Tuesday, 2 July 2024

Another day in our northern paradise!

The night was calm and in the morning we could enjoy some mountain reflections in a completely still water surface. As some of you might know, this is not a very common sight in Iceland.

After boarding a bunch of smiling passengers, we sailed out past Hjalteyri met three different pods of Harbour Porpoises on the way and eventually found our favourite species - the angels of the North Atlantic - Humpback Whales. There were 3 hanging out together resurfacing from time to time very close to each other. One of them showed us some acrobatics by a single breach, an unforgettable memory for those lucky eyes that managed to look the right way. We have also found two Minke Whales one a bit north of Svalbarðseyri and the second one a little closer to the shore north of Hjalteyri, very close to the geothermal vents. One of the Minke Whales was lunge feeding as well.

A little further out in the fjord south-east of Hrísey Island, there was more than 5 other Humpback Whales, some of them also feeding.

After the lunch, a little breeze came back to cool us down from this unbelievably warm and calm morning. We sailed out to find 3 Humpback Whales a little closer to Akureyri just East of Hjalteyri. Possibly the same individuals we got to observe in the morning. In the coat of Icelandic never-ending polar day, we are stoked to see what will greet us at our midnight tour.

EDIT: Midnight tour brought us to see 4 more Humpback Whales around the Green Buoy and North of Svalbarðseyri, the whales kept moving a lot, three of them actively feeding and also we got to spot another two pods of Harbour Porpoises. Our pristine fjord full of nutrients really provides enough for a lot of wildlife here.

Overall numbers ard hard to tell, but we got to see 3 species, as listed - possibly more than 8 Humpback Whales, 2 Minke Whales and sooo many Harbour Porpoises.

Lucky day we have had!

Text and pictures: DP, Lindsey & Gisela.

Tours of the day: Classic - 0900, 1300 & 2030 o’clock. Express - 1000, 1030 & 1400 o’clock.