From Mytvan, we drove to the northernmost part of our trip.
Absolutely beautiful scenery along the way.
Inlets and islands.
Even on a sunny day,, many mountains and glaciers are obscured by clouds
By the time we got to Husavik, the weather had deteriorated. We were not planning to go on a whale sighting expedition (a bit pricey) but decided there was nothing else to do in this weather. Apparently whales don't care if it's raining or cold or whatever 😏. We picked the quiet, old fashioned boat. I did not like the speedboats. They race around right up to the path of the whale and it seems very intrusive to me even though your chances of getting close to the whale go up. This was our boat.
But there were about four other boats going out as well.
We were both already wearing tshirt-shirt-sweatshirt-jacket (4 layers). Then you climb into what is like a full body snow-suit. It is partly to keep you warm but mostly a flotation device if you fall in!!!
To say we were toasty warm and cozy is an understatement!
On top of that, we had to don fishermen style rain gear to keep dry. We all felt very clumsy and awkward.
So the pilot is looking for the whales by looking for "fluke prints" on the water where a whale has recently been. Or they watch the other boats around to look for a sudden burst of movement which means someone else has spotted a whale.
Our first view of a whale
Even seeing the fluke from a distance was breath-taking and exciting!
But right at the end of our three hour ride, suddenly we were up close and personal with a whale.
There is something so beautiful about the fluke of the whale as it flips goodbye
I was so glad we took this excursion, just to see these magnificent creatures are still hanging around, doing their thing even as their environment gets more and more difficult for them.
The guide said we were extremely lucky to see this perfect show so close up.
And I did feel very lucky.
