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Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Sei Whale in shallow waters

What an incredible day. The last couple of days have been very difficult for Elding by the fact that we haven't been able to show our passengers any whales, dolphins here and there, but no whales and the weather hasn't helped us much either, with strong winds and alot of rain. After this mornings tour with an empty bay we where losing hope a little so we tried our luck along the coast of the Reykjanes Peninsula and arn't we glad that we did because what did we see...A SEI WHALE... yes you heard us right a sei whale the third largest rorqual after the blue and fin whale growing to a staggering 21m long. This species is rarely seen on whale watching tours because they prefer offshore waters so you can imagine our surprise to find it in waters of about 40 meters deep. If that wasn't enough we even got the privilege of seeing this whale feeding. Skimming the water for copepods instead of gulping and lunging for food like other rorqual whales such as the Minke Whales. That was incredible in itself but combined with calm seas, a beautiful sunset and Fulmars and Gannets flying past it was definitely a tour to go down in history.  Whoo hoo!!








3 comments:

  1. Hi Megan,

    I've been following your blog for a while and as always I am very impressed by our photos.
    We've been hoping to goto Iceland to see try and see whales for a while, bu one thing puts us off and that is inadvertently supporting the whale hunting trade.
    Can you tell me if there are any guidebooks or on-line guides which list whale friendly places to stay and eat? The last thing I would want to do is stay in a hotel which serves whales.

    Many Thanks

    Richard

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  2. Hi Richard

    Thank you for asking this. Unfortunately i'm not sure which hotels sell whale meat but it's good to email or ring them to ask (and restaurants too) and if they do, tell them that you are not staying or eating there because of it. This is the biggest problem i think that those against whaling do not voice their opinion and if they lose customers because of it, it will hopefully put pressure on them to not serve it in the future. I think most hotels are ok. I think its mainly the restaurants that are the biggest problem and i can advise you on those
    These restaurants are not selling whale

    Hofnin http://www.hofnin.is,
    Icelandic fish and chips http://www.fishandchips.is
    Our Elding Bistro http://www.whalewatching.is/elding-bistro.aspx
    Solon http://www.solon.is/en
    Laundrymat cafe http://www.thelaundromatcafe.com/
    Tapas hus http://tapashusid.is/

    These are very good. I hope that helps.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Megan,

    Thank you very much for your reply and I'll take your advice and contact the places in advance and hopefully we'll visit Iceland next may.

    Regards

    Richard

    ReplyDelete