Friday, 17 March 2017

Photographs and pictures by Megan Whittaker

11:00 Whale Watching

A picturesque scenery on today´s whale watching excursion. We have not been successful from Akureyri harbour so today we tried departing from a harbour further north, Árskogssandur so that we have the ability to search the areas further out towards the mouth of the fjord. Just in the harbour there were long-tailed and eider ducks, which we got some nice pictures. The swell was still quite high so we decided to sail around the island of Hrísey. The only cetacean seen on our tour today was harbour porpoises, which is one of my favourite species but they can be quite elusive and shy. We got a few photos though. We still gave our passengers complimentary tickets and hopefully the larger cetaceans will venture into the fjord tomorrow.

21:00 Northern Lights

The forecast looked very good for this evenings northern lights tour, probably the best conditions than most of Iceland. When we left the harbour and again we left from Árskogssandur the skies were very cloudy, nothing like what the forecast was predicting. However, as soon as we left the harbour we saw a slimmer of light trying to break through the clouds. It was hard to pick up with the naked eye but the camera conformed it. The breaks in the clouds got bigger and it created patterns in the sky. The heavens opened up later in the tour and the stars were shining so bright as the air was so crisp, never has I seen so many stars in a small area before. The northern lights got better and better and by the end of the tour  passenger faces lit up with them. A wonderful tour.