Cruising to Iceland and back. Part 1

When my wife said her mum and dad fancied one last cruise and it was to be to the Arctic, I was up for it. When I found out we were sailing out of Liverpool in August and going above the Arctic circle and it was 11 days at sea, I thought this is a proper pelagic, birds and whales. Iceland has some very special birds. Fred Olsens Boudicca ship was our home for the next 11 days and it took me some time to find the best place to seawatch.

We sailed out of Liverpool at 5pm on Sunday 17th in a force 7 gale. Heading past Crosby and the iron man I noticed an arctic skua moving along the beach.

The swell and vibration on deck 7 hampered long watching.



It certainly wasn't a good time to go for a swim in the pools!


Fred Olsen ships are smaller then the big cruise companies but the Boudicca gives great places to view from. With just over 800 passengers on board it was very easy to get round. To sail up to Iceland would involve 2 whole days sailing to make it to our first port of Reykjavik.

Getting on deck for 6am to start my stint of seawatching before breakfast I was greeted by fulmars sheering off the side of the boat with the odd gannet. Sometimes over 40 fulmars were along the boat. I started up on deck 9 and you couldnt feel the vibrations but dropping down a few decks and in between the swells you could see european storm petrels and I noticed one leech's storm petrel.

The petrels had to be aware as the odd skua was around.

Great, arctic and long tailed were seen during the cruise.

Manx shearwaters seemed to prefer cutting across the front of the boat but never seemed to hang around.




After lunch a real special bird for the west coast turned up, a solitary sooty shearwater. These shearwaters breed in the southern hemisphere during our winter and then disperse to then spend their winter in the northern hemisphere. I was leaning over the boat trying to get some decent images when the whale watching boys came over to get some shots. Small numbers of arctic terns where seen but no passerines, I think it was a bit to early in the season.

I did notice a turnstone follow the ship for a bit but a fulmar decided to take exception and chased it off.

The next morning we were in international and calm waters. I have seen a number of whales but never seen the big ones with the blows!! I was scanning the sea when I noticed a very large blow quite some distance away. I have to say that it is a very special feeling thinking you are in the realm of the leviathans of the sea. Lots of the passengers would pass you and ask have you seen much or have you seen any whales. Most people only gave it 5 minutes and then moved on.

A number of sightings of whales were seen but the closest of all was a northern bottlenose whale which came along side the ship.
This inquisitive whale only appeared once and then slipped away. Thanks to Harold Moses for the picture. We had sightings of fin, minkie and after lunch a humpback breached near the boat and then continued flipper slapping. You had to be there to see the joy in people who have never seen a whale before.

The morning before we sailed into Reykjavik a small pod of orca was seen by the early whale watchers. Reykjavic isn't a big capital but it is the northern most capital in the world. The skyline is dominated by the cathedral on one side and mountains with a hint of snow on the other.



Although Iceland is known for its whaleing and banking industry it has recently seen a huge rise in tourism making it the countries number one business and some of that has been down to the whale watching boats.

The next post will look at the land birds and round the island.
Chris.