When we got up this morning and looked out to Skjálfandi Bay the conditions did not look so good, unfortunately. It was very windy and the sea seemed rough. Because of that we had to cancel some of our first tours in the morning. In the afternoon the wind calmed down and the sun came…
DetailsFantastic 12 days in Opal from Húsavík to Scoresby Sund/Greenland From July 18th- 30th 2014. Snapshots from our fantastic trip. Our trip to Greenland started from Húsavík the evening of July 19. After two days crossing the Arctic sea in calm wind, seeing a lot of whales like Humpback-, Sperm-, Blue-,…
DetailsToday as we headed out to the bay for the 16:00 trip we were looking forward to it. The reason for that is that we had been successful earlier. We set the course towards the north, where we and other boats had been seeing whales. After about an hour of sailing we arrived there and…
DetailsSkál! Captains, accountants, waitresses and other members of the North Sailing team gathered for an annual celebration last night. What began as two brothers on an old wooden trawler pioneering whale watching in Iceland, is now a leading workplace in Húsavík. North Sailing, along with its restaurant Gamli Baukur, boosts of almost hundred employees over…
DetailsHeading 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…
DetailsWe 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…
DetailsFinally 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…
DetailsAlthough the weather is still more typical for autumn than for summer time, it’s still worth going out into Skjálfandi Bay to search for some wildlife. It was quite windy and we got some swell form the open ocean. But these conditions might mix up the water and bring more nutrients into the bay, which…
DetailsI 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…
DetailsIn a single tour, we saw 49 dolphins – at least according to our youngest passenger who apparently made a new count each time a dolphin came up to the surface. That‘s one way to look at it. The way most of us saw it, a school of 5 White-Beaked Dolphins came swimming–and some…
DetailsToday 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…
DetailsToday as we headed out to the bay for the 16:00 trip we set the course towards the mountains on the other side of the bay. As we got closer fog came over us and we could almost not see anything. Even we managed to find a Minke whale. We got a great look at…
DetailsWhen 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…
DetailsToday 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…
DetailsAfter 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…
DetailsAs 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.…
DetailsThe 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!…
DetailsAfter 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…
DetailsOur 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…
DetailsOnce 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…
DetailsToday 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…
Details
