I live in an area with pretty great fishing, but since I don’t really know anyone at home who likes to do that sort of thing, I thought that a visit to Husavik, a coastal fishing town in Iceland, was the perfect opportunity to give it a shot. The town was full of people, something I hadn’t encountered since Reykjavik. The captain of the boat I went out on was quite a character, as I am guessing most boat captains are. He told me to be prepared to catch some really big fish, something that doesn’t happen back in Virginia! I showed him a picture of an impressive fish my friend had caught the day before (okay, so there might be one person I know who does that sort of thing back home!) and he was impressed, but only momentarily since I couldn’t prove my connection to the man with the fish. I tried to explain how text messages work but he wasn’t having it.

We hit the water and I was really expecting to catch fish that would put my friend to shame. I was looking forward to amazing pictures of me holding scary, Icelandic fish and showing off my impressive just untapped angling skills. So, as you probably guessed, I caught nothing! The only thing that made me feel a little better is no one else did, either. At least that way I can say things like “the fish weren’t biting” and not “I have zero fishing ability.” We did see two whales! One humpback and one blue whale.

I have seen humpback whales before, and they are always magnificent. But I have never encountered a blue whale. And there is no way I can do justice to the magnitude of this creature.

Their heart is the size of an automobile! And during it’s first seven months, the blue whale calf drinks 100 gallons of mile every day and gains about 200 pounds/day. I heard her coming before I saw her. It was a loud, deep rumbling sound. Then I saw the water spewing from her blow hole and finally her expansive back surfaced. According to my suddenly charming Captain, I should consider myself quite lucky to have spotted a blue whale since there are very few spots in the world where they are still seen. So, I’m going to consider it a successful fishing trip, even if I didn’t catch anything. Hopefully I can get in on some fishing action when I get home.