On Wednesday, November 27th, North Sailing hosted a promotional gathering for travel agents in Iceland on board Schooner OPAL in Reykjavík. Live music rang in the sound system and MAR Restaurant, Noi Sirius and Olgerdin Egill Skallagrimsson provided refreshments for everyone attending. The purpose of the gathering was to share an enjoyable evening and discover the…
Schooner Opal departed from Húsavík on Thursday afternoon, November 7th and arrived in Reykjavík harbour around noon on November 9th and the crew was extremely happy with the successful sailing. During the first part of the journey the wind for sailing was excellent and Opal was cruising at 8-9 knots on average. But by…
Passengers and crew of our whale watching boat the “Bjössi Sör” were amazed when they encountered a full size Walrus on today’s 13:30 whale watching tour. The Walrus was spotted in the sea close to Husavik harbor and seemed at ease with the boat and spectators. Walruses are rare guests at the shores…
Tryggvi Scheving Thorsteinsson participated in schooner Opal’s first expedition in Scoresbysund from 24th to 31st of July. The explorers visited the village Ittoqqortoormiit and Tryggvi found that to be an interesting experience. “You can sense the isolation when you walk around the village. When you go there you get a feeling, which is hard…
Schooner Opal is sailing towards its home port of Húsavík after an excellent season in Scoresbysund, NE-Greenland. Opal´s crew and owners are proud and happy. In seven week long tours around the Scoresbysund fjord system, Opal has carried her passengers to some of the most exotic places on Earth. Magnificent, unforgettable and unique are…
The schooner Opal has been cruising around Scoresbysund, the largest fjord in the world, on the northeast coast of Greenland for the last six weeks, exploring the natural wonders of the area. Opal takes a group of passengers, up to twelve people, on a week-long expedition around Scoresbysund and has every single trip been…
North Sailing received a grant recently from the Icelandic Ministry of Interior for the project “Regenerative electric engine in a ship”. This subvention is being granted for the first time in order to support projects that aim to increase the utilization of domestic energy sources in ships and therefore decrease the usage of fossil fuels, enhance…
Captain Heimir just came back from Greenland and took some beautiful pictures with him. Heimir left Schooner Opal in the capable hands of Captain Egill Aðalgeir Bjarnason, a.k.a. Alli Bjarna and first mate and engineer his father Horður Sigurbjarnarson.Alli will take care of our new guest and show them how great Greenland is. Take a look and…
Today, August 7th 2013, Gisli Sigurgeirsson and Maria Sastre Padró and their two sons Óðinn and Magnús came with her brother Pablo Sastre Padró and sister-in-law Maria Elena Hernandez Blaslo and their two daughters Paula and Elvira to our beautiful town Húsavík to visit a friend of them, Marianne Rasmussen and of course to see…
The Schooner Opal left Husavik on Sunday July 21st. The destination was Scoresbysund on the south-east coast of Greenland. Scoresbysund is the longest and largest fjord in the world. Opal will stay there until September and transport excited passengers around the natural wonders that the fjord has to offer. Good evening, Husavik!! …
Schooner Opal is leaving its home harbour of Húsavík today to set course for Scoresbysund NE Greenland. Once there Opal will be sailing on Northsailing´s week long expeditions within this biggest fjord system of the world. Schooner Opal was added to North Sailing´s fleet this winter and has since its arrival in Húsavík undergone neccessary…
Today we had the pleasure of welcoming the Yeo family aboard — for the fourth time. Mr. Yeo is originally from Scotland but when he met his wife, he moved to Iceland. Together with their two sons they visited Husavik three times in the last two years and joined us on our tours, two motorized…
Over the last week we have seen several Blue whales in Skjalfandi Bay, and this is of course very exciting and special as Blue whales are a rare sight! Blue whales are the largest animals on the planet. In fact, they are the largest animals ever lived, even larger then the dinosaurs. Blue whales…
A family of four that joined our Edge of the Arctic tour on the 25th of June has been kind enough to share their thoughts on the tour as well as their exellent photos and videos made on the tour. Thank you, Paquette Family! We are always striving to expose our children to unique places…
It wasn’t the most standard greeting in Húsavík; schooner Opal blowing its horn towards Húni II, a visitor in Skjálfandi Bay. Originally built as trawlers, these two boats now serve another purpose, touring and maintaining old sailing traditions. Of all the 100 oak boats built in Iceland between 1940 and 1970, Húni…
We departed from Húsavík around 8 o‘clock in the morning of Wednesday June the 5th and set our course to Lundey, the Puffin Island. The weather was extraordinary; it was sunny, clear skies, no wind and flat sea. We reached Lundey and the puffins were, as usual, flying clumsily around the small island and…
Name: Stephan Kolditz DOB: June 24th 1977 Nationality: French Position: Guide Stephan Kolditz joined the North Sailing team this spring and we sat down and I had a little chat with him. Do you have any whale watching experience? Yes, I worked as a whale watching guide in Norway in…
If you have dreamt of seeing a humpback whale in action, Húsavík is a great destination for you. The elegant activity of the humpback whale when it raises its fluke as it goes down for a deep-dive has been a common sight for North Sailing passengers and crew for the past few weeks and…
May has been a very successful month. We have had good weather conditions and we have seen whales on almost all of our tours. In total, six species of whales have been spotted: The mighty blue whale has been seen on several tours (just like in April, when some of them showed up surprisingly early),…
The first North Sailing expedition this season was a successful “Ski to the Sea” trip in April but last week the first “Edge of the arctic” trip was done last week. It was a wonderful group from Bangalore, India that joined captain Heimir and his crew on schooner Hildur for a two day adventure at…
Now that the new schooner Opal has arrived in its new home port of Húsavík, after an excellent, jet somewhat stormy tour from Ebeltoft in Denmark via Scotland and the Faroe Islands,it is time to look at the plans for the summer. Tours in Scoresbysund in NE-Greenland, longer tours along Iceland´s coast and special…