Sunday, January 15, 2006
A good year behind - another better one ahead.....

The major change last year was a new boat in the company’s fleet. AÞENA ÞH was added to Gentle Giants fleet in the start of the season. Aþena, built in the year 2000 in Hafnarfjordur, and rebuilt in 2005 especially for Gentle Giants, made the ideal Whale Watching - and sea-angling boat, with all the comfort of a passenger boat. With the horsepower of 420, she made the fastest passenger boat in the Whale Watching and sea activities fleet in Skjálfandi Bay!

Aþena sailing in Skjálfandi Bay.

With the addition to our fleet, we could offer a wider range of tours and excursions. Aþena was mainly used for Flatey Island tours, sea-angling, a long with whale watching and other sea-activities.
Flatey Island tours reached high popularity, where we sailed to the pearl of Skjálfandi bay, Flatey Island. A good look was taken of the island and its birdlife, but the island offers a home for up to 30 different species of birds during breeding season, including the Artic Tern and numerous Puffins.
FLATEY ISLAND & BIRDS.

High demand was also on our sea-angling tours, both from tourists as well as local people. Skjálfandi bay offers great fishing grounds - 100% catching guarantee! Our guests were both astound and pleased with the freshness of their catch, after cooking it themselves, or having it prepared for them by our chef.
Overall Aþena brought much success to the company and extended the company enormously. It also increased the possibilities for tourists and locals for more sea-activities in Skjálfandi bay!!

Sea-anglers with their catch!

Flatey island offers a home for up to 30 different species of birds during breeding season, including numerous Puffins.

General information about Flatey Island.

Our Ticket Centre is conveniently located in the centre of Husavik, overlooking the bay. Beside our Ticket Centre is another hut, which got a new role last summer. Agnes Ýr Guðmundsdóttir, Gentle Giants assistant manager, and Jesse Flores, Gentle Giants guide, established a gourmet hut called Kofinn. Kofinn-gourmet hut offered diverse products from the region to thousands of tourists and local people. Icelandic food is known for its freshness and quality. Everyday there was something to be offered absolutely free of charge to the guests of Kofinn, ranging from dried haddock, marinated herring, dried reindeer, cheeses and other dairy products to smoked trout, for our guests to try and enjoy. Kofinn also offered traditional Icelandic cooking for reasonable prices, as well as drinks and the regional products. With the best view in town, Kofinn was the spot for sitting down to unwind, dinning at the terrace and where to captivate the breath taking view of Skjálfandi bay and the harbour. This summer, locals, guests, and tourists alike will be in for a real treat as Kofinn only gets better.

Jesse Flores and Agnes Ýr Guðmundsdóttir, owners of Kofinn.

A busy day by our ticket centre and Kofinn-gourmet hut ...

Despite some heavy weather last summer, whale watching conditions were good. Six species of whales were seen in Skjalfandi bay, even the blue whales – the largest animals ever to wander the earth! The majestic humpback whales were common visitors last summer and fin whales were spotted occasionally. Minke whales and white-beaked dolphins were very common on our excursions, along with the tiny harbour-porpoises.

... good memories from summer 2005 ...

Blue whales – the largest animals ever to wander the earth - were spotted occasionally last summer!

White-beaked dolphins are extremely fast swimmers and come frequently leaping towards boats.

Fin whales were spotted occasionally last summer.

A humpback whale next to Faldur.

Humpback whales are easily identified by their enormously long flippers, which can be up to 5 - 6 m in length.

A humpback taking a deep dive ...

Humpback whales nearly always raise their fluke before diving, revealing the distinctive black and white pattern, which distinguishes individuals and is used for identification.

Gliding through the waters ...

Tail-breaching humpback ...

A great fluke of a humpback - in one of our evening tours last season ...

A minke whale swimming around and enjoying this magical light the evening sun embellished the sea with.

Spy-hopping minke ...

A minke swimming under the boat, giving the passengers a great view!

A minke showing off ...

The company wouldn’t be the same if it weren’t for its high quality and well experienced staff. Gentle Giants staff did a great job last summer and therefore a staff celebration was held in the end of August. The course was taken to Akureyri, where the staff showed their talents in ice-skating. Of course a lot of food was eaten also and everyone enjoyed the celebration.

Team Gentle Giants, from left: Agnes, Jesse, Einar, Omar, Daniel, Stefán, Maria, Linda and John Christian.

During the winter time most of the staff head back to school, even to distant countries, and just recently two of our captains finished a course on fishing & tourism.

Winter is a time for maintaining the boats, marketing, bookings etc. All information regarding tours and excursions for summer 2006 have been published on our website. TOURS AND BOOKINGS.