Three species and a rainbow ;-)

Finally the wind calmed down and for the first time since a couple of days the sun was shining again today. We left the harbor and decided to head into the western part of Skjálfandi Bay, to check out the areas close to the mountains. After approximately twenty minutes suddenly several black, pointy dorsal fins surfaced close to our boat: A group of white beaked dolphins! They approached the boat and we got some very close looks at these fascinating creatures. We clearly saw their beautiful coloration, the greyish-black and white stripes and the creamy white beak. But the dolphins gathered speed and swam in northerly direction, so we left them and continued our journey towards the mountains. When we reached the western part of the bay, we got a glimpse of two harbor porpoises, surfacing between the waves. But we didn’t stop for them since we already spotted something else: Very close to the shore a minke whale came up to breathe. We spent quite a long time with the animal and it kept us busy, because it moved a lot and it was quite difficult to predict, when and where it would surface next time. That was kind of a challenge for us – however, we got some very nice looks at the minke whale before we started our journey back to Húsavík harbor, enjoying the view of a wonderful rainbow arising in direction of the open ocean.

Luisa, guide

Minke whale (photo: Christian Schmidt)