Curious animals
This morning started grey and rainy, but as soon as we left the harbor the rain stopped fortunately. It was very calm and the sea flat as a mirror. Perfect conditions to spot some wildlife!
It didn’t take us too long to find a minke whale in direction of Lundey, the puffin island. In the beginning it was quite shy and came up far away from our boat. But finally it calmed down and we got some very close encounters. We headed further west in direction of Víknafjöll, the creek mountains, which looked quite dramatic with the dark clouds in the background. On the way west we spotted at least three more minke whales. And one of them was very interested in us! It approached the boat and turned on its side. Since whales can’t move their eyeballs, they have to turn on their side to have a good look. But surprisingly the minke whale lifted the head out of the water and observed us! We call this behavior “spyhopping” and it’s very rare to see spyhopping minke whales, since this species tends to avoid the boats.
In the afternoon we spotted again a minke whale and further northwest we came across a group of white beaked dolphins. Also these gorgeous dolphins seemed to be interested in us, swam close to our boat and rode on the waves in front of the bow! Once again we had a wonderful whale watching day!
Luisa, guide
Spyhopping minke whale (photo: Luisa Klotz)
