In Húsavík since 1861

Gentle Giants is proud of its originality and background and is owned by people with vast experience in the field.

We were born by the bay of Skjálfandi and our ancestors too. Way back!

Árni Tómasson, fisherman and farmer in Flatey Island Valley (great grandfather of Gentle Giants’ owner Stefán Guðmundsson), with his wife Jóhanna Jónsdóttir and 14 of their children.

Jón Ármann Árnason (great great grandfather of Gentle Giants’ owner) and his second wife Karen Halldórsdóttir with their five children, who were actually the children of his former wife Kristbjörg Sigurðardóttir who passed away young.

All of them lived their lives by Skjálfandi Bay with their families. Until this day the ancestors still live in Húsavík making the roots stronger year by year.

Jón Ármann was the head mason of the Húsavík Church and laid the foundation for it – built in 1907.

Not ideal for whale watching, but boats like these made it possible to catch the fish necessary to feed a big family of nine.

Hólmgeir Árnason, grandfather of Gentle Giants’ owner, fishing close to his home in Flatey Island in Skjálfandi Bay. 

With time the boats became bigger, steadier and safer. Today Gentle Giants is using oak boats similar to these for whale watching.

Generation to generation, the knowledge about the bay is passed down. In the picture on the left is Héðinn Maríusson great grandfather of Stefán Guðmundsson, owner of Gentle Giants, on the right.