Saturday, June 4, 2011
THE SEAMAN'S DAY 2011
The Icelandic calendar today says "Sjómannadagurinn” (“Seaman’s Day”). It is a holiday to honour all the people working at sea. This is the country of fishermen through generations.
The Icelandic calendar today says "Sjómannadagurinn” (“Seaman’s Day”). It is a holiday to honour all the people working at sea. This is the country of fishermen through generations.
The first thing I heard when answering the phone was a group of people cheering, screaming and clapping their hands. After a second Daniel (guide onboard Sylvía) started talking in a very excited voice and I could hear the smile on his face.
It is fascinating how fast the life can change in the bay. As I say to all my passengers, every tour is a complete new adventure – even for the crew onboard. At 12:00 captain Kalli and I went on Sylvía, headed west towards the mountains of Kinn.
Today is 1st June and the summer has officially come. Our tours are getting busier day by day, from now on our Ticket Centre is open until 20:30 and we have five regular whale watching departures a day; Now at 9:45 Anna Björg and Bessi went out with a full Faldur in hope of finding the blue whale and humpbacks again.
On her first tour guiding all alone (13:15 today) Anna Björg was really lucky and experienced the most amazing tour. Skjálfandi Bay obviously welcomed her into the team and celebrated her maiden voyage through giving her- and our lucky passengers a dream adventure.
A BLUE WHALE and up to FIVE HUMPBACKS spotted on our afternoon tour! The bay is exploding with life. More updates coming later today.
After a long time of sailing without luck (on the 13:15 tour) people might have started losing hope, but in that very moment we spotted the two blows together and forgot the cold wind...When getting closer it came to light those were two feeding humpbacks, surrounded by sea birds snatching their share of the food which leaked out between the humpbacks' baleens.
Except for the scheduled trips we had an extra tour this afternoon; a group of Icelanders which filled our biggest boat Sylvía. It is always fun when passengers already know each other. The atmosphere tends to be extra merry, and so also today.
Quite soon after spotting the first blow on the 9:45 tour we realised there were two humpback whales side by side. They were both very calm, swimming together with us in drifting speed – several times so close that passengers literally could have petted them.
Our whale watching boat finally managed to leave Húsavík harbour again this morning. Captain Bessi and Guide María went out on Faldur which had only a few seats left empty. The sea is calm and the sun is shining.