It was always my dream to see whales, and I was in the right place in the right time for that beginning this autumn. I have visited the biggest city of Northern Iceland – Akureyri, which is one of the best place for whale watching. Main season for whale watching is summer, but in the beginning of autumn, whales are very active in north part of Iceland, before their long trip to the south and Caribbean.
Best company for whale watching, with guides who are actual marine biologists is Elding. Elding is a family owned company, operating from Reykjavik and Akureyri. Specially trained whale watching guides are experts at spotting them and telling you all about their behaviour, and for all of my questions during the tour they had good answers.
Elding ship is the only high speed, specially modified, whale watching ship in Iceland. Capable of carrying 200 persons with spectacular views from “cinema styled” viewing platforms. Its speed guarantees availability of whale watching tours from Akureyri, where ever the whales might be located in the deepest fjord in Iceland. With ample indoor and outdoor seating, bar and cafeteria, you can be sure that the ride is comfortable and pleasant even at speed.
First 25 minutes of the tour, I was enjoying the Fjord which is one of the biggest in the world. Beautiful scenery, perfect weather…everything was set up for unique experience. Just 30 kilometers from Akureyri we spotted our first whale. It was big Humpback whale. Guide told us that they can give them a name when they show the back of the tale, because every whale have different spots on their tale. Our first whale was named by famous singer Areta Franklin. Just couple of minutes later we spotted another giant whale, and she was also on the list of already known whales by the name Iskona. Both of them were preparing for the long trip down to Caribbean, and they were using last warm days to fill up their stomach with small red shrimps. After a while we spotted third whale in same area, and it was a whale that guide already saw this summer, but they havent made a name for him, because he was to shy to show the tale. But this time third whale showed the tale, guide made a photography of it, and now they will have opportunity to put it on a list of known whale, and they can give him a name.
For three hours we were enjoying and making photos of these gentile giants. It was amazing experience and on my next trip in Iceland whale watching will be again one of the activities on top of my list.
