The Whale Watching Blog - from Húsavík Adventures

Annika Sorenstam in a whale watching visit!

One of the most giving thing in the whale watching business is to meet new people every day from all over the world. What’s not so common is to know the faces you see at the meeting point in the morning. That happened last week though, when we were greeted by Annika Sörenstam and her family. Annika, famous for her dominance in golf in the 90’s and the 00’s is one of the most highly ranked athlete of all time, including being no. 6 in ESPN´s “dominant 20”.

Annika’s purpose in Iceland was to give lectures about the sport of golf and to share her experience. She used the opportunity to travel a bit domestically and of course that included Húsavík, the Whale Capital of Iceland. Accompanied by her family and friends, Annika enjoyed a succesful RIB whale watching tour with Húsavík Adventures in precence of humpback whales, minke whales and some white beaked dolphins. What a great day !

If you want to do a tour like Annika, press BOOK NOW and choose from BIG WHALES and PUFFINS tour or MIDNIGHT SUN WHALE WATCHING TOUR.

Early bird discount in April tours!

Time flies! It’s almost April and the crew at Húsavík Adventures can’t wait to begin a brand new whale watching season. Our RIB boats Kjói and Kría have been in a great maintenance by our fleet manager Hlynur this winter. This is Húsavík Adventures’s fourth season in RIB whale watching. For the first time we will be operating in April and October. To celebrate this fact, we will be offering our guests in April a special 20% early bird discount. Simply use the promocode “APRIL18” to claim the offer.

Skjálfandi Bay has been blooming with wildlife in March. There have already been found 9 different whale species, including the blue whale, sperm whale, humpback whale and orcas. Hopefully this gives the taste of what the 2018 season will feel like! Welcome aboard!

Introducing Buggy Mývatn

Húsavík Adventures proudly presents a collaboration with Amazing North and Mývatn Activity / Hike and Bike which includes an awesome Buggy tours in Mývatn, one of the most known museum of natural wonders Iceland has to offer. Famous for it‘s nutritious lake filled with rich wildlife, Mývatn is also known for its various geographical surroundings including lava, hot springs, mud pools and fumaroles. Our customers will now be able to choose from three different tours in this magnificent place. The longest one is a true adventure safari in the highlands between Mývatn og Húsavík with the final moments of the tour driving down from Húsavík Mountain to the town. We offer a free pickup back to Mývatn (about 50 km drive from Húsavík)for those who need to but encourage our guests to use the opportunity to go RIB Whale Watching while in Húsavík.

So welcome to the amazing experience of 4×4 Buggy driving on gravel roads, mud and lava in places that bring you to the moon and back. We‘re open for business 12 months a year. More information here for he 1 hour tour, here for the 2 hour tour, and here for the Grand Highlands tour.

The Buggys – winter and summer enjoyment

We’re in late October. Sitting at the desk, looking out the window I can spot green grass – a lot of it actually. The kids are walking home from school, wearing thin jackets. This would’ve been big news 20 something years ago. The Icelandic weather is of course always unpredictable in the long run. For the last decade or so people of the northern part of the country have been getting more and more used to having little or no snow before christmas. This of course has caused dramatic changes in activities for the locals and tourists as well. All of a sudden it’s quite easy to do something we defined as “summer activity” before in late October, beginning of November. And that brings us to Húsavík Adventures’s Buggys!

Our Buggy cars have gained great doze of positive atmosphere for the great enjoyment people take in driving the 800 cc machines, in a diverse landscape even the locals have never been to before. Imagine two hours of gravel roads, mountains, lakes, brooks and complete wilderness where you cannot see any buildings or people outside of your group. Priceless!

The Buggys are not limited to snowless conditions though. A few weeks ago we had snow in the area above Húsavík for a few days ago which then melted. Driving the buggys in a little bit of snow was even more fun! We’re looking forward to the upcoming years, enjoying quality times with our visitors, surrounded by our hidden treasures in the highlands!

The buggys are great during the wintertime as well!

On the top of Húsavík mountain – Lake Botnsvatn in the distance.

Whale watching: End of RIB season 2017

That’s it! A very great RIB whale watching season has come to an end. It was the second whole season of Húsavík Adventures in business (we did a two month “miniseason” in 2015) and it went pretty much as well as it could have. We were very lucky with our brilliant crew who made so many people happy as our perfect score at TripAdvisor can confirm.

Buggy tours- perfect for groups!

With just over a month left of the RIB whale watching season the Buggy cars are still going strong, with the 12 month availability making them a new 365 activity in Húsavík. Naturally the experience is going to be really different in the tours of summer and winter season. This first summer has left us with happy customers, commenting on the extra beautiful route we are able to show. The Buggy tours are not just about the thrill of driving the cars, but also the beauty of the landscape on the way.

We have had a lot of groups in the tours so far. Friends, co-workers, bachelorette’s party etc.

A few days ago, KA FC visited us for a tour on a Saturday. KA FC is a Premier League football team in Iceland, currently in 7th place. The guys had a great day in Húsavík, seemingly enjoying the ride a lot.

We share some photos of their tour here below among with other group tours of the season.

KA FC ready for the Buggy tour! — Part of KA FC ready for the Buggy tour

Buggy — Pit stop on the tracks above Húsavík

Whale magic in the 19:00 tour !

The midsummer evenings in Húsavík can be magical. That has exactly been the case for the last few nights. Due to high demand, Húsavík Adventures added a second 19:00 tour yesterday evening in what turned out to be an A+ whale watching tour. Our RIB boats Kría (Arctic Tern) and Kjói (Arctic Skua) sailed side by side most of the tour in a paradise of big whales, puffins, dolphins and natural environment. The sea was like a mirror so the feeling for the passengers were more like sailing on a water.

In the tour at least 12 humpbacks were spotted with six of them being in the same area. A group of dolphins entertained the onlookers in their ever so good mood, jumping around in the calm conditions.

A fabulous tour overall and it reminds us why local people often talk about the “underestimated evening activity” in Húsavík, with the summer evenings often being very calm at sea and therefore excellent for whale watching as for other outdoor activities.

The following pictures were taken by our CEO Sigurður Veigar who worked as a guide for the tour.

Midnight sun paradise – whales and puffins in surreal circumstances!

Húsavík Adventures proudly presents: Midnight Sun Whale Watching!

Our most glorious and stunning product is without a doubt whale wathcing tour on our brilliant RIB boats in the amazing Midnight Sun. The tours are available from 16th June until 15th July. That’s the time of the year when the daylight is about 24 hours in Iceland! In the prime conditions (which happens a lot of times) the sea goes completely still while the sun drops down in the horizon.

And the whales? Not asleep at all! Yesterday evening our passengers enjoyed a great show where the mighty blue whale stole the show with dolphins trying to keep up with some jumping exercises.

This picture was taken by our guide Elísabet. It shows excactly what we’re talking about!

“The buggy experience” – the cars have arrived!

June 26, 2017
Húsavík Adventures
Uncategorized
4x4, activity, adventures, Buggy, Husavik, Iceland

Last Thursday four of our expected ten Buggy cars arrived to Húsavík. The CF Moto Zforce 800’s will be used in the most entertaining way, driving on tracks above Húsavík with the most beautiful view there is. The Húsavík Adventures crew is currently working on the finalization of the route – a challenge for everybody involved as there’s plenty to choose from!

The estimated two hour tours will be available from July 1st, with two departures a day at 10:00 and 14:00. Driver’s licence is needed in order to drive the cars.

More information about the tours here

Orcas in the bay!

Time flies and we are already almost a month in our 2017 whale watching season! So far we’ve had a 100% whale sighting success in our tours. Every tour is a little bit different from the other of course but generally the tours have been really great and the passengers pleased with the experience they’ve had in our RIB boats.

Our ever so curious humpbacks have always been spotted, with minke whales and white beaked dolphins showing themselves occasionally. What’s been pleasantly unusual is the frequency of orcas/killer whales in the bay. Orcas were only spotted a few times last summer in Skjálfandi bay. They tend to follow the herring which they like so much and are therefore mostly seen in the west coast of Iceland. The precence of orcas in our bay this season has left many people with a smile on their face as they are always really fun to watch.

We surely hope that this is a good clue for the upcoming months!

Pictures by: Al Orton.