One tour – four species!

Heading out into the wild nature means every day is special and we never know which surprises are awaiting us. Today we decided to sail in northwesterly direction into an area where we saw a lot of wildlife the day before. Conditions were great: It was quite warm, the sea was flat as a mirror…

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Mating in the bay!

We saw three different species during our tours the whole day. Two humpback whales, two minke whales and a super pod of white beaked dolphins mating in the north west part of the bay.  Our tour on boat Knörinn at 16:00 brought passengers back to the port with big smiles on their faces. They were…

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Three species and a rainbow ;-)

Finally the wind calmed down and for the first time since a couple of days the sun was shining again today. We left the harbor and decided to head into the western part of Skjálfandi Bay, to check out the areas close to the mountains. After approximately twenty minutes suddenly several black, pointy dorsal fins…

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Dolphins everywhere!

I have been guiding two trips onboard “Náttfari” today and on both tours we encountered the same two species: The humpback whales and the white-beaked dolphins.   On the first tour (at 11:00) we only got a short look at the dolphins but had some nice encounters with two humpback whales. Especially the second humpback…

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Varying conditions

Today we got a perfect example for the varying conditions and the unpredictability of the wild nature. Already the weather was always changing: The day started a bit foggy, but the sea was perfectly calm. Later on the fog cleared and we enjoyed the sunshine. But after noon the sun disappeared behind the clouds, the…

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Baleen whales in the morning

When the first boats go out in the morning, we never know where to find the whales, since the animals can move a lot and don’t necessarily stay in the area where we saw them the evening before. We decided to sail west – a good decision, as we realized soon. Quite close to the…

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An incredible evening tour

Today was just a wonderful day to go whale watching here in Skjálfandi Bay! We had fantastic weather conditions with calm sea and sunshine the whole day. During the day, we had already spotted several humpback whales and on some of our tours (like on my tour at 16:00 onboard “Knörrinn”) we encountered four different…

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Calming down

After the exciting day yesterday today everthing seemed to calm down. The first visitors rush after the storm decreased and throughout the day also the sea got calm and flat again, although there was still some swell – the aftermath of the stormy conditions two days ago. We went out and sailed into the western…

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Breaching Humpback whale

As we got to the bay today for the 18:00 trip on Bjössi Sör we got news from Knörrin. They told us that they had spotted a breaching Humpback whale. For us it was clear where to set the course. After about a half hour of sailing we came closer to Knörrinn and the whale.…

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Whales in the wind

The weather in Skjálfandi bay has not been at its best for the last couple of days and this morning it was still very windy and the waves were high. Because of that we unfortunately had to cancel our morning tours. Around noon the wind calmed down and we were finally able to go out!…

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Dolphins under the rainbow

After enjoying days of sunshine and calm sea, it was a gray Wednesday morning in Skjálfandi Bay when our boat Náttfari sailed out of Húsavík harbour.   The boat set course towards Lundey Island – the puffin colony of Skjálfandi Bay – to explore the territory for whales and bird life.   At first, passengers…

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Excitement in the air

  Our second group of 11 offered trips on their way to Constable Point with Air Iceland – joining our successful Greenland tours.   The travelers came from all over the world and excitement was in the air: Italy, USA, Australia, France, Brazil, Israel,  Norway and met for the first time at the domestic airport in…

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Challenging conditions

Once again we got the proof that the weather conditions in Iceland can change very quickly. Yesterday it was warm and sunny, today we got rain and increasing wind from the north. In addition to that it was quite foggy, so kind of a challenge for us to find some wildlife. All the boats headed…

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Spotting the smaller species

Today it was incredibly warm again. The summerly temperatures in combination with light wind from the south fits rather to the Caribbean than to Iceland! The surface water temperature in the bay is unusually high – up to 16°C! This might also affect the availability of the whales’ food sources and thus the presence of…

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Sweet Days in Húsavík

Almost every town in Iceland has a special day or weekend, and Húsavík is no exception.  The town’s festival is called Mærudagar, which means Candy Days, and it is held the last weekend in July as a time for everyone to come together and enjoy Húsavík.   The town is divided into 3 districts: Pink,…

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A perfect day!

Wow, what a day was today! It was exciting from the very beginning and it’s actually quite hard to decide where to start. First of all – the weather was perfect again! It was sunny, calm and very warm. We just left the harbor when we spotted some harbor porpoises. But we didn’t stop for…

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Behavioral studies

It’s summer in Húsavík! Today it was sunny, windless and incredibly warm. We went on the boat dressed in T-shirts, without our hats, sweaters and jackets we’re wearing usually! How great is that!? So perfect conditions for a wonderful whale watching day. And also the whales were awesome. We encountered a humpback whale in the…

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