Yesterday we got our dock extended in Húsavík harbour. The new part is 20 metres and 35 tonnes - about the size and weight of a humpback whale. Finally we will have space for our whole fleet in one place!Gunnar Jóhannesson and Kristján Óli at Króli were in charge of getting the extension in place, though we were several people from Gentle Giants who helped them.
Yesterday afternoon at 13:15 we decided to go out whale watching even though the bay was full of thick fog, waves and rain. We had told all the passengers several times how the conditions were and that our chances to find whales were smaller than usual, but they were really in and wanted to try their luck.
Yesterday was an amazing day to go whale watching. The sun was shining, the sea was flat like a floor and we encountered feeding whales and loads of birds on the other side of the bay. The area was boiling with life!The best thing when finding a feeding area, is that whales and birds flock around one limited spot.
It is not often that I get to show all the whales again which I introduced to my passengers in the beginning of the tour, but it happened yesterday. A jackpot in whale species! At 9:45 captain Kúti and I crossed a beautiful Skjálfandi Bay together with our passengers on board Faldur.
The sight of the blue whale's blow etches stuck on the retina for a long time. The world's biggest animal exhales with a pressure which best can be compared with that from a fire hose. A blue whale encounter is a life-time experience and something you remember with great amazement for a loooong time.
If you want to experience Iceland, what could then possibly be more Icelandic than going fishing with a real fisherman and get the fish cooked the Icelandic way in an Icelandic home?Three Russian men took the chance yesterday, and even though this is not yet a developed tour by Gentle Giants, we listened to our their wishes and made it happen.
Although we had to withstand a really rough sea on our 13:15 trip today, the whales we encountered were just fabulous and made it worth to be out on a boat in that icy cold weather. Three humpbacks were enjoying their stay in Skjálfandi Bay, swimming together and allowing the boat to come pretty close.
Now it is already two weeks ago since we started the whale watching season for this year. Despite the fact that we had a lot of different whales, there are more and more whales coming into Skjálfandibay.
Sometimes nature is not only unpredictable, but also offering many surprises. Although we did not encounter the blue whale again, we were welcomed by an “old friend”.We had just left the harbour some minutes ago and hence, I was still introducing the whales of Skjálfandi to the passengers and was about explaining that it might take us a while until we reach the area, where we had been seeing whales on the past trips.
As weather conditions were allowing us to head pretty far out into the bay during our 09:45 trip yesterday morning, we decided to search a new area for whales. To make this decision was the best we could do!After a quite long, but very nice boat ride with beautiful views on the surroundings, we finally spotted a big blow.
