After the long day we had yesterday we decided to take it easy in the morning in our new apartment accommodation in Akureyri.
It was time to wash clothes and we were very impressed that they had free powder and free tokens.
The morning was a bit overcast and temperatures were in the 9C (48F) so a bit cool. However as we looked at the temperatures for tomorrow we realized it was going to be even colder so we decided it would be better to do today one of the important activities we had come to Iceland for - whale watching.
Everyone I spoke to for advice what to do in Iceland spoke to me about going to Husavik for whale watching.
Whale watching from Húsavík began back in 1995 when North Sailing launched its first whale watching boat. Since then, whale watching from Húsavík has become one of the most popular activities of visitors to Iceland increasing year by year.
In the beginning Mnke whale was the whale most commonly sighted on whale watching tours from Húsavík but over the years more whale species have entered the bay increasing the diversity in whale sightings.
Today the enormous Humpback whale with its giant flippers and incredible acrobatics is one of the most popular whale to spot, observe and photograph.
We looked up different companies that do these tours and decided to go with the ones that started it all - North Sailing. So we called them up and booked a tour with departure at 17:00 which would give us plenty of time to do our chores, eat and still making it in time.
We left Akureyri at 15:00 as we needed to be at Husavik latest at 16:30. The distance between the two towns is 90 Kms (56 miles). We arrived with enough time, parked the bike, bought the tickets and waited in a very nice cafe. We needed to be at the boat about 10 minutes before departure.
Husavik is all geared for whale watching, there are a number of cafes and two restaurants in the center, a beautiful church and a harbor full of whale watching boats.
There are 3 types of whale watching boats, the really big ones that have sails and are used for multiple day trips, the more traditional diesel type boats (the one we went on) and the newer fast-speed boats. North Sailing has the first two but as our tour was a short one we got the smaller boat.
We boarded the boat and put on special overalls supplied by North Sailing. We looked like real sailors.
Exit out of the harbor was very smooth and everyone was having lots of fun.
As we got further away from the coast the waves started pounding us and things got more wet.
There were about 20 people on the boat that were tourists and 3 crew, one that steered, one that spoke to us through a microphone and informed us what was going on and another that did other chores.
We were given a job to lookout for whales and the crew member went to the top of the boat and called things to see using the watch technique. 12 o'clock would be in front of us, 3 o'clock to the right etc.
We had been on the boat for about 30 minutes when we saw 3 boats in the distance that were quite close together and as we approached we saw a puff of water being sent into the air - whale ! They were actually two different Humpback whales. We stayed with one of them and tracked it as she surfaced on different side of the boat.
It was the first time we had ever seen a whale from a boat and it is a pretty cool thing to do.
We eventually left her and went to look for others and we had bee going for about 15 minutes when the lookout saw two whales together again Humpbacks but these were feeding side by side. Not a usual sight but quite exciting as they seemed to be swimming in perfect tandem. We moved from the left to the right of the boat to see them.
There were no more sightings and as we had moved quite far from harbor we turned boat around and made way back home. The weather had turned a little and it had become colder and wind was stronger so sea was quite rough.
We were happy to get back to shore with mission accomplished of having seen 3 whales.
So, in summary, how was the experience ? I believe it is something to do it at least once in your life. It is a bucket list item that we have now ticked.
We will probably not do it again, though. The main learning we had is that one needs to take medication for sea sickness. We did not take it and suffered ...
We went back to our apartment and used the night to recuperate as tomorrow there is more adventure ...
Posted with Blogsy
What beautiful creatures! The first time I went whale watching I was quite out of luck. We cruised the sea for hours before seeing one whale; however, our tour guide was sure we would see another so we didn't follow it for long. Unfortunately, we didn't see any other whales during our experience. I hope to try again next year!
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