There he blows… right next to our boat!
It was a perfect day yesterday for our schooner tour „Whales, Puffins and Sails“ . Captain Alli and Boatsman/Guide Nils took twelve passengers out on our schooner HAUKUR. The passengers soon found their favorite spot on deck and settled in, meaning they had their cameras ready to catch the nicest moments of the tour.
We had not gone very far when the first Minke whale crossed our path. It was very hungry and feeding on a fish swarm, which you could see as kind of a black, bubbly spot in the water with lots of birds above it. The Minke whale went back and forth, left and right, and kept us quite busy taking pictures and looking out for it, where it would come up next. But we were lucky that it stayed with us for quite a while. The fish on the other hand were trying to escape, and you could see them moving like crazy under the surface, and the birds above them were all excited. Then our Minke whale got company by a second, smaller one. It obviously hunted for the same fish and its appearance was a great addition to the show, that all our passengers and crew enjoyed very much.
On we went towards Puffin-Island, a spot where thousands of those cute birds nest. No need to search for puffins, they are right there, ready and happy to strike a pose for our cameras.
On our way further out on Skjálfandi Bay our guide Nils all of a sudden spotted a Humpback whale‘s stream of spray. „There he blows!“ Our other Whale Watching tour on BJÖSSI SÖR was also in the area, so passengers on both boats could enjoy this whale sighting. Turned out that this Humpback seemed to enjoy our company, because it went right along with our boats, it was so close you thought you could even touch it, maybe only 5 meters away. What a majestic, friendly animal. It showed us its flukes a couple of times, when it made shallow dives. Only after we all had taken our pictures it went off for a deep dive.
Time for us to set sails, turn off the motor and enjoy the beauty of sailing on our schooner. Wonderful trip, happy passengers and therefor also happy crew.
Ute Zimmer, North Sailing team
