We drove through a rain storm on the way, but arrived in Husavik with plenty of time to spare, which provided the opportunity to find a free parking space, and then some breakfast and coffee. One highlight as we approach Husavik was the view of a flying Rock Ptarmigan by the side of the road,, the white wings and brown body of the summer plumaged bird unmistakable.
Looking at the longitude latitude finder on my phone it showed that we had reached our most northerly point in Iceland for the trip, the famous sixty six degrees north.
After coffee we spend a while wandering around the small harbour that was filled with fishing boats but also plenty of whale watching boats of all sizes, from the fast moving RIBs the traditional Icelandic oak boats, to tall sailing ships. We began to wonder what we would be on.
In the calm waters of the harbour a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers slept, again keeping one eye out for danger.
Although there are other places from which you can whale watch in Iceland (Reykjavik and Akureyri), Hisavik has become Iceland's premier location, and the reason why we had traveled the distance to be here.
Husavik itself is a lovely little town nestled on the shores of Skjalfandi Bay (meaning "shaking bay" due to the presence of many earthquakes taking place under water with the movement of the tectonic plates). Husavik means "bay of houses" due to it being the earliest settlement in Iceland back in the ninth century. The most famous landmark in the town is the wooden church Husavikurkirkja, seen here from the harbour.
While here the church tower with the back drop of the snow covered Botnsvatn mountain.
We came across a family group of Eider around the rocks in the harbour, and a Kittiwake sitting on one of the harbour floodlights.
We found out that no boats had gone out yesterday due to the state of the sea, waves whipped up by the strong northerly wind.
Come the time to board our boat it was time to dress up to, this bearing in mind we were both wearing multi layers including two down jackets and thermals, we donned a full arctic body suit and waterproofs. This turned out to be essential, and I can say that at only one point did I feel any cold, and that was when water splashed on to my boots.
We pulled slowly out of the harbour, passing Eider, and what looked like an immature Black Guillemot. As we picked up knots leaving the harbour we were joined by Fulmat=ra nad Arctic Terns flying alongside the boat.
We were aboard a traditional Icelandic Oak boat. These boats were originally built for fishing, but have more recently been adapted for whale watching, their shape allows the boat to roll without the extraordinary event of them capsizing. I hoped we would not test it, because I couldn't see us lasting long in these waters.
We headed out into the bay, and started to see more bird life. Puffins zipped by us, pleasing a lot of those on the boat with us, and every so often one or two could be seen close to the boat on the water.
Black Guillemots also flew past, and also this auk, that I thought was a common Guillemot, but on closer inspection I noticed a white line on the bill that is diagnostic in Brunnich's Guillemot.
The Brünnich’s guillemot is a stout, sturdily built auk that
is slightly smaller than the common guillemot, and is one of the most numerous
seabirds in the northern hemisphere. This bird is named after the Danish
zoologist Morten Thrane Brünnich. Brünnich’s
guillemots from Svalbard generally winter in waters off Iceland, Greenland and
Newfoundland, although many stay in the Barents Sea throughout the year.
The Brünnich’s guillemot is distinguishable from the common
guillemot by their shorter and thicker bill, which has a white line along the
sides of the upper mandible, and by the lack of dark mottling on the flanks.
In breeding plumage the head, neck and back are black, while
the under-parts are white. The white breast forms a narrow wedge towards the
dark fore-neck. In winter plumage the neck and throat are white, but contrary
to the common guillemot, the darker colouring of the head extends well below
the eye and down to the cheeks.
Not diving but just breaking the surface to breathe.
We followed the whale as it dived for short periods then broke the surface to breath before dropping again. In the moments while it was underwater it was time to check out the scenery around the bay.
An Arctic Skua flew threw which send some of my fellow passengers into a spin as they struggled to see what I was looking at, thinking it was a whale.
While the whale we were following was not displaying any interesting behaviour, on one surface we were treated to excellent views of the long pectoral fins, which are white on the under side so it must have twisted them while the Humpback held them horizontally just below the surface.
After this lovely view the whale surfaced again and then arched the back for a deeper dive.
We continued to keep pace with the whale, and it broke the surface once again showing the split blowhole, and humped dorsal fin that gives the whale its name.
We finally broke away from the sleeping whale to find one that was doing a little bit more. A Kittiwake settled on the water alongside the boat as we turned away from the whale.
The second Humpback was clearly engaged in fishing, as we approached the whale fluked, but was quickly back on the surface.
Usually when a Humpback breaks the surface it will stay up fro at least 4 or 5 breaths, but this one would be down almost immediately, and if we were lucky after two breathes.
Humpbacks have three methods of fishing. The most impressive is bubble netting when several whales work together to create a wall of bubbles that corral the fish for others to lunge upwards with mouths open. The next is where individuals lunge up through a bait ball, the third is where they take huge gulps of krill underwater and force the water out through the baleen. We have seen the first two, with one special day twenty years ago, our second trip off Cape Cod being the best when up to 20 whales were bubble netting on a dead still sea.
Today the whale appeared to be gulping krill below us, and going back as quickly as possible after taking a huge mouthful. This meant we were witness to some wonderful tail flukes.
One annoyance was that the captain kept the whale at 12 o'clock, which meant it wasn't easy for every one to see the whale, fortunately many had taken sea sickness tablets and were half out of it by now and not really interested.
Here breaking the surface to breath, the lumps on th etop of the jaw act like whiskers on a cat, but with echo location. You can also see the split blow hole found in Baleen whales, toothed whales have a single hole.
More tail flukes, it was hard to resist.
The underside of the tail is like a fingerprint every whale's pattern is unique and is used to identify individuals, and track their movements.
As other boats appeared to cash in on our whale we moved on to our third individual. The clouds were parting and we were greeted by some warming sunshine.
The Humpback was demonstrating the same behaviour, breaking the surface for a short burst, and then diving deep, showing the tail fluke.
You can see the different pattern on the final tail fluke photograph above.
That was it for us, we had taken up our three hours with some great views and we didn't get cold. We steamed back to Husavik accompanied by Fulmar and Puffins once again. The challenge was to get the cold suits off but once completed we disembarked and made our way into the village of Husavik. We had some lunch and a coffee in the warmth of a bakery. After we set off to explore the area.
Coming out of Husavik, Helen saw a Rock Ptarmigan, but despite driving up and down we could not re-locate it. A little further along we stopped to look over an expanse of open water flowing fast. The frustration was that there was no access and everything was very distant. I did manage to find a pair of Common Scoter, a Red-throated Diver and a drake Harlequin duck.
Surely you can see them here!
We continued down route 85 with pools coming up thick and fast on either side of the road. However none of them held what I was hoping for, there were Whooper Swans and the occasional Mallard pair, but nothing else. Then I noticed a large black shape on a pool coming up on the right hand side of the road. Fortunately there was a place to pull off the road and park up. I crept out of the car, and even at one point crawled to the edge of the lake using a small bush as cover. A summer plumaged Great Northern Diver.
I stayed still and it drifted closer.
The lovely striped black and white neck collars contrasting with the black head. While the back is a chequerboard of black and white.
The diver then turned and drifted away. The divers like to nest in these pools, and while the mate sits on the nest the other usually stay close by. Like grebes the nest is built up of vegetation built up above the water line. The male chooses the site while both build the nest. In this case there was plenty of areas where there could be a nest but I could not find it.
As I turned to go back to the car I noticed another water bird, this time a reddish colour, a summer plumaged Slavonian Grebe. Here were both birds I was looking for on the same pool.
I have seen many Slavonian Grebes but very few in summer plumage. They are quite spectacular with their golden horns, which in the United States gives them the name of Horned Grebe.
The light was bad on mottled water, so I hoped I could find some more.
This was the case on the other side of the road, but these were a little further away.
A stunning grebe
We drove on, picking up the road we had traveled yesterday when we left the Myvatn area. The conditions were much more acceptable, clear and bright with good visibility that allowed us to see distant mountains that had been hidden yesterday.
Yesterday we had passed Lake Masvatn just after leaving Myvatn, and the water had been whipped up by the wind. Phalaropes could be seen along the southern shoreline but that was the limit of the birds.
Today the water was calmer, the phalaropes were still on the southern shore but so were Black-tailed Godwits and Dunlin, looking splendid in their summer breeding plumage.
I stayed close to the shore, and at first the Red-necked Phalaropes swam away, but staying still allows them to drift back to the shallower water where there is an abundance of water insects. Here a male, not sporting the bright plumage seen in the female.
The females appeared to be a little more bolder.
The twisting and twirling disturbs the insects in the water and drives them to the surface where they pick them off with such dexterity.
Like little clockwork toys they spin and bob with no concern for anything other then another phalarope which if it gets too close is chased off immediately
A large flock of Black-tailed Godwits gathered on the far bank, taking to the air every soften, but circling back to feed on the grass.
We moved on and stopped at a view point that overlooks the distant Lake Myvatn, and mountains beyond.
We drove around the Lake, continuing on the route 848, heading towards Reykjahlid. The road follows the shore of the lake, with lava rocks acting like sea stacks, but called Klasar, in the water. Phalaropes fed on the shoreline, and stepping out of the car it was clear there were plenty of insects about to keep them satisfied.
The midges kept us in the car, they were plentiful in the calm conditions, and were biting. Myvatn is the calm shallow lake at the heart of the volatile volcanic area. Evidence of this is everywhere, huge craters and jagged lava field. The name Myvatn translates as Midge Lake, and it is the midges that make this lake such an attraction for the wildfowl.
We passed Wigeon, Gadwall, Tufted Duck and Red-breasted Mergansers. I scanned for a possible Gyrflacon, but no such luck. Geologically there were many features. Pseudocraters formed when molten rock flowed into the lake, triggering gas explosions. Moving north we passed through lava fields once again.
The lava fields look like ploughed earth but on a huge scale with rolls of rock. Where the lava has cooled the top of the rolls has cracked like the top of a loaf of bread.
As we joined the ring road once again another view point allowed lower views of the Lake.
As we joined the River Laxa I pulled over again to watch the river. A Harlequin duck was diving in a fast running portion of the stream.
There were plenty of Barrow's Goldeneye on the far side of the river, but the best view today was of one flying over.
We were making our way back to Akureyri, yesterday we passed Godafoss without stopping, today we pulled over and made the walk to the viewing point.
The blue glacial water was a stand out feature as the water flowed out of the plunge pool. Godafoss means the waterfall of the Gods. It breaks through the Bardardalur lava field. It is one of the most beautiful waterfalls we have seen, with a perfect horseshoe shape.
As with many of Iceland's natural features the falls play an important part in Icelandic history. At the National Assembly in 1000, the law speaker was forced to make a decision on Iceland's religion. After 24 hours of meditation he declared the country a Christian nation. On his way home he passed the waterfall near his farm and tossed his pagan carvings of the Norse gods into the falls, thus giving the falls their name.
As we walked back to the car we saw another Rock Ptarmigan fly down river and out over the lava field. From the falls we drove back to Akureyri through the tunnel. A different day today, but any day in which you see whales is a very good day, and we had some good sightings.
Tomorrow will be our last full day, and the longest drive as we make our way around the north west back to Reykjavik, still chance to see an awful lot more.
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