Red Throated Diver #54 Akureyri

Backblip


4 degrees and a wind chill factor of what feels like minus 50 is not what we signed up for, especially as we were on a whale watching tour! 
I know we are in Iceland, but really...12-20 degrees is what we were expecting.
Anyway, we froze sitting on the top deck of a whale watching boat for over an hour before there was any sign of a whale, and of course, when it was spotted, we were on the opposite side of the boat! A brief sighting of a blow and then a hump and a tail was a bit of a disappointment.  A couple more quick sightings (and no photos)and we headed for home. Since there had been nothing to see upstairs on the way there, we went downstairs to get out of the cold wind. Almost as soon as we got down there and put down our cameras, the captain slowed the boat down and said their was a whale quite close by, on the other side of course. Deb and I ran over to the window knowing that we wouldn't have time to get upstairs again and were rewarded with the amazing sight of a hump backed whale not 15 feet away from the window. She floated on the surface for a few seconds, did a quick blow and then took a dive showing her fluke wonderfully. A fabulous experience, but no photos I'm afraid as we left them on the table with the men! 
Instead you get a shot of yet another bird I've not seen before - the lovely red throated diver that popped up beside the boat whilst we were waiting to leave.