Song of The Whale Diary-18th - 23rd July 2006

18th July 2006
Written by Magnus
Today we set off again after a few days in Akureyri. Akureyri is Iceland’s second largest city and located at the end of a 30 mile long fjord on the north coast. As in most Icelandic towns, the fishing industry is big here. When we leave this time we have Hildur, Vassili and Alexandre (a visitor from Belgium) onboard.

Hildur is from Husavik and works for North Sailing, which is one of the major whale-watching operators in Husavik. We set off for Husavik bay again. The whale watching operators informed us that they still regularly see blue whales in the bay. Vassili, Hildur and Alexandre arrive to the boat at noon and we take off immediately. It takes about 3.5h just to get out of the fjord and then another 3h to get into Husavik bay. After dinner we enter the bay and we are rewarded with a sighting. A tall blow about 2km away that turns out to be a blue whale. We approach to get some photo id pictures.

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19th July 2006
Written by Vassili
Our good weather continues through the day but is marred by fog towards the afternoon and evening.  We spend a few frustrating hours searching for blue whales to continue our acoustic and visual research.  In the evening we take head towards Grimsey, a small island off the North coast of Iceland, half of which is inside the Arctic circle.  We spend the night tied up to the quay, leaving at 6am by which time the fog had cleared.  My last visit to Iceland was two years ago, on Song of the Whale’s first voyage.  Each time I visit I am struck by how similar the two countries are but how different. 

Beyond the spectacular scenery, an obvious difference is the sheer density of marine wildlife – whales, seabirds and fish.   While we see humpbacks on a daily basis here, in Britain there are just a few sightings a year and the chances of seeing a blue whale, even in Scotland where they were once killed, is for all practical purposes zero.  The big fishing ports in Britain have all but closed down and our fisheries have almost disappeared.  Iceland still has a thriving industry but looking at the size of the new trawler berthed behind us and listening to the serious concerns of an Icelandic colleague, it looks as though it will take some wisdom to avoid disaster.  Rather than blaming marine mammals for eating all the fish, it seems as though measures will have to be taken to reduce fishing efforts and ensure that Iceland’s fish stocks remain as abundant in the future - for the whales, seals and Iceland’s fishing industry.

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20th - 21st July 2006
Written by Hildur
Woke up in Grimsey at 6am and continued the zig zag searching tracks further north of the Arctic circle, which was a nice feeling. Went a few zig zags north of the island and turned back to the south towards Skalfandi Bay. On our way we saw some wonderful humpbacks. Close to Grimsey one whale was lobtailing which I had never seen before. Amazing sight. There were humpbacks everywhere, but unfortunately no blue whales. Two minkes popped up close to the boat a few times. They were my first this summer, small but beautiful. Small groups of white beaked dolphins passed us on their journey. We saw no blue whales on our lunch spot. I cooked my first vegetarian meal, which went well. At least I hope everyone liked it! Everyone on the crew is really nice and likes what they do, which makes this trip much more enjoyable. Their taste in music scores high with me too. I wish I could stay longer. 

Written by Anna

Doug and I arrived from the UK on Friday late afternoon.  Laden with new stocks of provisions we set off down the fjord to moor up on the small island of Hrisey near the mouth of the fjord for the night. We all enjoyed a stroll around Hrisey when we arrived.  Friday evening community social activities seemed to be underway, with loud disco music and childrens activities. Vassili and Shristi took turns to have their photographs taken posing next to (or in some cases sitting on) a selection of old Massey Fergusson tractors, which appear to be the main mode of transport on the island and were parked outside many of the houses.

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22nd July 2006
A promising start to the day – bright sunshine and flat seas as we motored out into Husavik Bay. The best weather so far this summer.  Several sightings of white-beaked dolphins and even a couple of harbour porpoises (which seem to be relatively uncommon off Iceland) were spotted, but unfortunately no blue whales or large blows today. Sighting conditions were so good that if there were blue whales around we would have been able to see them for many miles. By lunchtime though we are engulfed in fog, which although patchy, is persistent. We wind our way back through the greyness towards the island of Flatey (famed for its church with an unusual depiction of Christ in an Icelandic sweater – a fact which we fail to confirm upon visiting the church) to sit out the fog at anchor. Clo and Alexandre brave the chilly (9 degrees C) waters and take a dip, dodging the numerous Lion’s mane jellyfish, whilst the others go for a walk around Flatey (an island with two year round residents). Surrounded by snow capped mountains we eat our dinner on deck, not that there are so many cetaceans to watch, but because the weather and temperature are particularly good.  Intrigued fulmars are swimming around as usual, this time picking into jellyfish!

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23rd July 2006
A friendly and exhausted Arctic tern visited us on our morning watch and accompanied us for a few hours in the early sunlight. We are lucky to have spotted a humpback, a minke and a number of white-beaked dolphins before the fog settled in for the rest of the day. In an effort to escape the dense fog we took a new course and headed further north, once again into the Arctic circle towards a small rock called Kolbeinsey – an isolated skerry 100 kilometres north of the mainland. It was formed in glacial times and is currently only 40 metres in diameter as it is eroding away. It’s expected to erode away completely in this century. With the fog still surrounding us we decided to drift for the night and wait for it to lift. In the morning we plan to set a course to head west in search of more blue whales. We hope!

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