Yesterday I spent my day out on Skjálfandi Bay on board Sylvía. Nice encounters with northern bottlenose whales, humpback whales, white-beaked dolphins and a breaching humpback – what a day! Shortly after leaving Húsavík harbour on my first tour, we spotted a nice group of northern bottlenose whales.
Big Whale Safari on our speedboat Amma Sigga is still in full swing and today I guided the 12:30 tour with huge success. Captain Ingibjörg and I headed out to Skjálfandi Bay with ten enthusiastic passengers – and as always in whale watching, we had no idea what nature had to offer us on the tour.
Four humpbacks, several groups of dolphins, flat sea and lukewarm air – those were the conditions that I, the rest of the crew and our full boat got to enjoy on the 9:45 tour this morning.At the same time our 12:30 Big Whale Safari was out and one of our passengers, Karen Bergljót from Iceland, took those breathtaking photos below; (LIA) An active humpback giving and amazing acrobatic show - or maybe communicating with other whales? One of the white-beaked dolphins swimming with our RHIB Amma Sigga.
At Gentle Giants we see whales on 98% of our tours. We do not have any technical equipment to find the whales, we only use our eyes - which is sometimes a challenge but also very exciting. It means whale watching on nature’s terms, if the conditions allow and no two tours are the same.
It seems like the whales are back from their short holiday. After a few days of difficult conditions we once again saw whales on all the tours yesterday and our 19:00 Big Whale Safari was lucky enough to encounter two humpback whales.
It seems by us as if the high season is just continuing. Sometimes we are up to four people working in the Ticket Center at the same time; selling tickets, keeping track of departures and answering both questions and the phone.
This season we have been luckier with both whales and weather than we remember any year before, though the last days have not been quite as successful as we are now used to. Of course (as we tell everyone who asks) nature is unpredictable and the conditions in the bay change really fast.
Sometimes our guides manage to capture and keep unforgettable moments through getting them on photo - moments shared with our passengers on board. We would like to share with you some random ones which have been taken during the summer which will always be remembered as The Amazing Humpback Season 2012..
So far today we have seen several (around five) humpback whales on every tour, whereof some even showed their most acrobatic moves. Second guide Daniel just gave me a report from the 13:15 tour where one of their humpbacks had jumped.
The first week of August has been just as amazing as the rest of the season so far. Today Húsavík is enjoying 20°c, sunshine and a bay full of whales. Not only dozens of humpbacks and several pods of white-beaked dolphins but also five northern bottlenose whales have made their way into our bay.
