Gentle Giants recently had the pleasure of being featured in a project by journalism students from the University of Salford in the UK. As part of their coursework, the students explored the world of whale watching—choosing to dive into the story of Gentle Giants, our history and work here in Húsavík, the Whale Capital of Iceland.
Since the arrival of the season's first humpback in mid-April, many more individuals have returned to the waters of Skjálfandi Bay and this place has literally come to life! Some days, it becomes impossible to keep track of how many whales there are in an area as their spouts appear all over the place.
The other day, on a sunny afternoon, yet another tour departed for beautiful Flatey Island on our oak boat Sylvía. Flatey, literally a small paradise just some miles out from Húsavík, offers a serene escape into nature and history.
Puffins are well known for their colourful appearance and charismatic expressions, but have you ever had a closer look at their rather unique nesting behaviour? Probably one of the most fascinating aspects of the puffins’ life cycle is their use of burrows to raise their young: Puffins spend most of the year at sea, but then, as the breeding season commences, all of them return to their colonies along sea cliffs, grassy shorelines or islands.
April definitely finished in style: another BLUE WHALE visited our bay today! The first month of our whale watching season has been unusually successful with several species having been sighted - all the way from the smallest to the tallest.
Around mid-April, Gentle Giants Whale Watching proudly participated in a very unique project: As the Eurovision Song Contest is getting closer, this year's participants were asked to perform a cover of a song of their choice.
Tomorrow, we celebrate "Sumardagurinn Fyrsti" - the first day of summer - here in Iceland. Back in the days, it was commonly regarded as a good omen if summer and winter “froze together,” (meaning that temperatures had to drop below zero in the night of the last day of winter to the first day of summer).
They're baaaaack!The first humpback whale of the season has been spotted by our RIB speedboats in Skjálfandi Bay this morning! Every spring, these gentle giants return to Iceland after a long migration from tropical waters.
Personally, among all the whale and dolphin species I have seen around the world over the years, the humpback whale continues to be my favourite among them all. Surely, there is something fascinating, unique and astonishing about every single whale species: the social structures and advanced and adapted hunting techniques of the orcas, the sheer size of a blue whale, the sound volume and diving skills of the sperm whales and so on and on… But what about the humpback whale, our most common visitor in Skjálfandi Bay? Each tail is uniqueTheir tail flukes have unique patterns, kind of like a fingerprint.
Throughout the last days, we have been lucky to encounter white-beaked dolphins on several of our departures. These smaller cousins of the whales are simply always adorable and their joy and playfulness overly contagious.
