Day 6 part 2 Skjálfandi bay Whales!

We arrived to our whale tour with seconds to spare, still scarfing down lunch. We were bundled in as many layers we could bear, only to then have to strip down minutes later when we were given protective overalls (which may be the comfiest thing I have ever worn - mum was almost as excited about this as the whales) and we boarded Moby Dick.

We sailed out into the bay, keen eyes peeled for any movement on the surprisingly calm water, as our guide informed us about the code of conduct the company follows, as there is yet to be any legal enforcement around whales in Iceland.

We slowed down about 20 minutes in and everyone quietened down scanning the horizon. Then, there was a visible puff of air coming from the water - a humpback whale! Our knowledgable guide was full of facts, so here are a few about humpbacks:

- Humpbacks are a baleen whale, meaning they have baleen plates instead of teeth, that can be described as toothbrush bristles. This allows the whales to take mouthfuls and filter out all the water, like a sieve.
- Baleen whales have two blowholes, as opposed to toothed whales with only one blowhole
- Humpbacks are notable for their frequent fluke dives, when their fluke (tail) is the last thing to go underwater, typically associated with deeper dives
- Humpbacks have unique flukes, which help to identify individual whales

Seeing the humpbacks dive and swim mere metres away from us was truly indescribably amazing to see such enormous and magnificent animals in the wild! We saw 5 whales total, one coming so close it actually swam under the boat! They were everywhere you looked it seemed, those puffs of spray igniting excitement in us time and time again.

It was really such an amazing experience which we quickly followed up with a visit to the local whale museum, a very unassuming building a stones throw from where we docked. After the initial shock from the smell inside (there are a lot of skeletons and bones in there) we explored the surprisingly modern and interactive exhibition, including a complete history of whales from their predicted ancestors to present, descriptions of each sense a whale has and how they use it (including echolocation and possible colour blindness) and the Icelandic past with whales, such as whaling (which sadly is still legal to this day!), the ecology involved and impact whales have on climate change. Upstairs we found descriptions of each whale species accompanied with a skeleton (there was even a mammoth blue whale skeleton that really put the size into perspective!) as well as a harrowing film on the popularity of whaling and the contrasting opinions among the population of the Faroe Islands due to the strong cultural aspects involved with whaling and hunting. Finishing in the gist shop (always a treat), we returned to Wendy and said goodbye to the whales.Read more