HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2012
Preparations for the upcoming season are in full swing, but before leaving last year behind,
Gentle Giants would like to share with you some of season 2012's highlight memories.
Click the embedded links to see the whole articles.
Year 2012 we did it again; started the season earlier than ever before. Faldur left harbour for the first time on the 15th April.
April was good with humpbacks, minkes and dolphins, like we had hoped. What we had not reckoned with was to see the year's first blue whale on the 30th April, as they usually arrive in the end of May/beginning of June. To encounter them at that time felt very special.
The 15th April was not only special for Gentle Giants, but also for the town itself. For the first time in twelve years, Húsavík airport was open again for regular traffic with Eagle Air which opened up many opportunities – both for locals and tourists visiting the north of Iceland.
May was cold but nice with loads of whales. Puffin tours started on the 18th May and through that Amma Sigga was back on schedule, which everyone in the crew had been looking forward to.
In June when Big Whale Safari started again it turned out to be such a success that we soon had to add extra departures, up to three more a day than scheduled. Loads of fun, especially as the big whales were more than ever before. Sometimes between 15 and 20 individuals in one single tour during a normal summer day, often breaching, flipper-slapping and lob-tailing. Unbelievable! This popular tour got recommended by HandPicked Iceland, which is an honour for Gentle Giants. You can also read our passengers' own travel stories on our TripAdvisor page.
Except for the regular safety trainings that Gentle Giants organises for its own staff, our crew got to participate in a giant rescue drill with several hundreds of people involved. The whole exercise was around a (pretended) fire on board a whale watching boat. Our RIB Amma Sigga – which is the fastest boat on the north of Iceland – was quick helping ferrying “injured” people to land. Some were also moved over to Sylvía where our staff had to take care of them the best they could.
One of the summer's most amazing Big Whale Safaris was when we were on our way out of the bay and a giant blue whale unexpectedly appeared all of a sudden and not more than five metres away from the boat! A really amazing surprise for everyone on board.
Another unforgettable Big Whale Safari was when our passengers and crew got to encounter a pod of orcas. As if that was not enough, the killer whales had attacked a harbour porpoise right in front of the boat. That is an extremely rare sight, a once-in-a-lifetime experience - if even.
July was a good whale watching month which included what I remember as my BEST encounter of 2012, where a humpback scratched its nose to the keel of our drifting boat. It was entertaining itself and us all for a long time. The picture can talk for itself.
July is a very busy month, but the whole GG crew still took itself time to attend a course in how to improve. Even though we get a lot of good feedback which indicates that the staff of Gentle Giants does a lot of good things, we can always get better and we try all the time. With help from Margrét Reynisdóttir (owner of the company Gerum betur - “We do Better”) we talked about how to improve customer service, how to use and interpret body language and about cultural differences - among other topics.
August turned out to be an extremely busy month and at the craziest hours, all our ticket center staff at once was not enough to work through the long queue. Fun to see all those enthusiastic whale watchers, whose number reached way over our expectations.
We had blue whales on the last day of August and the whale conditions were amazing also during the autumn. In September there were up to eight humpbacks on one tour and October was not worse. Even during the mid-winter the bay has been full of humpback whales. Hopefully that is a sign of a whale rich season to come.
At last but not least we would like to thank all our good staff for a great year together. We are a mix of international and local people with different backgrounds and experiences which make a great team. Big thanks also to our passengers and co-operators for this wonderful summer. We are already working hard on preparations for the upcoming season, and hope that you want to share it with us at Gentle Giants.
All the best,
Lia Askelöf
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