Do you speak whale?

Thursday, Day 7

Today our plan was to go see some waterfalls, Dettifoss and Selfoss to be exact, and after that some active volcanic areas called Krafla and Hverir, and then the beautiful Myvatn lake area. Little did we know that these places were just an appetiser compared to what was to come later that day. 

Dettifoss & Selfoss

When we arrived at Dettifoss, the weather was quite foggy and cloudy still. Usually this has been the case on many days. Then later on during the day the sky clears up and even becomes extremely sunny. Not so warm though, maybe +14 C. Dettifoss is the most powerful waterfall in Europe, although it might not be the widest or the tallest. You will always get kind of wet seeing the waterfalls and the Icelandic wind doesn't really help with the matter. But if you have the right gear, it's actually kind of fun. Close to Dettifoss you can find the Selfoss waterfall. Could have been because of the weather also but I didn't find these waterfalls to be the best of Iceland. Powerful definitely but not my favorites.

"Steam and shit" 

After this was the volcanic areas of Krafla and Hverir. The best view of this area was the Viti crater which we were looking for at first but couldn't find it. It's filled with turquoise water and is a stunning site in the area. The Krafla area is impressive also because of the huge lava fields and steaming hot springs, but the smell of sulphur can be a little bit too much. Best way to describe it is if you imagine the smell of a warm rotten egg. So at some point I started to feel a little nauseous so we moved on from the area. Maybe at this point you can also see that we've been here for a while already so after seeing quite a few lava fields and hot springs already, we don't need to see each and every one of them anymore. 

From Myvatn to Husavik

The Myvatn lake area is very beautiful and big, and at this point the weather was also getting a lot better too. 

I was expecting to have more stopping points around the lake area, but it turned out they were mostly more craters and rock formations so we decided to move on. 

We were thinking about going to Husavik, the whale capital of Iceland but we weren't sure we had the time since it is more up north. But as we were done kind of early with the other sites, we started to head out towards Husavik around 2 PM. The route was amazing yet again, and we had to stop to take pictures and admire the sceneries several times. Luckily there are a lot of places to stop along the roads. I guess the Icelanders know just how beautiful these sites can be. The drive was only about an hour, so we figured we could make it to a whale watching tour by 4 PM at the latest. The weather was amazing, although chilly of course. 

"Gear up, we're off to the Greenland Sea!"

So right away as we arrived to Husavik, which by the way seemed like a really cozy and beautiful nordic town, we went to book our tour. We went straight to North Sailing Tours, because they arrange more ecological tours with silent boats. This is better for the whales and for the environment also because the boats are electric. The price of the tour was about 86€, so maybe only a few euros more than a normal one. We were given thick overalls for the ride because it could get a little bit cold apparently. (I wouldn't have guessed) Turns out they were super warm and blocked the wind completely. Then again, I was wearing five layers underneath..

Before getting on the boat, I didn't even consider that we might not actually even see anything. Somehow I just assumed that we were gonna see whales and that's that. To be fair, the success rate of the tours is very high but still, these are wild animals in their natural habitat, they don't give a shit whether you want to see them or not. 

And there is plenty of water for them to hide in if they don't feel like showing up for the party. 

At first it was actually very quiet and we didn't see anything. Our tour guide told us that she would use the clock system when they saw any signs of whales and asked us to do the same thing. The signs could be the steam coming out on the surface of the sea, or the fins obviously. 

Be patient. And quiet. 

Then at some point she pointed out a humpback whale at 11 o'clock, so almost straight ahead! Everyone rushed on the front of the boat to see it, but it was still quite far away. But there it was, a black fin coming in and out of the water. She told us the boat would then move closer towards it and then stay in that area and wait for it to come out again. We moved towards it after it had disappeared below the surface and turned off the motor. Everyone waited in complete silence. Nothing happened. Our tour guide told us the humpback whales can spend even 15min below the surface without coming out to breathe, and of course it could show up a lot further away. 

Then suddenly it showed up again in the distance and again, we started to move towards it. I already started to think that maybe this was all we were going to see. It could have been the case very well.

We saw a few other whale watching boats also in that area and one was more of a big rubber boat with less people, but it moved a lot faster, so if there was a whale they could get to it very fast while our boat moved very slowly. We saw a few sightings of a few humpback whales in the distance but nothing up close. Soon one showed up very close to the other boat and they rushed to get even closer. We started to move closer also but when we got there it had already disappeared again. 

..And then we got lucky

Suddenly one humpback whale (maybe the same one) showed up right next to the other boat again and this time we also managed to get close too. The whale was in between the two boats, coming up to the surface many times and going below the other boat. This was already unbelievable. But then it went below our boat. Everyone prepared themselves to get their perfect photo of it when it came out, and then the show began. 

It was coming in and out of the water right next to our boat, then diving under the boat, making it tilt a little bit, then coming out again and twirling in the water like it was curious to see what all the fuss was about. At this point it started to feel more like human watching rather than whale watching. It kept blowing the steam through it's blowhole and after it had stayed with us for probably about 10-15 min it turned and swam away and giving us a nice classic tail flip for some last pictures. 

On the way back

It was about time to turn back to the shore so everyone was more than amazed by how the tour had turned out. On the way back we were served some hot chocolate and cinnamon buns, which are apparently popular in iceland also. After this I went to ask the tour guide some questions because I had many on my mind. I learned that in this area it is most common to see humpback whales, blue whales, fin whales and some dolphins also. Blue whales you can mainly see in June and they are slightly more afraid of the boats whereas the humpback whales don't care as much. The humpback can grow up to be even 17 meters but usually they are between 13-15 meters long. You can also see killer whales a few times a year but they are more rare to see. Dolphins you can see all year round. I also wanted to know about the whaling situation in Iceland these days and apparently they signed a ban in the 80s but then just started whaling again a few years ago. Selling whale meat is mainly for the tourists since it is only about 1% of the icelandic population that eats whale meat. They mainly whale the minky whale. This is very sad and I do hope they will make an end to this in the near future.

Our tour guide also said that she has been working for the company for 4 years now and there have been only a few times that the whales have come that close and stayed with the boat for that long, so I guess it really was a lucky day for all of us!

Leaving the whale capital 

We would have gladly spent more time in Husavik, because it seemed like a great little place to go around and enjoy the day. There is also a whale museums in Husavik which I would have liked to see but we needed to get back on the road. We decided to stay at a camping site called Heidarbaer near Husavik. There was a nice kitchen and tables indoors, a cafe, showers and many bathrooms and a swimming pool and hot tub. We arrived kind of late so we just cooked, pitched the tent  and then decided to go to the pool area for a little while before it closed. 

This is the great thing about Iceland, there are swimming pools and hot tubs everywhere, even at some campsites. Usually they cost a little though, this one was about 5e / person. But after a long day of driving and walking around, it does feel pretty heavenly to get into that hot water. Showers were also good although the water was not that warm, but more than ok. 

One thing is for sure though, today was a day I'll remember as long as I live. No doubt about that. It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience and anyone who has a chance to do that, should absolutely try it!