The migration patterns of humpbacks are fascinating. They are known to travel the longest distance of all whales between feeding- and breeding grounds. From our bay of Skjálfandi, we know that the humpbacks usually arrive in Icelandic waters in early spring and spend their whole summer feeding.
The days are getting shorter and therefore we offered our last evening tour of the season yesterday. Those evening tours are the favourite by many whale watchers because of sometimes sublime sunset on Skjalfandi Bay.
I spent my 20th birthday out on Skjalfandi bay yesterday as I had two tours with captain Bessi. My girlfriend Lia and her family from Sweden joined me for both my tours, and Skjalfandi indeed did not disappoint us this time! Our second tour was absolutely amazing in all ways – a perfect birthday present from Skjalfandi bay! First to mention, the weather was as good as it gets here in Iceland; calm winds, flat sea and temperatures reaching up to 20°C.
On my 2nd tour today onboard Sylvia together with guide Maria we encountered a special surprise. We headed west along the coast of Skjalfandi to an area where we had been spotting some minke whales on the last tours.
Strong northern winds, waves and rain on Skjálfandi today. Still the bay does not disappoint and our lucky passengers got an amazing show when a breaching minke whale appeared out of nowhere and proceeded to breach over 15 times as we sailed towards it.
The yearly HÚSAVÍK FESTIVAL takes place this week in Húsavík. It is a celebration of two local festivals – SWEET DAYS (Mærudagar), a local celebration of family and friends which has been celebrated for many years in Húsavík – and SWEDISH DAYS, a festival held in the honorary memory of one of the first settler of Iceland, Gardar Svavarsson.
We had a nice surprise the other day when we spotted a humpback whale. Of course we are always happy when seeing whales, but this individual was not just a normal humpback – this was Freddy! Humpbacks (Megaptera noveangliae) are one of the most common stars on our tours.
