Husavik

 


An earlier start than usual. Today we had 2 stops, first at Husavik. We were doing a Whales and puffins boat trip with a 7:45am start. So up for a quick breakfast. Once again we've been blessed by the weather with another sunny day. This was a popular tour, and many couldn't get on it. First of all a just under 1 km walk from the ship to the whale boat pier. Then we had to climb onboard and don our cruiser suits. Finally we headed out on the bay towards the Puffin  Island. Not much wind and calm waters. So many birds flying around, both puffins and many kinds of gulls. Some White Beaked Dolphins spotted on the way out. We got close enough to the island to spot some of the puffin burrows. Then headed further out in the bay where some whale blows had been spotted. A bit of a wait, then the whale was spotted blowing and showing it's back and fin many time. Apparently it was a rare sight, a hybrid Blue/Finn Whale. Then headed to another part of the bay, and saw a Sperm Whale, a bit unusual in these parts as they usually like deeper water. If you are wondering why I have no pictures of whales, it's because I learned years ago that I don't take good wildlife pictures, so I prefer to just enjoy the moment and not worry about photography. As we headed in we were served hot chocolate and a not too sweet cinnamon bun. A few drops of rain, but we got back to the ship at 12:30pm without getting wet.

Then it was nice enough to sit out on the back deck to eat lunch. I had an Icelandic lamb soup that was very good. The sun was out and the scenery was great. We went to the destination talk on Akureyri, then sat on lounge chairs on deck 5 to enjoy the view. As we cruised up 60 km Eyjafjordur Fjord we had a pod of whales (probably Minke, but maybe some humpbacks as well) blowing and near enough to see their backs and fins and sometimes the tails. We were even lucky enough to see one breach!

We arrived into Akureyri about 5:30pm. There were 2 other ships, but we were the only ones to stay overnight.







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