(*All lies. I was so excited.)
Early Sunday morning the 5 of us packed
up in our rented car and headed to Grundarfjöður on the Snæfellsness
peninsula. We had heard there were orcas (aka, killer whales... aka,
killer whales isn't a correct name... aka, killer whales is a way
better name) in the harbor about a week prior, so we crossed our
fingers and hoped they decided to stay long enough for us to catch a
glimpse.
There were no whales in the harbor when we arrived.
Luckily we booked a boat tour with LákiTours so we could go further into the ocean looking for them. They also gave us these freeeeaking sexy jumpsuits to wear to keep our bajeebers from freezing off.
We sailed out and around to the next
fjord over, only to not see any whales there either. I was preparing
myself for the disappointment to go home empty carded of any killer
whale photos, while appreciating the feast my eyes had around me in
the form of beautiful Icelandic mountains (Er, John Snow anyone?).
But then the captain's voice rusted out
of the loud speaker; there were a few whales out in the distance at
1:00. I joined the choir of desperate shutters in praise to this
news. We chased around this pod of 5-8 orcas for about a half hour
until we were informed that more had just arrived in the harbor at
Grundarfjöður. And by “more” they meant around 30-40. Whaaaat?
Yep. I ended up seeing a lot of killer whales that day (I also saw a
lot of jerk seagulls photo-bombing the crap out of my life, too).
Needless to say (thankfully, seeing as
I'm really tired and need to go to bed, like, 2 hours ago), it was an
incredible day trip seeing such graceful and beautiful animals. I
couldn't have asked for better weather or better company.
I just love so much about the things my life in Iceland chooses to be.
I stumbled on your blog quite randomly (as you do when browsing the internet), and wow I must say I have seen a lot of stunning pictures of Iceland but yours are quite something. It's like I see more than a picture. Good luck on learning Icelandic! I feel what is quite off putting is when you start off straight away with the grammar which makes you confused and anxious to talk/make a mistake. I suggest try to get some cheap books for kids, watch youtube videos of Disney songs you know well (check the channel tunsfiskurinn-she includes translation), it's a great way of making this intimidating language more approachable.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! That's incredibly kind of you to say my anonymous reader!
DeleteAnd the advice to read children's books is spot on. My Icelandic class is completely grammer based, which it seems I don't retain well. However, when I watch English movies with Icelandic subtitles (or vice versa) and read children's books it definitely starts to stick a little bit. :-)
Great photos Katy. A couple of killer whale facts...not sure if you know them or not. When I was commercial fishing up in Alaska, there was a group studying killer whales, so we hung out and I was able to pick up a bit. The females have the smaller dorsal fin that curves slightly to the back. The males have the tall, more upright and symmetrical dorsal fin. You have a great picture of a bull and two cows in front of the town there. Also, right behind the dorsal fin, there is a white spot that becomes scarred over time. The scar pattern on that white spot is like a finger print. They take pictures of it and that is how they used to record the movement of the whales. Same scar pattern, same killer whale. Cool pictures! Pete
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