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!
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| We also saw dolphins. Go dolphins! |
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| With the magnificent Hallgrímskirkja in the background this minke sure knew how to frame a picture! |
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| Fluketastic. Finally! |
Thanks for reading!
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