Since Skjálfandi Bay is so well known for its big whales, such as the humpback whale and even the blue whale in the spring, sometimes the smallest of the cetaceans here can be over looked. These are the harbour porpoises.
Kory Barri (California, US) and his friends went out with us on a "GG2 Big Whale Safari and Puffins" earlier this season. Recently he published an article in the "Russian Time Magazine" about his travel around Iceland, including his adventure of meeting a blue whale, humpbacks and dolphins whilst out in Skjálfandi Bay on one of our RIB speed boats: "Before our search for the watery beasts began the speedboat took a pit stop at the famous Puffin Island, which was currently inhabited by thousands of these goofy little birds.
Even after seeing the whales hundreds of time, all of our staff would agree that it is still an amazing and exciting experience, but seeing the whales through the eyes of our passengers and hearing their stories adds another level of enthusiasm to working at Gentle Giants.
Sunshine and a flat sea welcomed us and our passengers on the whale watching tours today. Along that, several humpback whales were spotted, most of them calmly travelling through the bay as if they were enjoying the peaceful conditions after a rather cold and stormy weekend.
Whilst humpback whales keep showing up in big numbers, especially throughout the past days many of them are spending their time in the same area. One can spot their spouts all around whilst waiting for the nearest individual to surface again.
It's hard to believe we are past the half-way point in an already amazing and exciting season! So far this season has brought us so many humpback whales, and here at Gentle Giants many of us have enjoyed keeping track of the individuals throughout the seasons.
In the past days we have seen some very friendly and curious humpback whales! They have been approaching our boats, spy-hopping, pec-slapping, and rolling around. As our guide Selma said "The whales have been human watching"! Our guide Pedro took this incredible video of two humpbacks near our RIB on a GG2 tour, with one giving our passengers and crew a thorough examination! He captions the video: "The best day since I am in Iceland.
As part of my PhD project through the University of Iceland’s Husavik Research Centre, and in collaboration with Gentle Giants, I have been using our trusty sea-angling boat Aþena to conduct some fieldwork this summer.
The past few days we've been blessed with wonderful weather and sightings out in the bay. The sun has been shining and the sea has been flat and mirroring like a lake. Humpback whales were seen relaxing in the sunshine and dolphins have been incredibly playful: if not jumping high out of the water, they've been chasing the boats or were trying to socialise (or maybe rather bother) the humpback whales around whilst showing up with several hundreds individuals over the entire bay.
We left Husavik's harbor early this morning at 8AM for the first scheduled "GG2 Big Whale Safari and Puffins". For long we were the only boat out there and we decided to cross over to the mountains on the other side of the bay.
