Saturday, March 7, 2020

Fin whales, humpbacks and a superpod of white-beaked dolphins

The first week of our season has been truly incredible: between three and six humpbacks showed up on almost every tour and so did the white-beaked dolphins. More than once the two species would even show up together.

Then yesterday, as if wanting to top all the ongoing action and sightings, three huge blows appeared in a short distance as we were just leaving a superpod of about 150 white-beaked dolphins behind. Minutes later we found ourselves next to three beautiful fin whales, of which two seemed to be a mother and calf pair! The animals spent a long time on the surface whilst taking many breaths in a row, which in turn enabled us to get some amazing views onto the second largest whale species there is (only the blue whale is bigger).

On some of the tours the wildlife of Skjálfandi Bay didn't let us search for long. Well, let's be honest at this point: we never had to start searching for whales! Just outside the harbour we were welcomed by a playful pod of white-beaked dolphins. A dozen at first, soon more and more would come and join. As time passed, individuals seemed to appear from all over, there were a hundred at least - but probably a lot more: Wherever one looked, near and far, there were splashes from jumping dolphins and tall dorsal fins breaking the surface. Humpback whales would appear among them, being teased by the smaller "relatives" at times, they seemed to enjoy the action after all, likely benefitting by the dolphins' hunting strategies for fish.

Other tours turned out to be extremely diverse in every way - not only whale-wise: One moment we would have the sun shine onto us, the next minute a curtain of snow flakes would cover the view onto the beautiful mountains ahead of us.