Thursday, June 21, 2012
BIG WHALE SAFARI AT ITS BEST

Yesterday's Big Whale Safari on board our RHIB Amma Sigga was something extraordinary. The conditions were perfect for an evening trip and we knew there had been a lot of whales around so we went out and were pretty confident it would be a good trip. But we could not imagine just how great it was going to be...

First we found two humpbacks which were feeding and surfacing close together. First one of them came up and two seconds later the other one just next to it. It was wonderful to see both of them so peaceful and not at all bothered by us.

After some time we started looking around for something more and it took no longer than a minute before we spotted some dolphins in the area. We started moving towards them as they were playing and jumping in the waves and then suddenly, out of nowhere, a big blue whale surfaced right in the midst of the group of dolphins! The dolphins just kept on jumping around it as it was surfacing three of four times more. They were acting around the big whale as they sometimes do around our boats; bow riding and jumping in the waves around it. It was so incredible to see the small whales being so close together with the biggest of them all.

Suddenly we discovered two big blows very close together and we went to check it out. What we found was another big blue whale together with a much smaller one, probably a mother and her calf! After a while we left the little alone and went on. We got to see blue whales lifting their flukes in a distance and a really enormous blue whale up close before it was time to end the trip and go back to Húsavík.

It was almost too good to be true and so completely incredible that we at one point during the trip looked at each other and wondered if it was all really happening or if it was nothing more than an amazing dream.

(ELIN)

Here follow some photos from the Big Whale Safari tour taken by guide Elin.

The two humpback whales together.

Elin1