Last week Gentle Giants’ staff decided to join and celebrate season and summer 2008. Some of our team members will leave soon so it was the last chance to meet and do something all together. We decided to go to Flatey Island, our little paradise in Skjálfandi Bay.
The weather in Húsavík – and in Iceland in general - has been surprisingly good lately. We have had temperatures of 20-25 degrees, slow winds and perfect sea conditions almost everyday during the last weeks.
In some of our tours the last days we have had some very unusual sightings – northern bottlenose whales in Skjalfandi Bay! The northern bottlenose whales are very uncommon on our tours and therefore a very nice surprise and pleasure seeing them.
Since I have arrived more than three weeks ago I have already had a lot of really good trips, but then, a few days ago I had the most amazing and impressive trips ever. In the first of those three trips a humpback jumped seven times in a row! As if this hadn’t been enough, some dolphins showed up at the same place and began to jump as well – with the humpback at the same time.
The last days have been unbelievable ….. Skjalfandi Bay has been shaking with life and weather conditions have been absolutely perfect! Our “usual” tour the last days consists of up to 8 humpback whales along with minkes and dolphins.
This weekend has turned out to be extremely good for Gentle Giants whale watchers and Skjalfandi Bay has had plenty to offer them! Not only were passengers able to enjoy the great weather and scenic views which surround the bay, but they were also able to be in the presence of up to 6 humpbacks along with many minkes and birdlife in the bay.
After one day of bad weather and cancelled tours we were finally able to head out to Skjalfandi Bay this morning with enthusiastic whale watchers. The bay has been full of life today – three humpbacks and minke whales! On both our morning tours a humpback whale breached only a few metres from the boat – imagine seeing a 25-40 ton magnificent animal breaching just next to you!! The humpback is one of the most “acrobatic” of the whales.
Peter Waltl is our latest member of our team this year. He comes from Austria and is studying geography in Salzburg. It is a pleasure having him on our team this year – this is what he had to say about his first impressions … After travelling around for some days in Iceland, I finally arrived almost one week ago in this beautiful village – sorry, city, of course – to work here as a GG-Guide.
For the last days, whale watching and the weather have been up to its best. The Blue Whales visited us again, of a great pleasure; swimming and diving very close to the boat, giving our passengers the modeling site, followed by great photo shoots.
