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…
It was a glorious day in Húsavik today when Schooner Opal sailed into the bay after a 18 day long jorney from Ebeltoft in Denmark, via Scotland and the Faroe Islands. More pictures and stories to follow soon…
Opal, the latest addition to North Sailing´s fleet, is currently on its way towards its new home port of Húsavík. The ship and the North Sailing team, together with some of Opals‘ previous owners and crew have just left the Caledonian Canal in Scotland heading north the sound of Mull, towards Isle of Skye…
Restaurant Gamli Baukur has opened its door for the summer with a new menu. The restaurant is open every day from 11:30 – 20:00. At Gamli Baukur we serve only local food. Our aim is to offer food of the highest quality but the lowest food mile possible. All our ingredients, meat, fish and…
The whale watching season started on a beautiful day today. Captain Hrólfur and his crew on MV Bjössi Sör, had already spotted the blows of bigger whales from ashore, yesterday. The tour was a success, two Blue Whales where observed playing around in the in the southern breeze in Skjálfandi Bay. From the 1st…
Schooner Opal is the most recent addition to North Sailing´s fleet. Built at the Bodenwerft in Damgarten, Germany in 1952, she served as a trawler in the Baltic- and North Sea and in the Barents Sea. In 1973 new owners started her restoration. During 8 years until 1981, Opal was converted to…
Dear Whale lovers! North Sailing will be offering Whale Watching tour from Torfunesbryggja in Akureyri this Friday 8 February at 13:00. We hope to be able to offer Whale Watching tours also over the weekend but that will depend on how the tour on Friday goes. Looking forward to seeing you on…
Akureyri Whale Watching scheduled to start again Friday February 1st. North Sailing regrets having to cancel all scheduled whale watching tours January 21-31. We expect to start our Akureyri whale watching tours again from February 1st at 13:00 daily. For bookings and further information, please send us an e-mail (info@northsailing.is) or give us…
A long awaited moment for Vilborg Arna happened yesterday when she reached the South Pole! She is the first Icelander to take on this amazing journey alone, a total of 1140 km in 60 days. She claims that the feeling is unreal and it will take her some time to realize her achievment. She is…
We bring you more news from the South Pole where our friend and colleague Vilborg Arna takes on the last kilometres to attain her goal. She estimates that it will only take her two more days. The journey has taken her 58 days so far; five days ago she had reached 1000 km and a…
We at North Sailing are very happy with yet another fantastic whale watching year in Húsavík, Ólafsfjörður and Akureyri not to mention our wonderful expeditions in Greenland. We are grateful for all the passengers we have had the pleasure to serve on board our boats this year, and we are already looking forward to the…
