We’ve had our snow day – which means it’s time for a go day.
But how does one possibly improve upon an already-stellar adventure that’s already featured reindeer, walrus, Arctic fox, polar bears, glaciers, icebergs, and more whales than I can name?
With more whales, of course.
That’s the hope, at least. We’ll be joining Láki Tours, which operates out of nearby Ólafsvík. We booked this tour on the premise that – if we had missed whales – this would give us another chance to do so, or – if we had seen whales – then this would offer a kind of victory lap, and perhaps fill in the gaps with a new species or two.
The Ólafsvík harbour is only 25 minutes away from Grundarfjörður, which makes for a leisurely morning. We arrive around 9:30 am, roughly 30 minutes in advance of our tour. We’re far from the first guests to arrive, as everyone needs to get thermal overalls for the trip – even us, though we have no intention of wearing them. We have our full parkas, puffers, and rain pants – essentially what we wore in Antarctica – which should be enough on what promises to be a sunny Icelandic day.
We mill around for a bit, and then shortly before 10 am they open the boat to boarding. We end up near the bow, as we expect that section will have the best views. There is a second level too, though we’re not allowed to get up there until after the ship has left harbour. We’re on board the Iris today. From the Láki Tours website:
“Our newest boat Íris was built as a rescue/floating healthcare boat for Norwegian offshore islands. It is twin engine powered and designed for a smoother ride in higher seas. Láki Tours has converted the boat into a passenger vessel with a below-deck saloon containing a comfortable seating area and an upper deck for great whale viewing. Íris is used for our whale watching tours from Ólafsvík in Snæfellsnes. Íris takes a maximum of 70 passengers.”
Photo Credit: Láki Tours Website
Iceland is still bustling, particularly in the wake of the eclipse. I’d estimate we have somewhere around 50 to 60 passengers today.
I’ve brought my telephoto for this tour, which may be more lens than I need – but doesn’t hurt to come prepared.
I manage a shot of a… common gull on the way out:
It’s colouring made it seem much more unusual… ah, well
And we soon leave Ólafsvík behind us:
On the way out, our guide reminds us that Iceland is not a zoo and – while they have had a fair bit of success lately – they do not make any guarantees. They will however offer you a free trip anytime during that season if they happen to be unluckily enough to not spot any whales or dolphins during the tour.
While Láki Tours frequently spots orcas, these mostly occur during trips that take place in June or earlier. They do, however, list all cetacean sightings on their website so you can check to see how they’ve been doing. They also have a very generous cancellation policy of a full refund up to 24 hours in advance. Our Silversea expedition guides – who told us to book with Láki – strongly suggested checking two days in advance and rescheduling if they’ve had few to no sightings.
When Láki does encounter a whale, they approach slowly and they only spend a limited amount of time with the whale before moving on. Fair enough.
Regardless of what we spot today, we enjoy being out on the water once more:
The water is like glass this morning, and we soon reach the dropoff where the water suddenly becomes much deeper. Whales often spend their time around such locations as ocean currents force fish to the surface here.
We continue along for a while, spotting Snæfellsjökull as we go:
And then my wife is the first to spot it – a Minke whale:
The guides often refer to Minkes as “shy Minkes” or “tricky Minkes” as they like to surface once or twice and then disappear, but not this Minke – it decide to put on a show for us:
It breaches not once, not twice, but eight times.
But what comes up…
… Would surely win any belly flop competition
I only manage to catch the one breach with my camera, but once is enough. Here we realize the limitation of the Láki’s railing system – it’s difficult to get from one side of the bow to the other, so I would have been better off in the slightly raised centre platform. Ah, well.
The Minke continues to surface nearby for a time:
But eventually we move on:
I’ve seen Minkes before, but this is the first time I’ve gotten to photograph one so close-up. Fantastic.
We carry on, heading southwest along the coast. We spot more Arctic terns fishing as we go:
We then briefly encounter some harbour porpoises – which are actually whales – but they generally don’t spend long with boats. They disappear before I’m able to get a shot.
Next up, we spot some white beaked dolphins:
This one has a calf:
It’s another lengthy encounter as they leap and play about the boat:
But the mother with the calf is protective, and they don’t come as close as they normally might.
The Láki crew decides to give the dolphins some space.
We’ve passed the half-way mark so it’s already time to head back, though we do spot a humpback along the way:
Usually humpbacks are sociable and playful, but this one is quite shy – it’s almost as though it’s traded roles with the Minke.
But we really do have to get back, so it’s time to head out once more.
I manage a few more shots of the rugged cliffs and soaring mountains:
And of fishing vessels blasting through the waves:
We spot another round of harbour porpoises, but I’ve already packed away my camera. Maybe next time!
From here, we head to Matarlist – which is run by a mother-and-son team. Beniamin – the son and head chef – worked from an early age alongside his father, who cooked in three-Michelin-star restaurants.
So naturally we order the burger:
This is no compromise here – Matarlist is known for their exceptional hamburgers. (Plus it’s lunchtime – and a steak costs almost CAD$100.)
My wife and kids each wash theirs down with an epic hot chocolate:
There’s a lovely mix of cinnamon and chilli powder atop the whipped cream
It’s now well past 2 pm, so we slide into our Grundarfjörður afternoon routine – the kids go off for a bounce on the ol’ chaos bubble, while the adults get a bit a time for reading / writing / relaxing. We cook up some frozen pizzas for dinner, and put on Ponant’s recap video. It’s fantastic – look forward to posting it here a week or so after the trip comes to an end.
My wife and I once more turn our attentions to our Borneo trip, and continue to work on booking the 9 flights required by this adventure – Toronto to Hong Kong return was done yesterday, and today we add on flights from Hong Kong to Kota Kinabalu, Borneo and later onward to Sandakan on Air Asia, as well as flights from Kota Kinabalu to Komodo Island on Scoot via Singapore.
Our remaining internal flight in Borneo and our flights to Komodo to Bali and onward to Hong Kong will have to wait until they are released, hopefully in about eight days.
By this point there is a stunning sunset to enjoy:
So that’s exactly what we do. Early bedtime tonight as we prepare to explore the area around the Snæfellsjökull volcano.