Killer Whales!!!
To make it short: Today I had one of the best trips since I started guiding here in 2009!
About 20 minutes after we had left the harbour, we saw a very high dorsal fin in the distance and after a few seconds it became clear that it was a male killer whale surfacing! (The dorsal fin of the male killer whale can reach almost 2 metres in height!) As we got closer, we spotted a few more individuals (some females with their calves) and soon everybody on board had a big smile on its face. Killer Whales are a rare sight here in Skjálfandi Bay, last time they have been seen on our tours in June…….and as we followed these killer whales for a while, we found more and more whales and we soon realized that we were in the middle of a big pod of about 25-30 Killer Whales (or Orcas). Absolutely incredible!
On the way back to Húsavík we could also watch a minke whale surfacing a few times and despite the not really favourable weather conditions (it was quite foggy and also raining), everybody was very happy with this big group of killer whales.
During the afternoon tour we did not see the orcas again (they were already heading north, out of the bay, on the morning tour), but we managed to find four humpback whales in the north-western part of the bay and we got to see some of them very close to the boat.
So all in all, not the best weather conditions today, but absolutely perfect whale sightings!
Christian, guide
