Humpback whales in breaching mood
What an exciting day! This morning the sea was very flat and visibility excellent, but it took us some time to spot the blow from a whale. But finally we were successful and encountered a humpback whale in the nortwest of Skjálfandi Bay; in an area where we saw the whales also during the last couple of days and which is known to be a rich feeding area. The humpback whale was very calm and relaxed and approached our boat, so we got some very nice looks at it. When we sailed back to Húsavík harbor, we suddenly spotted some splashes in the middle of the bay: A breaching humpback whales! We changed course immediately, heading towards the whale. It jumped three more times but then calmed down.
In the afternoon the wind picked up. But it was southerly wind – causing some waves but no high swell, so it was no problem for us. However, it seemed to bring the whales into a jumping mood. In the area where we saw our first humpback whale this morning, two individuals impressed us with breaching and lobtailing. When they calmed down, they started feeding close to surface; a really wonderful sight to see these big animals surfacing with the mouth full of water and prey!
The weather forecast promises more wind for the next days – let’s hope that this will bring the whales into breaching mood again! 😉
Luisa, guide
Breaching humpback whale (photo: Luisa Klotz)
