An Icelandic sailor, who was taking his daughter and a group of foreign visitors out to see watch whales got closer to the giants of the sea than they had bargained for. The group of humpback whales joined the boat for a full hour, swimming around it. Two of the whales repeatedly swam into the boat, giving it a gentle pushes.
A group of 10-15 humpbacks cirled the boat for an hour
Benedikt Sigurðsson had taken his daughter and a group of American family friends out to watch whales in Ísafjarðardjúp bay in the Westfjords. A short distance out of Hnifsdalur village they ran into a group of humpback whales. After Benedikt had fed the whales some Pollock he had on board, the whales decided to get closer to the boat, and stuck with it. The group of humpbacks surrounded the boat, swimming around it for an hour. The group of whales counted between ten to fifteen individuals.
“We had trouble sailing away, they kept circling us for an hour, and two of them kept bumping into us”, Benedikt tells the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service. Benedikt has frequently spotted whales in this area, but never experienced anything like this. His foreign visitors were similarly surprised. “It was just unbelievable, they swam right under the boat. I have never seen anything like this.” CB McKenzie, one of the American visitors onboard.
Daddy, daddy! I'm scared!
While Benedikt is an experienced sailor he was concerned over how close the whales came to the boat. “There were some ten to fifteen of them, approximately fifteen meters (49 feet) long.” Since the boat is only 8.7 meters long (26 feet) making these close encounters were of some concern as can be seen in the following video, where we can hear Benedikt’s daughter tell her father that she feels the whales are getting too close for comfort: “Daddy, daddy, I’m scared! He’s below us!” she says.
Ultimately the whales let the travellers continue on their way.
Þetta verðið þið að sjá. Lentum í hvalavöðu út af Hnífsdal og tveir hvalir snertu kjölinn á bátnum svo hann ruggaði talsvert.
Posted by Lífið við höfnina on Tuesday, July 28, 2015
An Icelandic sailor, who was taking his daughter and a group of foreign visitors out to see watch whales got closer to the giants of the sea than they had bargained for. The group of humpback whales joined the boat for a full hour, swimming around it. Two of the whales repeatedly swam into the boat, giving it a gentle pushes.
A group of 10-15 humpbacks cirled the boat for an hour
Benedikt Sigurðsson had taken his daughter and a group of American family friends out to watch whales in Ísafjarðardjúp bay in the Westfjords. A short distance out of Hnifsdalur village they ran into a group of humpback whales. After Benedikt had fed the whales some Pollock he had on board, the whales decided to get closer to the boat, and stuck with it. The group of humpbacks surrounded the boat, swimming around it for an hour. The group of whales counted between ten to fifteen individuals.
“We had trouble sailing away, they kept circling us for an hour, and two of them kept bumping into us”, Benedikt tells the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service. Benedikt has frequently spotted whales in this area, but never experienced anything like this. His foreign visitors were similarly surprised. “It was just unbelievable, they swam right under the boat. I have never seen anything like this.” CB McKenzie, one of the American visitors onboard.
Daddy, daddy! I'm scared!
While Benedikt is an experienced sailor he was concerned over how close the whales came to the boat. “There were some ten to fifteen of them, approximately fifteen meters (49 feet) long.” Since the boat is only 8.7 meters long (26 feet) making these close encounters were of some concern as can be seen in the following video, where we can hear Benedikt’s daughter tell her father that she feels the whales are getting too close for comfort: “Daddy, daddy, I’m scared! He’s below us!” she says.
Ultimately the whales let the travellers continue on their way.
Þetta verðið þið að sjá. Lentum í hvalavöðu út af Hnífsdal og tveir hvalir snertu kjölinn á bátnum svo hann ruggaði talsvert.
Posted by Lífið við höfnina on Tuesday, July 28, 2015
