Yesterday, the cruise ship from „Iceland Pro Cruise“ approached Skjálfandibay early in the morning for another time. Already then the sun shined bright above Húsavík. At 7am we left the village to sail out to Flatey.
The past weeks several blue whales – the largest animals on earth - have been visiting our bay over and over again. Even a mother with her calf has been showing up a couple of times. The other day a young fin whale appeared in between the extremely large blue whales.
The humpback whale feeding season is in full-swing in the bay right now, with many sightings in the last days. Among them, is a returning favourite whale known as "Snow White". The humpback whales come to the bay in the summer time specifically to feed on krill and small fish, and there have been many hungry humpbacks spotted on our tours recently.
We started our first trip of the day on Amma Kibba. The weather was incredible: finally summer had arrived and we got to enjoy temperatures around 16 degrees whilst sailing…and even though it was not too sunny, we could see the strong light from the sun as a reflection in the light clouds.
The other day we got an email from Shari Rabinowitz.She had joined the 12:30 "GG2 Big Whale Safari and Puffins" departure on the 5th of June. Her feedback: "Blue whale, hybrid and birds, an amazing tour!!!!"Along that she sent following amazing photos which she took on that tour.
This past week, our boat Athena took 6 lovely passengers from Estonia on a sea-angling tour on a beautiful, sunny summer day, where the "catch-of-the-day" was a 5kg cod! Skjálfandi bay is not only a wonderful place for whales, but it is also a fantastic fishing ground.
The past weeks blue whales have been showing up more or less daily. But today we got a very special surprise out at sea: A blue whale mother showed up with her calf. Blue whale calves stay with their mother for at least a year.
The past days of whale watching continued successful: Blue Whales keep on showing up daily, often several of them in the same areas. The other day we got to see two blue whales and some humpbacks feeding near to each other.
This past week, students participating in the University of Iceland's Marine Mammals course joined us to practice their whale research skills. These students have come from countries all over the world to study in Iceland and participate in this course held annually through the University of Iceland's Húsavík Research Centre.
We just received news from our captain Ingimar that our RIB boat found another blue whale in the bay on our Big Whale Safari tour! The blue whale excitement continues for us here at Gentle Giants, as another blue whale has been spotted making a pit-stop in the bay on its way to the Arctic.
