Whale Watching

Yesterday we went out into the open sea in a boat for whale watching. The whole trip was only 3 hours long, an hour to reach as far out to the whale's feeding ground, an hour to look around for the whales, an hour to get back and still have time for a quick stopover near to a puffin island.

Whale watching is gaining popularity worldwide. Here Iceland provides that unique opportunity to do that. Near to the capital Reykjavik, one could see the smaller whales that feed in the shallower water. To see the much bigger whale like the Humpback, then one need to go out further out in the ocean or deeper water and even in the quieter waters around the Island.

There are two main operators offering the whale watching tour out of Reykjavik. The boats are located in the Old Harbour which is just a short walk away from the centre of Reykjavik where we stayed. It only takes place during the warmer months from April to September when the whales are seen to be feeding around the island here.

During the colder months, the whales migrate down south. Some of the electronic tags put on the whales to track their migratory routes found that they reach as far south as the western coast of Africa.

Trying to spot the whale is actually not easy. The tour guide would announce any sighting through the microphones and uses the clock system...the whale is sighted at 3 o'clock...meaning it is on the right side of the boat, and so on. Everybody would then rush to the right and next moment the whale being wild would surface on the left!

We saw a few whales. Admittedly not easy to take photos as people would crowd around as soon as a whale is seen. They are also quite quick and unpredictable. They would surface every few minutes to breath as whales are mammal. They only surface for a few seconds, sometimes also making big noises and even showing their belly when they are about to make a deep dive.

Overall it was a good experience. It's even more true now as the whale population is dwindling due to the uncontrolled whaling industry in the last century. Sadly a few countries notably Japan are still continuing their whaling industry under the auspices of 'scientific research'. Amazingly this 'scientific research' require them to hunt up to 5000 whales a year!