4 species for a summer time
The boat Náttfari left the mooring under a bright summer sun. The air temperature was quite mild and the sea very flat. The perfect conditions for whale-watching were combined…
While we were crossing the Skjálfandi bay, we met harbour porpoises, some puffins and even a minke whale, until we finally spotted our first humpback whale, a few hundreds meters away from the Kinnarfjöll mountains. Coming from the north, a pod of white-beaked dolphins were swiming toward us, probably attracted by the fishes the humpback whale was hunting.The whale was having a feast of seafood, swimming in circles and sometimes lied on its back, showing us its full belly. Later we observed a couple of humpback whales swimming together in a perfectly synchronized movement.
The second tour of the day was also brilliant. Several humpback whales surfaced close to the boat. We had a festival of flukes as the whales all around us were making a serie of deep dives.
Instead of puffins, we met this time some beautiful guillemots. Two arctic skuas were also seen flying in the middle of hundreds of kittiwakes. An active minke whale swam all around the boat, and at the end of the tour, a greedy humpback seemed to be proud to show us his mouth full of fish and plancton. It eventually waved its flipper, a nice way to say goodbye and conclude another succesful day with of well-fed whales.
Stéphan
