Wednesday, 24 July 2024
A warm welcome to anyone reading this,
Weather seems to be something that could easily be described in one word - Icelandic. It is indeed quite a typical summery day in Iceland - a little dizzly rain from time to time to cool you off as the breeze is not cold enough, right? Haha, we all know how it is with the weather in the Arctic. They say that if you don’t like the weather, all you need to do is to wait five minutes for it to change. But let’s be honest, today was so far very nice and calm wind-wise. It is really calming and peaceful to be out there and observe not only the wild animals but also watch this dramatic landscape with snowy peaks all around the fjord.
We went on our first journey this morning and heard about a megapod - possibly 200-300 White-beaked Dolphins around the North-western part of Hrísey. These incredibly intelligent creatures sometimes gather together for this spectacular sight, we saw it from afar from one of our RIB boats and it is possible that they will swim closer to Akureyri shortly. Other than that we encountered a Humpback Whale quite close to Grenivík accompanied by a Minke Whale as well. There were also more Humpback Whales blowing a bit further North around the eastern part of Hrísey. On our way back we managed to spot two more Minke Whales, one North of Hjalteyri and one just between the Green Buoy and Svalbarðseyri. Some lucky spotters were able to see Harbour Porpoises as well. These species are commonly spotted on our journey back and forth to the harbour so it is always good to be on the lookout for them. They are very cute cetaceans.
In the afternoon, we had the opportunity to see more cute Harbour Porpoises. They appeared to us in their full glory, because they jumped a couple of times above the water level. Then we had the chance to see the Minke Whale. We saw its head peeking out of the water and its sickle-shaped dorsal fin. And then it was our Humpback Whale's turn… two of them were filling their hungry bellies around our boat…
Text & Pictures: David, Cheyenne
Departures: Classic - 0900, 1000, 1300, 1400, 1700 & 2030. Express - 1000 & 1400 O’Clock