Schooner Opal in Scoresbysund

  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…

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Beautiful weather, beautiful whales

The weather is still great in Húsavík these days: Flat sea, sunshine and about 10°C. And also the whales are still here: On all tours today we have spotted some very nice humpback whales and on most tours also the white-beaked dolphins have been present in good numbers. In these great weather conditions it is…

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North Sailing receives a grant from the Ministry of Interior

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…

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Meeting “old friends”

  This morning the sea was unexpected rough, due to strong wind from the north. Nevertheless we spotted a humpback whale – one of our “old friends” that stay in Skjálfandi Bay since several days and that has been observed also earlier this season. Furthermore we encountered a group of white beaked dolphins. They approached…

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Whales and their characters

Today we had the chance to encounter whales that showed completely different behaviors. In the morning we spotted three humpback whales – we met all of them yesterday already. They surfaced many times and we got some wonderful looks at them. But when we decided to turn the boat and start heading back to Húsavík,…

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Synchronized diving

The polar storm we had yesterday calmed down during the night, being replaced by a smooth southern breeze in the morning. It didn’t take long before we could sight our first blows, and we had many close looks at some humpback whales. At one moment, one of them was lying on its side and waving with…

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polar conditions

The weather forecast announced a snow storm for tomorrow. On the mountains, the grazing sheep are being brought down to the valleys. And today at sea, we could already feel the beginnings of the storm. Polar breeze blowing from Greenland made feel the bay somewhat chilly. Except for the fulmars, the so-called “storm-birds”, no sign of life was…

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The Angels of the Sea

Before we sail out into Skjálfandi Bay, I always remember the passengers that we enter the territory of the animals. So we are only the visitors and that of course means we can never influence anything. But today again we got the proof that this is also the exciting part of it, because we never…

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This is NOT a zoo!

Today we had perfect whale watching conditions: The sea was very flat and calm and the bright sun provided late-summer temperatures. In the morning we set the course in north-westerly direction. In the middle of the bay we encountered a minke whale and spent some time with this elegant animal. When we sailed further, we…

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Fin whales in the bay!

Today was an absolutely fantastic whale watching day here in Skjálfandi Bay! We had beautiful weather conditions when we left the harbour onboard “Náttfari” at 10:00 this morning: The sea was really flat, and the sun was shining for most of the tour. And we were also lucky with the whales: We were watching a…

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Entertaining humpback whales

Once again the humpback whales, the most common species we observe in Skjálfandi Bay, were the highlights of this day. The Sunday started with warm temperatures and the sea was very flat. Like yesterday we encountered one humpback whale in the southwest of the bay. It surfaced unusual close to the shore. It was hard…

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The bay is still full of life!

During the previous days we usually observed one or two different species during our whale watching tours. That changed today! The sea was calm and although the weather was changeable wind from south brought us warm temperatures. Great conditions to search for the whales! Close to the harbor we encountered some harbor porpoises, the smallest…

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An unexpected encounter

Today the weather was typical Icelandic: Sun and clouds alternated with brief rain showers and a strong wind was blowing from south-east. But the temperatures reminded of the late summer. On our tours we encountered two humpback whales. Both of them seem to like Skjálfandi Bay, we observed them already earlier this season. They spent…

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The day after the storm

Due to bad weather conditions we had to cancel our tours yesterday. But today the storm calmed down and the sea was quite flat again, although the swell still witnessed from the high waves yesterday. It is always very exciting to sail out into the bay after one day without whale watching – we had…

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Whales and waves

Today started out very good. It was dry in the morning, the sea was quite calm and we were in a good mood. So were the whales. We spotted a minke whale on our way out, but it didn’t stop with us for a very long time, but then we came across two humpback whales…

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Cold but happy!

We headed west towards the mountains were the whales have been seen for the past few days. The sea was bumpy so it took a little bit longer to get over the bay than usually. After some time we spotted some playful white beaked dolphins and they were willing to swim along with the boat…

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A quiet bay

Today it was a little quiet in the bay. Sometimes this happens, this being the wild nature we never know where and when the animals will show up.  Humpback and other species of whale migrate to these cold waters to feed, and Humpbacks can eat 1 ton of food a day.  Luckily for us the…

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Dolphin day, dolphin day!

Today was a dolphin day! We saw dolphins as soon as we left the harbour and all along the tour.  There was a lot of activity such as fast swimming, peeking above the surface (check their light coloured skin around the eyes and beak), and some jumping.                …

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A varied day

Finally the wind calmed down and today the sea was almost as flat as a mirror. These conditions enabled us to spot the whales from a distance already. In the morning we encountered two humpback whales in the western part of Skjálfandi Bay, surfacing close together. Both of them were very relaxed and calm, they…

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