Whales and Soccer- Are They Related?

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We got up early and my dad got a rental car. Then we drove to Husavik to go on a whale watch. When we were almost there, we saw an entire mountain and the entire hillside around it- covered in bluebonnets, so that from a distance, the mountain looked purple.


We dropped off our stuff and then headed to the whale museum. It was very nice. They described a lot of baleen and toothed whales, and upstairs they had large whale skeletons. Each skeleton had the story of the whale and a description. In one of the other rooms, there was the story of Keiko, the orca. They had his toys and a biography of his life. One large gallery had windows filled with broken glass!
We left and went to a bistro, where I had hot chocolate served in a puffin cup. It was really good hot chocolate. Then we went to the bakery next door and I got one of the Icelandic twisted donuts. It was pretty good. Then we wandered around and went into a church. They had a nice organ and on display they had a really cool wood carving. We left and went into some other shops until it was time for the whale watch.

I was hoping to see a blue whale or a minke whale. We got on the boat and we got in the warm, insulated, fuzzy snowsuit-things that were supposed to keep us warm. They did. I was worried there would be a fight because of the Germany-Italy game, and we had Italians and Germans on the boat. They seemed to get along, though.

I look AWESOME!
We set off, and for the longest time we saw nothing. At one point, I saw a dolphin’s dorsal fin, and we stopped off at Puffin Island and there were swarms of puffins in the water and flocks of them in the sky, and we could even see them on the actual island, coming in and out of their nests .But no whales. Then, suddenly, somebody saw a spout. I prayed for it to be a blue whale, but it was a humpback. After 2 or 3 breaths it dived, and we were once again left in a state of whalelessness. But only for a couple minutes. Then a second whale surfaced. And a third. And soon people- tall people- were rushing about, clicking cameras, and yelling “Over here!” “Ten ‘o’clock! It’s at ten ‘o’clock!” “Look!” and other things in various languages.

Puffin!
After a while, no more whales appeared. We were in pretty shallow water, and then a blowhole came up. Our guide got us excited by saying that it was a minke whale, and I was very happy. After many surfaces where we saw the whales face, it dived. Then our guide told us it was, in fact, apparently a humpback whale. We were sure it was gone, but then we discovered it was feeding! Arctic terns were everywhere, grabbing leftover fish and practicing dive-bombs for the next time somebody tried to get to the Arctic Circle.

After a long time, we left and I helped hoist the sails. Out of nowhere, one of the Italians had a phone, I guess, and he announced to the boat that Italy was beating Germany 2-0. The Italians were ecstatic. The Germans were not. We then had cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate on the boat, and we docked. As we pulled in, I counted my 48th seen jellyfish and we went to dinner. The garlic cheesebread was so amazing; I had to write about it. They gave me sugar with my tea, which, needless to say, if you know me, did not go into my tea; it went straight to my mouth. Delicious! My disappointment from not seeing blue whales mixed with my disappointment of Germany losing (2-1 at the end). But I was also full of sugar and deliciousness, so I could not be sad for long.

Humpback whale, which is good, but I wanted to see a Blue whale.




Whale slideshow here: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAiz52E  and some videos at: http://youtu.be/D5-UyGASUS0  & http://youtu.be/z5VBlfHb8vU 

Goodbye for now!

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