The return of an old friend
Today the sky was overcast and although it wasn’t foggy, the mist created a mysterious atmosphere in the bay.
We sailed into northwesterly direction. heading for an area where we saw some wildlife yesterday in the evening. It turned out to be the right decision: Suddenly we spotted a blow arising from the sea surface, and just a moment later a second one appeared. When we approached the are, our guesses turned out to be true. It wasn’t just one single animal but two humpback whales surfacing right next to each other. Although they’re usually solitary animals – at least in their feeding areas in the north east Atlantic – they sometimes socialize for a couple of hours and it was fascinating to see them coming up to the surface and lifting the fluke synchronously. Of course we’re always interested in the pattern inderneath the fluke, since this is the way to identify the individuals. What a nice surprise to realize that one of the humpback whales was almost completely white on the underside of its tail! Already the dorsal fin looked quite familiar to me, but the tail gave the proof: I observed this individual in Skjálfandi Bay already two years ago and also last year again. It returned to our bay also earlier this summer, spending a couple of weeks here and after a period of absence it is visiting the area again. What a wonderful encounter – it felt like meeting an old friend!
The afternoon was great as well. On the way north we came across a minke whale, a very large individual, actually.
When we reached the area where we saw the humpback whales in the morning we notized that in the meantime a third individual approached the other two whales, which could be a hint that there’s lots of food avaiilable in the area. Definitely a good sign for us – let’s hope for more whales in the following days. And who knows, maybe we’ll meet some old friends again!
Luisa, guide
Two humpback whales surfacing close to each other (photo: Luisa Klotz)
Minke whale (photo: Luisa Klotz)
