flying dolphins, diving whales
The strong winds dropped down and we could sail out again today. But whereas most of continental Europe is struck by a heat wave, Iceland is still experiencing a cool summer.
The usual puffins we always meet on the way were replaced by black guillemots. In 2 weeks, most of the members of our big puffin colony will have flown away.
We had a first encounter with a few playful white-beaked dolphins which proved not to be shy at all. Two females were coming close to the boat with their calves at their side, and two other dolphins started to perform a show of their own of their own especially for us. They were swimming under and all around the boat, always making the same circle itinerary and surfacing together. Another dolphin at a distance started to leap so high that one could have first thought it was a sort of rocket launched in order to reach the outer space.
After we left the dolphins, we sighted a blow and could observe our first humpback whale, After it lifted its tail and went down for a dive, it seemed its intention was to break the record of the longest dive ever. As it appears, the whales are now spending more time under the water, possibly because a big part of the planction found in the bay is already got eaten by them this summer. After 20 minutes we decided to leave it and sailed to find other whales. We crossed two or three minke whales, spending a lot of time under the water too.
On the afternoon tour, we were lucky enough to find more humpback whales willing to spend more time at the surface with us. We saw plenty of flukes at a close range, as the whales were diving. A brilliant experience for our guests.
Stéphan, guide
