With their long and narrow wings, they are the biggest sea birds of our northern hemisphere. A fully grown northern gannet reaches a wingspan of 1 meter and 80 centimeters long. They have a streamlined body shape adapted for plunge-diving at extremely high speed (up to 100 km/h).
I´m lucky enough that by working as a guide at Gentle Giants, I have the opportunity to see whales every day. Yet even though I see whales on a daily basis, it often feels like I am seeing them for the very first time, when I have passengers who are so excited to see their first whale.
Working as a whale watch guide in Húsavík allows one to have new, beautiful and memorable experiences every single day. When leaving the harbor we never know how the tour is gonna be, or what we will see.
Last days we had really amazing trips, where calves were protagonist. It is the time where a lot of the white-beaked dolphins are giving birth and pods are integrated by several young individuals. They are quite easy to identify, since they love playing and jumping out of the water, while they are being watched by the adults.
Yesterday night was one of those evening when everything comes together. Humpback whales took literally our breath away from the beginning of the tour until the end. As a start, we were lucky enough to observe 4 fully grown humpbacks lunge-feeding right next to our boat; coming up at the surface with their mouths wide open! The number of whales in the bay was countless as we could see blows all around us in the distance.
Not for nothing Húsavík is called the whale watching capital of Europe: within the past days the number of whales in the bay has increased incredibly! Humpback whales seem to be everywhere! As one looks around their flukes appear in every direction and the horizon is covered by a cloud of blows.
Already yesterday some of our boats came across a real unusual sight: northern bottlenose whales had made their way into Skjálfandi Bay! Much to our surprise, the pod of whales was seen again on some of today’s departures! Northern bottlenose whales are part of the beaked-whales family.
In the beginning of May we started to spot increasing numbers of whales around Skjalfandi Bay. Every day, more and more were coming to feed in the cold Icelandic water. The first rule when you visit Iceland is that you must be ready for every type of weather, as you can experience every season - autumn, winter, spring and summer - all in one day.
Since this morning a well-known whale can be seen from our boats: the blue-fin-hybrid arrived to Skjálfandi Bay! Thanks to the hybrid’s dorsal fin it can be easily recognised as the same individual whenever it shows up here in the North.
By the end of May, several new staff members arrived to work as part of the team of Gentle Giants. Among our new guides is Freyja Petursson who travelled all the way from New Zealand to join our team here in Húsavík.
