Photographs by Megan Whittaker

Finally the Christmas feel has come to Akureyri, We woke up this morning with a fresh layer of snow and this only got deeper throughout the day. It was cold heading out into the fjord and so passengers made use of the warm saloon and hot drinks until the first humpback was spotted. Everyone rushed outside to what these leviathans surface a couple of times and then bring up their beautiful tails for another deep dive. They were very scattered and only surfacing for a short time, making approaching them difficult. However, near the end of the tour we found a pod of 6 individuals and they were great. We were waiting for them to surface again and was getting to the point of having to return home, captain Arnar turned the boat slowly to position the vessel to head home and one surfaced just 2 meters from the boat, then another, and another until all 6 were at the surface. You could watch them travel just beneath the surface just next to the boat. We did not move an inch, just slowly blown by the slight wind today. It was incredible to watch them dive (bring up their flukes) one after another. Once again Akureyri has proven to be the place to be.