Today we look back on another exciting day out at sea. A few humpbacks showed off from their best side throughout the day and allowed our guests aboard to get some amazing views onto them. All of them were relaxing or feeding in an area close to the mountains.
It's not always only about the big whales here in the bay. In addition to humpback whales and minke whales, in recent days the many white-beaked dolphins have been dazzling our passengers. The white-beaked dolphins live in the cold North Atlantic waters all year round, and they have been frequent visitors to the bay this week.
Last year in June Koen Hoekemeijer visited us and the gentle giants of Skjálfandibay for the first time. As a multitrip passenger he joined 15 tours within 4,5 days. Before leaving he wrote a message saying: “Guys, this has probably been the best week of my life!” The other week he was standing in front of the Ticket Center again, ready to join as many tours as possible within his few days visit.
A playful humpback was impressing and entertaining many visitors yesterday in the early afternoon. Besides lobtailing and flipper slapping, it also breached out of the water and amazed both, passengers and crew.
Recently, the Icelandic Environment Association awarded Gentle Giants the "Blue Flag for Whale Watching Boats" for 2015 for agreeing to an environmental code of conduct that protects the bay and all the wonderful wildlife that calls it home for some or all of the year.
Nature is unpredictable and so are the whales. We never know what is awaiting us out in the bay when leaving the harbour. We don’t know how whales behave and what they are going to do. But yesterday something incredible happened: On our evening “GG2 Big Whale Safari” we first got see a blue whale, which in the beginning was rather difficult to observe, but then out of the sudden got close to our boat.
The luck was on our side on today’s 16:45 on Sylvía. It was a little foggy and rainy, but when we got closer to the whales it was all forgotten. We saw blows everywhere! We were looking at some humpbacks fluking and showing of their mouth whilst feeding when a BLUE WHALE came out of the blue! We didn‘t know where to look, 9 o´clock, 3 o´clock.
Early this morning our crew met up for a rescue drill onboard our oak boat Sylvía. Whilst the town was still asleep all of us headed out to the outer harbor.Before the first tour of the day left the harbor, we managed to go over the emergency plan and the safety equipment, but also practised "man over board" by throwing the life ring and rescuing each other.
There have been high numbers of feeding humpbacks in the bay recently, with at least 7 spotted just in one area this morning! Many of them are familiar flukes from past years, and some of these humpbacks that are spending time in our bay have also been spotted in other parts of Iceland.
This past weekend, on July 4th, “The Boss” and “Mrs. Boss” of Gentle Giants got married on beautiful Flatey. Stefán Guðmundsson, Gentle Giants CEO, and Jóhanna S.
