Today, 25th of May, we celebrate International Plastic Free Day, which is reminding on the amount of plastic used every day, filling up landfills or polluting our oceans. Over 380 million tons of plastic are produced yearly, of which at least half is single use plastic.
Since the beginning of May the bay has been getting livelier by the day. Humpback whales have come in numbers and also the amount of birds seen on the water is steadily increasing. Among many other species, also one of the most nomadic birds, the arctic tern, has returned.
Most of the whale species that we get to see here in Skjálfandi Bay are not resident to the waters around Iceland, but migrate large distances between their breeding grounds in subtropical or tropical waters and their feeding grounds close to the poles.
Skjálfandi Bay is an outstanding place for wildlife watching: not only whales and dolphins frequent these waters, but as weeks have passed by, the bay is full of life and sounds again from various migratory bird species, which have returned for their annual nesting season.
With our RIB speeds boats we invite you on a very unique whale watching experience. Thanks to their speed, these boats will always get you where the whales are - within minutes! The different perspective of being close to the sea level allows for an even more personal encounter with these magnificent animals and lets you experience a very different perspective of your surroundings.
Every new day is an adventure out in Skjálfandi Bay and one will never know what to expect when departing the harbor. Today we were once more surprised by a beautiful blue whale that ended up spending the whole day in the same area of the bay.
With a bit of luck, we are able to observe several different behaviours in our whales during our tours and throughout the day. One of these behaviours is the so-called lobtailing, or tail slap, during which the whales lift their tail (the flukes) out of the water and slap it forcefully back onto the surface.
Much has happened since our season started. Our boats departed almost daily on our two favourite whale watching tours, the "GG1 Whale Watching" on the traditional oak boats and the "GG2 Big Whale Safari and Puffins" on our RIB speed boats.
“We are genuinely happy when people are ready to go out to this paradise and enjoy what we have to offer." (Gentle Giants’ CEO Stefán Guðmundsson) Yesterday, we were excited to meet our first guests in 2023 on Flatey Island.
Today is International Mother Earth Day, a day to remind each of us that the Earth and it's ecosystems provide us with life and sustenance, but also to reflect the challenges in respect to the well-being of our planet and the life it supports.
