Winter in June????

It’s hard to believe that it’s already mid-June. This season is called “summer” in other parts of the world, but obviously not here in Iceland. The wind from the north brought quite high waves but also very cold temperatures. We couldn’t believe our eyes when it started snowing! Difficult conditions for spotting the whales through the white curtain made from snow flakes. 

Unfortunately, also the whales don’t seem to be very excited about the weather. In the morning we didn’t see any bigger whales in the bay! Our boats sailed in different directions to check out the whole area. We got a glimpse on two white beaked dolphins, but they decided to avoid our boats and we had to accept that, of course.

In the afternoon the clouds cleared a bit. We already sailed some time when we suddenly spotted a blow: Definitely a humpback whale! But when we came closer the whale didn’t show much of himself. We waited for a long time and finally our patience got rewarded: Next to the boat a minke whale surfaced surprisingly! It was quite calm and relaxed and circled around the boat, so we had the chance to get some very nice looks at it, before we headed back to Húsavík. On the way like this we enjoyed the hot chocolate, which was very necessary and appreciated on such a winterly day in June!

Luisa, guide

White beaked dolphin (Photo: Luisa Klotz)