Yesterday was GG's “King” Daniel's birthday. He entered an inviting Skjálfandi Bay at 9:45, celebrating through guiding a full boat of passengers on a whale watching adventure. All the six minkes which have been in the bay the last days were still there, together with two beautiful humpbacks and a group of dolphins.
Even though we have entered August the many and good whales are still around. It has been wavy for two days but the sea was much calmer today. Ann-Sophie has guided three of the seven whale watching tours.
Two humpbacks have been in our bay during the whole day. I, as a guide onboard Faldur at 8:45, found the first one. Since then they have been in the same area throughout the day. The sea is rough today but we make sure that all our passengers are well informed about the conditions before they buy the tickets and again before they board.
Only a few minutes from Húsavík there is an island called Puffin Island, and the name is for a reason of course. Around quarter of a million puffins nest in our bay and during the summer this island is completely crowded with those funny little birds - but only for one or two more weeks to come.
First she though is was a "normal" white-beaked dolphin, but the dorsal fin was huge. Soon our guide Ann-Sophie realised that is was an orca that they had in front of them on the 8:45 tour this morning.
Yesterday evening I had one of the best trips since my one-month-carrier as a Gentle Giants guide started. I guided Big Whale Safari on Amma Sigga with 12 people on board and Sigdor as captain. The conditions were very good: no rain, flat sea, motivated passengers.
After four seasons as a whale watching guide, and several hundred trips, one can still experience new things - as no two tours are the exactly the same. I could not believe my eyes when the minke (which had been behaving like minkes do most) suddenly started jumping right in front of us - it was so unexpected! Just like the rest of the Icelandic nature whales are unpredictable and this one suddenly started showing off.
It is the fastest and probably most awesome boat on the north of Iceland, our Amma Sigga, with Puffins Exclusive and Big Whale Safari scheduled daily. We have also made spontaneous tours upon request and loads of adrenalin trips for groups - as some people find this “blue thunder” irresistible.
Guide Lia onboard Faldur, just gave us a report from Skjálfandi Bay from the first tour this morning: "We have been very very lucky with the whales. As always, we did not have any idea when leaving the harbour what would meet us out there.
