps to know what to look at in what order.

The blow. A minke's is low, thin and often invisible in wind. A fin whale's is a single tall column, 4–6 m, that stands up long enough to point at. A humpback's is bushier and wider. If somebody on deck shouts and you cannot see anything at all, it was probably a minke.

The back. A minke rolls tight and quick: fin and back appear almost together. A fin whale shows a long, smooth, dark back that keeps coming — the gap between blow and dorsal fin is the tell, and it is several seconds.

The fin. Minke: tall, sharply hooked, two-thirds back. Fin whale: relatively small for the body, angled forward at the leading edge, and very far back. Blue whale: a stub.

The flukes. Neither species usually shows them. A raised tail against the sky in the North Atlantic is almost always a humpback, sometimes a blue whale, and is your cue to lower the camera and look.

The company. Fin whales feed in loose groups with humpbacks, minkes and dolphins; minkes are usually alone. Seabirds sitting tight on a slick of oily water mean something has fed there recently and may come back.

Which boat

For minkes, smaller is better: the animal surfaces for a few seconds within a hundred meters of the hull, and a RIB can turn to it while a 200-seat boat is still swinging. For fin whales the opposite holds — you want height and stability, because the interest is the scale of the animal alongside a long, slow roll, and because fin whale water is further out and rougher.

The rules

Iceland has no dedicated whale-watching law; what it has is a voluntary industry code, signed by operators after a workshop in Reykjavík in 2015 and administered by IceWhale, the Icelandic whale watching association. Ask whether your operator is a signatory — that is the actual quality filter in Iceland, alongside the separate question of whether the company also serves whale meat or promotes restaurants that do.

Official information

IceWhale code of conduct for responsible whale watching

Searching zone

Beyond 3,000 m: reduce speed, keep a dedicated lookout, stay in radio contact with other vessels

Approaching zone

From 300 m: hold that distance at first and close gradually; stop the main propeller, maximum 5–6 mph; never approach head-on; move parallel to the animal

Caution zone

Inside 50 m: stop the propeller if a cetacean approaches and do not re-engage until all animals are well clear

Time

Preferably no more than 20–30 minutes with the same cetacean, and take turns when several boats are present

Never

Do not touch, swim with or feed cetaceans; do not encourage dolphins to bow ride; do not sail through a concentrated pod

Source: IceWhale — Icelandic Whale Watching Association. From the official source; double-check before you go.

Scotland runs on guidance too. NatureScot is explicit that the Scottish Marine Wildlife Watching Code "isn't a law or a regulation" — its purpose is to raise awareness and give practical guidance — and recommends choosing an operator accredited by the Wildlife Safe (WiSe) Scheme. The code's best-practice guide gives rules of thumb of 100 m for whales, 50 m for dolphins and porpoises and 200–400 m for mothers with calves or animals clearly feeding or in transit, under six knots inside a caution zone from at least 300 m, with a maximum of about two boats in that zone at once and never a direct approach.

In Canada the same encounters are governed by law rather than by agreement. Inside the Saguenay–St. Lawrence Marine Park, approaching minke, fin, humpback whales or harbor porpoises closer than 200 m is an offense, and 200 to 400 m is treated as a caution zone — stricter than the 100 m general Canadian rule. Belugas and blue whales carry a 400 m minimum.

What it costs

Iceland's three-hour classic sits between $94 and $108 depending on the port and the boat; the Húsavík speedboat safari is about $171. The St. Lawrence three-hour boat is roughly $132, the zodiac $107. Scotland is not in the comparison at all: our partner sells no Scottish whale tour — every listing in its Scotland-and-Ireland group is Irish — so a Hebridean trip is booked with the local operator direct. Prices are checked regularly.

Who should book what

Our call

Our call

Iceland in July, from a big boat

The longest daylight, the calmest month, and minkes plus humpbacks on the same three hours for under $100.

Skip it if Chasing fin whales in Iceland specifically — they are offshore and irregular; the St. Lawrence and the Azores are the dependable fin whale water.

Check Reykjavík dates from $99.89

Book a minke trip expecting a minke and you will have a good day; book it expecting a humpback and you have made the mistake the whole industry is built around. If you want the big rorqual, go where fin whales feed rather than where they occasionally pass — the St. Lawrence in late summer, the Azores in spring. The neighboring species pages are humpback whales, blue whales and belugas.