Whale watching guides in the north of Iceland are reporting record numbers of whales in the seas.
Heimir Harðarson and Stefán Guðmundsson, directors of the whale watching centre Gentle Giants in Húsavík, report that the waters of the north are highly populated with record numbers of blue whales – the largest of the whale species – and humpback whales, who aren’t exactly tiny, either.
Grímur Karlsson, a former ship captain who was driving along the seaside in the north of Iceland near Siglufjörður, told Morgunblaðið, “I’ve been to sea for 35 years and I’ve never seen anything like it. The sea was literally full of whales.” Karlsson has stopped by the side of the road to take in the view of the sea when he “suddenly saw seven whales expelling their blowholes out from the waves.”
Whale watching is a very lucrative industry in Iceland, with almost no overhead and requiring very little investment to get a whale watching business started. Thousands of tourists visit Iceland every year to watch whales, many of them travelling north, where whales are especially populous.
The photo is of one of Elding’s boats, which provide whale watching tours in Reyakjvík harbour.