Friday, 13 January 2017

Whale watching: Who said that Friday the 13th is an unlucky day of misfortune ? For all that we can say, we had a freezing but splendid time out in Eyjafjörður today ! Since our last whale watching trip was unsuccessful (the first one after over half a year of dashing success), we were a tad worried that the whales may have grown tired of our gorgeous fjord. But such thoughts proved to be a misuse of imagination, as we quickly found a humpback whale between Akureyri and Hjalteyri ! It was an athletic individual, moving over large distances during long dives, changing frequently directions and not taking many breaks to catch its breath. It took time before we could have a closer looks, but there was so many participating passengers keeping an eye out, braving the -12°C temperatures in the cold, that we never lost sight of this humpback. And patiently we were waiting for the whale to resurface and feast our eyes on its beauty. After quickly checking our humpback whale catalogue, we successfully identified the animal as Perlan (the Pearl in Icelandic language), an individual that we regularly spotted for a week in mid-August. We don't know if since then it was gone or staying out of our reach further in the fjord, but welcome back old pal !

Northern lights: After our success this morning with the whale watching, it was only natural that we try our luck with the northern lights. And how right were we to do so ! It was a long waiting in a cold night for the first half of the trip, but our persistence paid off when we finally saw the first signs of activity. Then, gently the lights unfolded, developed over the sky and became stronger. The green light that was first only visible on the cameras became clear to the naked eye, and we could enjoy them for over half an hour ! Getting to witness on the same day a humpback and this natural display was a pure blessing, enough to wash off the bad reputation of Friday the 13th.

Entry and pictures by Guillaume Calcagni