I had decided to take a little road trip up to Husavik, which, if you’re familiar, is known as the whale watching capital of Europe because of its amazing whale sightings. So I got there pretty early. It was one of those perfect midsummer days. Not a breath of wind. It was like 20 degrees, if I recall, which is pretty hot for Iceland. Now, I had some time to kill, so I decided to go check out Geosea. If you’ve never heard of Geosea before, it’s this pretty cool place where you can go and soak in warm seawater pools that are actually perched on top of a cliff with magnificent views just directly over Skjálfandi Bay. As I was lounging at the pool, looking out into the bay, I noticed a splash out of the corner of my eye, I squinted my eyes, and I realized that’s a Humpback Whale.

It was breaching repeatedly and peck slapping. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. I’ve seen whales from shore many times, but this was a completely different experience. For over 30 minutes, I sat there watching this whale, and at one point it breached so high it almost looked like it was flying. And for some reason, I was the only one in the entire lagoon who seemed to notice. I just couldn’t believe my eyes. I quickly rushed out of the lagoon, got dressed and got out to the car and got my camera, and it was still breaching. So I got many great pictures.

After a while, things started to calm a little bit down, so I decided to head to dinner. I was still thinking about that whale, and I had noticed that one of its flukes was curled in at the tip and they were completely black. By that point, I had finished my dinner, I gathered my equipment and I headed straight down to the dock. We boarded a boat with the Gentle Giants Whale Washing company. At that point in the evening, the sun had started lowering a little bit, but it doesn’t completely set in Iceland during that time. So the sky was painted in pink and orange hues as we were heading out into Skjálfandi Bay. As we sailed further out, a small pod of White beaked dolphins started appearing alongside us.

They were so playful, and they seemed to take quite a bit of interest in the boat. Almost felt like they were welcoming us into their world. After a short while, we left the dolphins behind and sailed further out into the bay. I could feel the excitement on board in the air. The weather was just absolutely perfect. The water was so calm, it looked like glass. The colors of the sunset were reflecting, off the surface, it was creating this beautiful, serene atmosphere. There were also no other boats around, just us and the endless ocean. But suddenly it wasn’t just us anymore. The sleek black back of a Humpback Whale suddenly surfaced about 20 meters away from our boat.

It was gliding effortlessly through the water, and it was so close to us that we could see its white pectoral fins directly under the surface. The whale seemed so relaxed, almost as if it was just as curious about us as we were about it. It took a few breaths and started preparing for a dive. As it lifted its totally black flukes out of the water, one tip curled slightly inwards, I realized it was the same exact whale that I had been watching just eight hours earlier. This whale NA-9437 does not have an official name yet, but it was first sighted in 2011 according to Happy Whale, those flukes are unmistakable.

You could recognize them anywhere. Since it was midnight in Iceland, in the midnight sun, and the fact that these flukes had previously reminded me of midnight, I decided to call this whale Midnight seemed like the most fitting name for this guy.

We spent the next hour with this incredible creature. He swam close to our boat, lifted its flukes out of the water and occasionally slapped it down, creating a huge splash. It was like he was acknowledging us, our presence, and allowing us to share his world for a little while. Honestly, it felt like time had stopped. We were in this bubble of tranquility, just us and Midnight the whale.

But unfortunately, all good things must come to an end eventually, and we started making our way back to shore. To our surprise, the white beaked dolphins had stuck around. They kept playing in the wake of our boat all the way back home. It was truly one of those rare moments where everything aligns perfectly and you feel just an overwhelming sense of gratitude for being alive and to be able to experience such beauty. If you ever get the chance to go whale watching, especially in a place like Husavik, you have to do it. It’s moments like these that remind you how incredible our planet is and how important it is to protect it. I’ll never forget that day, every time I think about it, it brings a huge smile to my face.

Sigrún 

This post was adapted from a voice recording in episode 72 of the Whale Tales Podcast, listen here.