A BLUE WHALE in Skjálfandi Bay!!!
Today all our tours have been really successful as there are still lots of humpback whales here in Skjálfandi Bay.
I went on three trips today, at 10:00, 13:30 and 17:00.
In the morning at 10:00 we found at least eight different humpback whales and four of them were surfacing together among a big group of arctic terns.
Also on the next tour (at 13:30) we spotted at least six different humpbacks and at one point, we were watching two humpback whales together, one of the humpback whales decided to jump completely out of the water right in front of our bow!!!
An amazing, but very surprising sight!
During the last tour of the day (at 17:00) we left the harbour and set the course towards the mountains on the western side of the bay, where we had already spotted several humpback whale blows. As we arrived there, we realised that there were at least six humpbacks in the area and we got three of them surfacing right next to our boat!
But while we were waiting for them to surface again, we spotted a huge blow from another whale to our east. It was much higher than a humpback whale blow and it soon became clear that there we were looking at a spout from a blue whale, the biggest animal on earth!
We went towards the area where we spotted the blow and we got some quite nice looks at the blue whale, even though this individual was travelling really fast and was diving pretty long (up to 13 minutes).
But as a special treat, this blue whale almost always lifted its enormous fluke when it went down for a deeper dive – what a sight!!!
Let’s hope that this is the start for another great blue whale season, as these majestic animals have been regular visitors here in Skjálfandi Bay during the early summer months in the last years.
Christian, guide
The blue whale going down for a deep dive, seen on our tour at 17:00 today (Photo: Christian Schmidt)
