Today I went on two tours on Garðar. The first tour was great, the weather was good although it was cold and we found a delightful humpback whale. The second tour was not as good, the weather was getting worse and the wind was picking up so the waves were getting very high, but we…
DetailsSoon the last of the visiting boats of Sail Husavik 2011 will leave. It’s surely been amazing to have these beautiful ships in town. There is something mesmerizing about sailing ships. They’re a reminder of the past, a reminder of how quickly the present can turn into history.We are gripped by the same feeling when…
DetailsThese last days our operation has been reaching it´s peak. With 11 departures a day in Húsavík and three departures in Ólafsfjörður, the number of passengers, per day, has never been higher. From Húsavík, the departures are at 8:50, 10:00, 11:00 (an off schedule NS-1 tour), 12:00, 13:00, 13:30, 15:30, 17:00 and 20:15And the popular…
DetailsWhen we were heading out this morning we had some news of a killer whale in the bay. At first I almost didn’t believe what I was hearing because the killer whale isn’t so common at this time a year in Skjálfandibay but we soon found out for ourselves that this was very true. We got quite…
DetailsToday I went out on the 13:30 tour with captain Hrólfur and engineer Garðar on boat Garðar. After following some white beaked dolphins for a while, we headed to the area where we had been watching a humpback whale on our erlier tour and there we found him – but he surely was on the…
DetailsTonight I went out on Náttfari with over 50 passengers, captain Hrólfur, engineer Tomaz and two crew members that were actually off duty! Yes, I must say, very enthusiastic staff we have! Captain Már and guide Christian decided to go whale watching on their night off… and just that leaves me wondering: This must be…
DetailsToday the bay was silky smooth or “smooth like a mirror” like we Icelanders say and the weather was ideal for wale watching. It was cloudy but warm and there was almost no wind. Assistant guide Ísak found the first whale in the 10 o’clock tour and it was a minke whale. Then there came…
DetailsThe international youth camp “Ice Climate Education” is taking place for the fourth time here in Húsavík during these days with participants from eight different countries (Germany, South Africa, Turkey, Denmark, Estonia, Uganda, England, France). Various lectures are held, for example on climate change, global warming, preservation and photovoltaic, whaling and whale watching. During the…
DetailsThe Sail Húsavík came to an end some days ago and during these days, most sailing boats are leaving our harbour. Yesterday, the Dagmar Aaen set sail towards Greenland. The plan is to sail into an area north of Scoresbysund and if possible, the crew and their experienced captain Arved Fuchs might even reach 77°…
DetailsToday I went out at 14:00 in beautiful weather conditions on a special tour with the participants of the “Ice Climate Education Camp” on our sailing schooner Haukur. We sailed out of the harbour together with Dagmar Aaen that left Húsavík harbour to set course towards Greenland. It took us just a few minutes to…
DetailsThe last few days have been strange in many ways. The bigger whales have not been as prominent as the weeks before, but the smaller species have blossomed instead. Minkes, Dolphins and Harbour Porpoises have been exceptionally calm and the weather has really helped out, it has been very sunny and warm. The Minke whales…
DetailsWhile there haven’t been many big whales in Skjálfandaflói lately reports have been pouring in about great sightings in the next fjord over, Eyjafjörður, in which we recently started offering whale watching trips. These last few days humpback whales have been spotted on the tours much to the delight of our passengers. Pictures say more…
DetailsToday I went out on schooner Haukur for the 11 o’clock tour, which has been set up as an extra tour these last days, with captain Alli and some 18 enthusiastic whale watchers. This was my first trip this season on one of the schooners, but usually they are used for the longer tours; Whales,…
DetailsToday I went out on the 15.30 tour with fully loaded Náttfari. When boarding the passengers, one of them draw my attention more than others! That was my old friend Elsa María, who started working at North Sailing’s the same year I did, in 2001, and later on even holding the title of a head…
DetailsGarðar, the biggest boat of our fleet has finally gotten the permits to use the capacity for as many passenger as she should carry. Therefore, the 10:00 trip today was an historical one, never before has North Sailing sailed with so many passengers in one vessel. Well over 130 people, and a crew counting six,…
DetailsThe high point of Sail Húsavík took place today. “The Regatta”, or the battle of the Sail Boats, started at 11:30. Beforehand, all the boats had prepared and when the shot was fired, close to 20 ships raced for the Buoy about 4 miles out in Skjálfandi Bay, and back. The wind was quite decent…
DetailsAs I walked around the Husavik harbour today I wondered if the phrase “harbour culture” actually existed. I checked Wikipedia but got no result. Yet the word “Culture” came often to my mind as I walked the area. There are art exhibits, booths selling all kinds of local products, foreign visitors of all kinds milling…
DetailsToday I went out on an extra trip at eleven o’clock on Haukur with capt. Hjörleifur. When we left the harbour we heard from the other boats that a humpback whale had been spotted quite far north so we immediately started heading north. By the time we got to where the the whale had been…
DetailsToday I had a first. It’s amazing that even I, having worked as a whale watching guide for almost three years now, am still having firsts on our trips. Today was the first time I saw a humpback whale spy-hopping. I went out at 10:00 with captain Hreiðar, deckhand Kormákur and a boatful of passengers.…
DetailsNorth Sailing’s annual Settlement-sailing to the creeks of Náttfari took place yesterday, but the sailing has become inseparable part of the annual Húsavík Festival (Mærudagar, starting this week) schedule. This year, around 300 people took part in the sailing and along with North Sailing’s boats, Dagmar Aaen and Húni II ferried the settlers across the…
DetailsToday started a little problematically because of the Sail Húsavík festival that is going on these days. There are so many boats in the harbour that the boat I was going out on had to go to another place in the harbour than usually and there was some problem getting people off and on board.…
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