ICELANDIC MYTHS AND TALES OF WHALES

The text below is borrowed from www.icewhale.is, the website of the Whale Museum in Husavik. In Old Icelandic Sagas, around seventeen stories describe the relationship between humans and whales. Though, none of these stories portray whaling or processing of the meat. In former times, with the fishing boats being much smaller, it is not hard…

Details

North Sailing employs a new Sales and Marketing Manager

On the 1st March, Kristrun Konradsdottir will take over as North Sailing´s Sales and Marketing manager from Heimir Hardarson one of the company´s owners. North Sailing feels very lucky having Kristrun onboard and hopes that her experience and education will be of good use for the company. Kristrun graduated from the University of Akureyri (B.S.c…

Details

King Winter brings white christmas

Over one night almost a meter thick layer of snow accumilated in Húsavík. This is the heaviest snowfall in one night for a long time. This snow will ensure us white christmas which is of course essential to enjoy the holidays to the full. The following pictures where taken in Húsavík today. HH Restaurant Gamli…

Details

The historic building “Hallandi”

Back in 1997, North sailing bought the historical house “Hallandi”, located just off Husavik´s main road, with great views of the harbour and Skjalfandi bay. Last year the company started rebuilding the house and that way, guarantee its presence in the town for years to come. Due to its great location and quirky looks “Hallandi”…

Details

Fascinating Facts

Largest: The blue whale is the heaviest and longest animal on Earth. The average adult length is 25m (82ft) in males and 26.2m (86ft) in females, with body weights of 90-120 tonnes. Smallest: Hector´s dolphin is the world´s smallest cetacean. They may be only 1.2m (3ft11in) long when fully grown. Although, taking average lengths, the…

Details

Dolphins protect lifeguards from shark attack

A group of lifeguards practising off Ocean Beach near Whangarei on New Zealand´s North Island have recently revealed how they were protected by a pod of bottlenose dolphins. The lifeguards reported that they spent approximately 40 minutes surrounded by the dolphins. It is believed that this altruistic behaviour was due to the presence of a…

Details

North Sailing crew on board the famous “Dagmar Aeen”

Recently, people from North Sailing visited the famous expedition vessel Dagmar Aeen when she had just finished her record breaking journey around the North Pole. The 18 meter long cutter which was originally built in Esbjerg, Denmark 1931 is the only ship to navigate the North West passage without ice-breaker support. As North Sailing operates…

Details

Maintenance in a mild climate

Although North Sailing´s boats have been docked for the winter, the company´s staff has been busy preparing for the winter. The weather is nice in Húsavík on the first day of November, 7°C and light sout winds. Therefore, Sigurbjörn Sörensson and the brothers, Hreiðar Olgeirsson and Skarphéðinn Olgeirsson, were busy with maintenance of Gamli Baukur,…

Details

Surf on Skjálfandi-Bay

North Sailing´s scheduled whale watching trips are over for the 2004 season. The last trip was made Saturday 18th but due to bad weather, trips have been cancelled for the last 2 days. Over 30 passengers joined North Sailing´s vessel, Náttfari, on the last tour, 18. sept. and in that tour, a minkie whale and…

Details

North Sailing on Vestnorden Travel Mart

This year, Vestnorden Travel Mart was held in Reykjavík, Iceland, on 13 – 15 September. The Vestnorden Travel Mart is an venue to learn about the various travel opportunities in Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Representatives from these countries will demonstrate all the classic and latest opportunities in tourism. This is the 10th Vestnorden…

Details

North Sailing in Naustavík

On the 10th of september, over 100 school children from Húsavík´s elementary school, Borgarhólsskóli, sailed with North Sailing across the bay and took land on in the mountains in Naustavík (Nausta-creek). This is not the first time we welcome Húsavík´s school children and hopefully not the last. We sailed on two of our boats, Náttfari…

Details

Whale watching 7th of September

The Whale Watching season in Húsavík is nearing the end but still, every day so far in September, quite many travelers embark North Sailing´s tours. Today, 70 passengers went out on Náttfari, our biggest boat, to seek for whales on Skjálfandi Bay. At this time of year, some of the whales have already started migrating…

Details

BBC Film Crew with North Sailing

This summer, quite many journalists and film crews have joined North Sailing on our whale watching tours. Yesterday, a film crew from BBC went out with one of our boats. This time, BBC (The British Broadcasting Corporation) was filming for their travel show, Holiday, which is celebrating their 36th anniversary in 2005. Since yesterday gave…

Details

Icebergs on Skjálfandi Bay

An exciting phenomena has been sighted floating around off the north cost of Iceland for the last days. A number of icebergs have been drifting around, a few of them came all the way into the bay and could be seen in our tours, as well as from land. It´s quite uncommon to see icebergs…

Details

Sea-angling

This summer, quite many sea-angling trips have been organised by North Sailing for groups, even though these trips are not on schedule. Our bay, Skjálfandaflói (Shaky bay) offers great fishing grounds just few minutes sail away from the harbor. Every time, passengers have been astonished with the catch which has been mostly cod, haddock and…

Details

Marine biologist a part of North Sailing´s crew

This summer we have had the pleasure of having the Catalan marine zoologist Pere Morera as part of our crew. Pere´s area of expertise are marine mammals and he has been doing some research in Húsavík this summer. Pere works full time in the Húsavík Whale Centre and in his spare time he has joined…

Details

North Sailing´s Annual Celebration

Some days ago, North Sailing´s team got together for it´s annual celebration. As usual, it was a bohemian celebration and this time, the Lake Myvatn area, was the destination. The joy started in Myvatn Nature Baths (www.steam.is) where everyone enjoyed relaxing and luxorius swim in the geothermal pools. Thereafter, everyone gathered in a garden party…

Details

North Sailing sailing under the Blue Flag

North Sailing´s whale watching boats are the first boats in Iceland to sail under the Blue Flag – recognition of the company´s efforts to increase environmental conservation and consciousness. In declarations on board all of the company´s boats, North Sailing undertakes to dispose of all oil, paint, batteries and other dangerous materials in properly designated…

Details

Many honeymooners this summer

This summer North Sailing has had the pleasure of sailing with many couples on their honeymoon. For the ten years that North Sailing has been in operation there have always been a few couples on their honeymoon, fulfilling their dream of traveling to Iceland and enjoying the nature and wildlife. This summer stands out in…

Details