LET ME PROPERLY INTRODUCE YOU TO WINTER WHALE WATCHING IN HUSAVIK
Newly born orcas, deep feeding sperm whales, acrobatic humpback whales, curious blue whales - these are just a few of the things we have experienced here at Gentle Giants whale watching in April.
Yesterday was the official first day of summer here in Iceland. Which is very noticeable when it comes to the atmosphere at Husavik harbor - and the weather we have had the past few weeks has been amazing. Reaching temperatures of 18 degrees celsius. Things are changing fast out in Skjalfandi bay. More and more birds are coming close to the coast to prepare for their nesting season, rivers are louder and the ocean is warming up meaning that we will soon have the big phytoplankton -and algae bloom here in the north. The sea temperature is currently at 4.4°C. It needs to be 5.0°C for the plankton to bloom. So it is only a matter of time before that happens.
For now we are very much enjoying all the interesting sightings we are seeing on a daily basis. Orcas visited us four out of seven days only this past week, very young calfs could be seen among the groups. In between all the orca-sighitngs we have seen lunge feeding minke whales, tons of white-beaked dolphins, a fair amount of humpback whales and we even had an up close encounter with a feeding blue whale which was rolling over and showing both crew and passengers its white and pink belly! On top of this, we saw three sperm whales.. TODAY.
Stay tuned for what will happen in the next days - we are all filled with excitement!
An adult male orca surfacing only a few meters from our boat yesterday!
One of the three sperm whales leaving for a day earlier today!
Humpback whale waving at passengers onboard Sylvia.
The big blue!
Humpie in flat seas.
Minke whale by the mountains!
More killer whales!
Humpback on a sunny day.
Photos and text: Aksel Bjarnason (guide)