Monday, 10 June 2024

It is not so long ago that our summertime fun turned into a stormy June blizzard. Luckily that is over now, and we are left with only some sugary mountain peaks as a reminder, that we are in the north of Iceland.

As usual, we have started our day with big hopes, yet not knowing what will come up. We sailed past the first Minke Whale not very far from the harbor around Svalbarðseyri and few more Minkes further north on the way, but as most of you probably know - spotting a Minke Whale can be quite tricky and because we knew that the day before, there was a little whale gathering north of Hjalteyri, we played the wild card and sailed on. We got to see plenty of cetaceans in the morning tour including 3 Minke Whales and some Harbour Porpoises as well. What followed after we arrived to the earlier spotting place was something I would call “whale watching madness”, there were whales everywhere, a huge party of Humpback whales, lunging and surface feeding BIG TIME. Rostrums everywhere, one could not decide where to look first. There could be at least 4 (possibly more) of them sticking surprisingly close to each other.

In the afternoon we did not want to waste a minute on anything else but this huge show that we have witnessed in the morning. More Minke Whales, more Harbour Porpoises just kept popping up around us, so we flew straight to the action. On the way, our captain, saw a huge splash in the distance which definitely was a breach, as we saw it repeatedly afterwards, and one of our boats saw one close up as well!

Today we got to see what it really means to have a good time with whales; tail throws, breaches, and plenty of happiness (feeding) from our beloved Humpback Whales.

Once again, what a day, what a wonderful show of how nature can be incredibly exciting.

Text & Photos: David, Mac, Gisela, & Lindsey

Departures: Classic - 0900, 1000, 1300, 1400 & 2030. Express - 1000, 1000, 1400 & 1400 O’Clock