Monday, August 15, 2016

Monday, August 15th, Lake Myvatn, Iceland

Greetings!

Today, we went whale watching in the cold waters of northern Iceland.  Krill are plentiful up here at this time, and Humpback whales have just arrived from the Gulf of Mexico for their annual meal.  On our sail, our crew took us to deep water spots where familiar whales returned each year.

Our searching pattern was simple.  Park in their kitchen, and wait for them to surface. Station all passengers around the boat, looking in every direction.  When a whale is spotted (the captain yells "Humpback at 6 O'Clock"), gun the engines to get there quickly, but try not to upset them.

Cut the engines, and hope the whale stays on the surface for a couple of minutes replenishing their oxygen supply before diving again to feed.  Try to fight for a good place to take some pictures, without knocking someone overboard.

Repeat again and again.

The day would have been a much better success if I hadn't left my regular/wide angle lens in the pocket of my rain jacket on board the ship.  If they find it, the crew said they'd mail it to our last hotel in Iceland in Rekjavik.

Before I include the link to today's photos, I wanted to note one more geological anomaly.  The photo to the left looks like a small volcanic crater, but it's not.  When lava flows quickly over a really cold patch of ice, it explodes like a 500 pound bomb.  It leaves a hole locally called a pseudocrater. There are about a dozen of them near our hotel.

To see the photos we took today, click on Monday, August 15th, Myvatn,


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