Dolphins are the friendliest of animals!

Over the last week we've had some awful, awful weather! So boat opportunities have been limited somewhat lately. But the last two days have heralded a lot of dolphins, and they have been perfect. Maybe the rough seas give them the natural energy that prompted them to breach and leap out of the water and bow ride with the boat. It was beautiful stuff! And I got some absolutely cracking pictures!

What a beauty! This is a near perfect shot! Boo-yah!

I'll never tire of these emergence pictures, they always look fantastic!

This highlights just how close the dolphins were and when the sun is shining you can see right into the water.

Unfortunately the weather looks like it won't be improving over the next few days, who knows when I'll be back on the boat!

Thanks for reading!

Minke in the city!

The title may be a little misleading, there was no minke whale spotted in the city. I'm pretty certain the land invasion won't happen for at least another 6 months. No, this whale was rather right outside of the harbour and behaving in a special fashion.

We had only been sailing for 10 minutes before the first sight of the minke whale happened, I was sat down not even looking for anything yet. When someone shouted they saw something at 12 o'clock I was prepared for another 60 second long sighting of a harbour porpoise that would have been more irritating than useful (they're just and extra piece of data that you can't really use). But when we stopped for a look, I certainly wasn't expecting the signature long, sharp dorsal fin of a minke whale!
This one single sighting lasted over an hour, we wouldn't normally have stayed for that long with just one whale but the behaviour was just too interesting! It was feeding just below the surface of the water, unfortunately we couldn't see the actual feeding but we knew it was feeding because it was rolling around at the surface. A roll is performed by a whale when it needs to position its mouth at just the right angle to engulf it's prey before it scatters. This was the first time I had seen this from a minke, when it rolled it even showed it's fluke for us!
Minke whales never show their fluke during any typical behaviours and I have missed seeing the flukes of the humpback whales I was so familiar with in the north. Honestly I have been getting a little bored of minke whales, they are so predictable and consistent unlike humpbacks and dolphins. So this special sight was something I will definitely cherish, especially because by next week there is a good chance all of the minkes will have migrated away!

We also saw dolphins. Go dolphins!

With the magnificent Hallgrímskirkja in the background this minke sure knew how to frame a picture!

Fluketastic. Finally!

Thanks for reading!

Man oh man, it's been busy!

Well quite a bit has happened over the last few days, I haven't had the time to provide a big update so this'll be a post covering a number of topics.

So over the weekend I was attending the Arctic Circle Conference in Reykjavik at the Harpa conference centre (a big glass building which is very nice). And it's safe to say that it was excellent and I learned more than I was expecting to, I had thought prior to the conference that it would have been very scientific based, while there was a number of scientific studies shown (the Arctic Biodiversity Assessment was very interesting) the conference actually boasted a very high number of oil/gas/mining/investment companies and a bunch of political figures.
The Hero of The Russian Federation gave a speech which the head of Greenpeace decided to burst in and demand the release of the 30 protesters in Russia, the Russian guy gave a very long winded no.
But the real lesson that was learnt was that before this weekend as a biologist I had only ever seen the Arctic as a biologist and a romantic. Whereas now I have a more wide view, I have seen how so many different companies and countries want to use and exploit the Arctic without shame and they will not be running opposed. I have seen the future of the Arctic, and the news could be a lot better.

But enough with the doomsday talk!

Two nights ago I had the best aurora experience I have had in my time here, and I was in the city surrounded by lights. But it was still the brightest and most vibrant I have seen it. I was genuinely running around screaming (though people who know me will not be surprised). And last night there was supposed to be a special event where the city lights in Reykjavik were to be turned off in order for the whole city to see the lights, but sudden cloud cover cancelled that event. Also England won their football match that night, so it was a good night overall!

Yeah I love this. Posy but frankly sums up my feelings for the lights. God I love them so much.

Thanks for reading!

P.S. A few thanks, I've been doing a lot more independent activities and with that I've come across quite a few excellent people. To the Latvian woman who I spent the conference with when I couldn't find my colleagues thank for giving me someone to talk to!

To the couple in the pub who forgave me for blocking their view during the football match and bought me a drink, thank you!

To the couple of the evening boat trip where we saw nothing, thank you for giving me insight and tips into life after an environmental degree!

A video tribute to Skjálfandi Bay

I realise it's a little late to be posting about Húsavík again but I finally uploaded a video I made a while ago to YouTube! It is my tribute to the fabulous bay and the even more amazing whales!

Thanks for watching!

(The last few days I have been attending the Arctic Circle conference in Reykjavik thus no boat activity, tomorrow it finishes and I shall provide a summary for you!)

Imagine Peace!

We spent an evening watching the lighting of the 'Imagine Peace' tower by Yoko Ono, a piece of art dedicated to John Lennon.

We took a boat over to Viðey, an island about 1km off the coast of Reykjavik, we arrived then queued for around 30 mins for food. I was 50kr short for the food but the lovely staff were understanding!

Then Yoko came and read us a poem then lit the lights on the tower, it looked awful pretty! Though the ceremony was so short there was no real message that got through. But hey! It was an aesthetic event.

Thanks for reading!

Imagine Peace folks!

Things tourists do: Typical Irish Family

As you can imagine I come into contact with a lot of tourists, and as a talkative person I quite enjoy chatting to tourists! You get all kinds of colourful people on holiday and I could recount many many tales of amusing events that I have been witness to, but right now I shall begin what I hope will be a regular segment of this blog.

Things tourists do: I was chatting to an Irish mother and daughter, they were asking the standard questions about what we saw then the daughter: "You don't sound Icelandic"
Me: "That's because I'm not Icelandic"
Daughter: "That makes sense, I'm as sharp as a crayon I am"
Mum: "Crayons aren't sharp"
Me: "A sharp crayon?"
Daughter: "Yeah a sharp crayon! So where are you from?"
Me: "England"
Daughter: "An Englishman eh? Mum I've found you an Englishman!"
Me: "Were you looking for an Englishman?"
Mum: "No"

They were mightily entertaining.

It's also been snowing here! Over night we got a nice blanket of it over the city and it made for a very picturesque scene.

Ain't that so pretty!

I'm trying out a focusing effect here, make the picture better?

Thanks for reading!

All about one picture

Over the last few days I've taken quite a few pictures and the plan would have been to give you the standard highlight reel that you would be accustomed to, but frankly I don't want to draw any attention from a picture I took today that I am very pleased with.

It's not even a cetacean, nor a mammal. It is a bird, and a common one at that.

That's right, just a common guillemot. But look at how close it is!  This. Never. Happens.

Look at the water droplets lingering on it's back! And you can see it's legs through the surface!

Mate. I am so happy with this.

Thanks for reading!

Dolphins are back!

The bay that I will be working in while I'm here is called Faxafloi Bay, and the predominant species in the bay are Minke Whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) and White-Beaked Dolphins (Lagenorhynchus albirostris).

On a trip yesterday I got some rather cracking pictures of the dolphins, you'll be pleased to hear! And heeeeere they are:

 

 

 

 

As my pictures are being used for scientific studies and being shared by numerous agencies and people I have added to copyright just to highlight where credit is due ;)

 

Thanks for reading!

A new chapter begins...

So there we have it folks, I have left the delightful town of Húsavík and have moved to Reykjavik. The big city!!

But Húsavík did give me one last delightful and amazing gift before I left, another spectacular sunset!

Here I had the camera on an incorrect setting for this kind of thing, but the shot turned out to be very nice anyway!

As soon as I saw this I ran outside with my camera, unfortunately I had forgotten my shoes. It's safe to say the Spanish tourists I was standing with were a little confused and concerned at that!

So that was the end of that! I took my first research trip in Reykjavik this morning, there were three minke whales circling the boat which was very nice to see. But to be honest the thing I was most excited about was how many gannets there were, in my time in Húsavík I saw two gannets, today I saw five!

They look too big to fly!

Thanks for reading!