Whale watching in Húsavík, Iceland

The north of Iceland is a marvelous travel destination for everyone interested in nature. Waterfalls, lakes or northern lights, but also wildlife like seabirds or whales. I headed to the north of Iceland in a July, because I was interested in whale watching in Húsavík. According to the information I had found previous to my trip, Húsavík is one of Europe's whale watching capital. Well, in this blog entry I let you know more about my journey and the wildlife encounters I had in the north of Iceland in Húsavík.

Húsavík

I put on my rain jacket very quickly and got off the car. I picked up my bags and hurried to the close-by gas station store. The first thing I did in Húsavík was looking for a rain shelter. In the café of the gas station I sat down on a chair, ordered a warm cup of tea and observed the rain that seemingly didn’t want to stop.

It rained and rained and rained when I arrived in Húsavík. Although I just walked a few meters from the car to the gas station store, my cloths became already quite wet. I was freezing a little bit.

But well, that’s Iceland!

You have to be prepared for every weather!

As it was still early on that day and as I had to wait a few hours for my check-in, I decided to stay for a while in the gas station store until the rain stopped.

Until the rain stopped...

Well, the rain didn’t really stop on that day!

Luckily, I had a book with me, and thus, the waiting didn’t feel so long.

Occasionally, I stopped reading and was thinking about the whales and dolphins I was hoping to see in Húsavík...

Whale watching in Húsavík is a very popular and well-known activity in Iceland among travellers.

As far as I knew!

But will I be able to go whale watching in Húsavík at all during my three-day-visit?

I checked the weather forecasts several times on that day. Always hoping to get the best and sunniest weather in the next few days.

I was optimistic.

I saw myself already in one of the whale watching boats on the next day...

After a while at the gas station store, I decided to switch places and went to the next restaurant which was only a one-minute walk away to have a late lunch.

It was also a good place where I could wait and read for another while.

But when it was time for my check-in, I got all my bags together and headed to the hostel. It was still raining.

Never mind!

The walk to the hostel was not long and I got dry in the beautiful and comfortable hostel very quickly. After talking with the friendly owner of the hostel, I got into my room and made myself ready for the next day... and was hoping for good weather...

And yes!!!

On the next day there was no single cloud in the sky! It was indeed a glorious blue sky and a warm bright sun shone over Húsavík.

I was looking forward to see the whales!

As my trip was after midday, I decided to explore the surroundings of Húsavík a little bit.

There are museums in the town, however, as I was in the mood of being outside as much as possible, I decided to go for a hike.

I didn’t regret my decision!

I was rewarded with the most beautiful views over Húsavík and onto the mountains!

I felt very happy!

The impressive landscapes. The pure air. And the silence.

Húsavík was an incredibly beautiful place!

I went for a walk to the Botnsvatn – a lake outside of Húsavík.

Actually, it is not difficult to find the Botnsvatn, however, at one fork in the path, I took the wrong direction (the sign was shifted...) and I passed the lake. But this was not bad, because on that detour I saw more beautiful landscapes.

Snow-covered mountains on the right and green lush hills on the left. Purple lupines spread all over the landscapes. And the bright blue ocean in my field of view.

What else did I need?

Here and there I encountered a snipe or a redwing.

Actually, there were quite many of them in that area. Unfortunately, I was without my tele lens I usually use for bird photography. But never mind! Like that, I just could enjoy their presence and keep them as a beautiful memory in my mind!

I passed a river and was wondering where the water came from.

Although I knew already that I was not on the right path to the lake, I kept walking, as the area was so beautiful...

It was my first time in Iceland, and of course, I noticed the almost treeless landscapes of the country.

Be it in the southwest around Reykjavík or in the north in Húsavík.

Actually, there were forests in Iceland in the past. However, after the first settlers in Iceland arrived, they used trees for construction material and as a source of fuel.

Now there are several reforestation projects around Iceland. I even met coincidentally people working in that field when I was travelling to Dalvík.

However, in that area where I was hiking, it was actually quite bushy for Iceland with small trees scattered around.

Although I didn't encounter big forests in Iceland, I still had the opinion that Iceland is a very beautiful place.

Nevertheless, after some time, of course, I had to realize that I was on the wrong path and that I had to go back. I could have been able to walk for hours, but honestly, I wanted to go to that lake. When I saw a car from a distance and some people with dogs, I knew where to head to in order to reach the lake Botnsvatn.

And of course, as I wanted to be back on time for whale watching, I decided to turn and tried to find the correct path to the lake.

I came to an area where the vegetation was denser.

I took another path, as I thought to take a shortcut. However, the path was longer as I thought and at the end I arrived at the previous point where the sign showed to the wrong direction.

Never mind! It was very beautiful to take the other path and then heading to the Botnsvatn.

I got spectacular views again!

I didn’t know where to look. The landscapes were so beautiful. I very enjoyed every minute of the beauty and the silence.

Without detour, a hike from the centre of Húsavík to the Botnsvatn is about four to five kilometres and should take about one hour.

It is an easy hike and it is only a little bit hilly.

Apparently, most people that visit Húsavík don't know that the lake Botnsvatn exists, and thus, don't visit this place. Honestly, I hadn't known the place, neither. But I was quite happy that the woman of the hostel recommended me to visit the lake.

Just wow! The colours. The calm atmosphere. And all the birds around me. It was incredibly beautiful. It is unbelievable that most visitors don't know the Botnsvatn. Usually, visitors go to Húsavík for just an afternoon for whale watching and then leave again.

Nevertheless, from one side of the lake, it is possible to see the snow-covered mountains.

There is a path around the lake, however, due to the limited time I still had, I didn’t venture to do that. Instead, I sat on a stone and just breathed in the cool and fresh air.

I was not alone. I saw a woman making a phone and video call. She was British according to her accent. Maybe she just wanted to share some beautiful moments with friends and family?

Later I met her again in the hostel and saw her painting the lake.

There was another woman. I saw her taking the path around the lake.

As I was at the Botnsvatn on a weekday, the owner of the hostel told me to be probably alone at the lake. I was not, but it was okay.

I had nice views and still silence.

Although the Botnsvatn is close to the centre of Húsavík, I think it is worth to make a day trip to and around the lake. If I wouldn’t have booked a whale watching trip, I would have stayed there for longer...

But as I was looking forward to the whales, I finally had to leave...

In the centre of Húsavík I just looked for a place to eat and waited for my whale watching trip.

Húsavík is a small town with less than 2.500 inhabitants. The Mývatn and the Jökulsárglijúfur National Park are popular travel destinations in the area. But also, waterfalls like the Dettifoss and the Selfoss are famous and attract many travellers.

As I was travelling by public transport and as I was focused on whales and other wildlife in Iceland, I didn’t visit these places. Unfortunately... Hopefully there is a next time...

Thus, I just remained in Húsavík...

... which was also very beautiful.

In Húsavík, there are actually more things to do like, for example, visiting museums. I visited the Húsavík Whale Museum (see below). The Eurovision Museum or The Culture House are other museums in Húsavík.

Very popular among travellers are nature baths. In Húsavík there is the Geosea.

Whale watching in Húsavík

Iceland is a popular place for whale watching. Visitors of Iceland know that. Me too, of course.

Thus, I already expected to see many other people in Húsavík on whale watching boats.

Whale watching in Húsavík is probably the most sought-after activity there. In fact, many people visiting the north of Iceland may stay anywhere else and not in Húsavík, but visit the town just for whale watching.

Well, I decided to stay in Húsavík for three nights for several reasons.

First of all, I wanted to participate in more than one whale watching trip. You never know how the weather or sea conditions, respectively, are.

Secondly, I was without a car. It wouldn’t have been feasible for me to stay at another town and do whale watching in Húsavík due to the bus connections.

But staying in Húsavík was not bad at all. On one morning, I went on a beautiful hike in the surroundings of Húsavík (see above), and on another morning, I went to the Húsavík Whale Museum (see below).

Furthermore, as I stayed in Húsavík, I was not at all in a rush. While I was waiting for the whale watching trips to start, I was strolling around a little bit and admiring the surrounding landscapes.

There were four whale watching companies in Húsavík. I decided for the whale watching company North Sailing. On one hand, it was a gut feeling, as they advertised themselves as an eco-friendly company (although eco-friendly can mean a lot...), and on the other hand, North Sailing also offered a citizen science trip.

On my first whale watching trip I decided for the “Húsavík Original Whale Watching” trip, and on the second day, I participated in the “Whales, Sails and Science” trip.

Luckily, to say it right away, I saw whales and dolphins on both trips.

The first whale watching trip – the “Húsavík Original Whale Watching” trip started in the afternoon at around 4 p.m. with the boat Náttfari.

The boat felt very large – quite the opposite to the whale watching trips I did in the Azores. As it was quite full, I had to “fight” for a good viewing position. I would have loved to be in the front. However, it was occupied, and thus, for the whole trip not accessible for me.

But still, we could move around the boat.

The first cetaceans we saw were white-beaked dolphins.

Although it was “just” a very short observation, I very appreciated this encounter, as it was the first time for me to have seen white-beaked dolphins.

As their name already suggests, these dolphins have a white beak.

Apparently, white-beaked dolphins frequently leap and breach. However, it was not the case on the day of my whale watching trip.

Unfortunately, they were quite far away and we didn’t see them again. I tried to be very attentive and looked very well onto the water surface. At the end of the whale watching trip, I thought to have seen another white-beaked dolphin. However, it was just a branch floating at the water surface.

And then we saw the first blow of a humpback whale.

The people on board – me included – became excited. Everyone tried to get a good viewing position.
But as soon as the whale showed up, as fast it vanished again under the water.

Would we be able to see the whale again?

Yes, we saw the whale again!

And with the snow-covered mountains in the background and the beautiful light of the evening, it was a spectacular sighting.

Then finally, we got to see the first flukes.

We could already guess a few seconds in advance if we would see the fluke of a whale by looking at the way the whale curved its back.

The most interesting part, however, is always the pattern of the underparts of a fluke. This part of the whale body serves as a fingerprint. Whale scientists use the underparts of a fluke to identify individual humpback whales.

I was already excited to see the next whale fluke!

It was, by the way, not cold at all on the boat on that day. It was July and the day was beautiful. No rain and no wind. Lots of sun for Iceland and nice temperatures during the day.

If the weather conditions are not that good, North Sailing provides overalls for all its customers at the beginning of every trip. We also had the choice to put on the overalls. I had on an overall during the first hour of the whale watching trip. However, as it became too hot, I decided to take off the overall again.

Just a few minutes later after seeing the first fluke, we saw the whale (or another one) showing up again.

Was it the same whale?

We will never know. The whale vanished under the water, but without showing its fluke that time despite its typical curved back before the dive.

Some more minutes later we saw again a whale, but farther away. Was it the same whale now?

That time, we saw the curved back again indicating the intention to show the fluke.

However, in that moment, the whale was too far away to get a good shot of the pattern of the underparts of the fluke. But I guess that it was another whale.

As a non-expert I would suggest two different individuals, as the latter one had much more black parts in its pattern than the first one. But I don't know...

In that context, I would like to recommend the citizen science platform Happywhale where every whale watcher can submit photographs of whale flukes. I did that already on my whale watching trips in the Azores where I observed blue whales, sperm whales, but also humpback whales.

The idea of Happywhale is to detect migration routes of whales. Maybe the whale I saw during whale watching in Húsavík was already seen elsewhere?

This way, I found out, for example, that the name of the first fluke I saw (see above) was from a whale named “Shadow” which was seen for the first time in June 2019. Furthermore, in 2021 it was seen in another bay close to Akureyri.

Surely, Akureyri is another good whale watching spot. However, I have heard a little bit around and people said that in Akureyri the whale watching companies need more time to see a whale, as the whales there are farther away from the port. Thus, apparently, whale watching in Húsavík might be a little bit easier. However, importantly, I just heard this from other people and I cannot share my experience about this here.

Nevertheless, in Húsavík we saw indeed quite many whales or humpback whales, respectively. Unfortunately, no minke whale was showing up.

In one moment, one humpback whale appeared at the water surface almost just next to the boat.

And again, we could already guess that this humpback whale would show us its fluke.

As a non-expert, again, I would say that this humpback whale was another individual.

Unfortunately, so far, I couldn’t find out more about this individual on Happywhale. Was this whale in the waters around Húsavík this year for the first time? Or was I just the only one who had uploaded a photograph of this individual on Happywhale so far? Or was the fluke on my photograph just too difficult to identify the individual?

On the other hand, I found the fluke of this individual quite distinctive with its yellowish-brownish parts.

We saw this humpback whale on that trip several times moving up and down the water showing its fluke before its dives.

Just look at the pattern of the underparts of its fluke.

It had to be always the same individual!

Before one dive we could see very well the two blowholes of exactly this humpback whale!

I very wish to hopefully know more about this whale. We saw this humpback whale several times. Sometimes from further afar, and other times, just next to the boat. Maybe one day another person will see this humpback whale again in Iceland or any other place around the globe.

Where does it spend the winter?

While I was trying to get as many photographs as possible of that whale, we passed another whale watching boat. It was a smaller boat with fewer people.

Although we were quite many whale watchers, it was a magical evening in Iceland with the light and the beautiful mountains in the background.

The waters appeared to be full with humpback whales.

From afar we saw again several impressively high blows of humpback whales showing up at the water surface.

They didn’t seem to be in any hurry. They were moving slowly and we could see their typical bumps on their heads.

When, finally, the last whale we saw vanished with its typical curved back at the water surface and showing its fluke before its dive, the skipper of the boat turned and we headed back to the harbour of Húsavík.

On our way back we got a delicious cinnamon bun and a hot chocolate.

We saw another whale watching boat on our way back. It was another boat from North Sailing with many, many whale watchers on board. Yes. Whale watching in Húsavík is very, very popular and many people are interested in getting a glimpse into the life of these impressive animals...

On the second day of my stay in Húsavík I participated – as mentioned already above – in the “Whales, Sails and Science” tour. It was a citizen science tour, as a student was on board conducting research for her master thesis.

On that day the boat was not that full like on the day before on the “Húsavík Original Whale Watching” tour. Among others, there was a group of school kids that participated in the tour together with their teacher.

That time, the name of the boat of North Sailing was Opal.

We left the harbour at around 3 p.m. and one of the first duties of the student was to put a device into the ocean to collect zooplankton and microplastics.

Luckily, it was not that cold on that second trip and I did not have to put on an overall that was provided by North Sailing at the beginning of the tour.

Although the boat was not that full like on the previous day, in general, we had better whale sightings on the “Húsavík Original Whale Watching” tour. However, importantly, that is not because of the different types of tours. This is because the whales decide when to show up.

And by the way, the citizen science tour was half an hour longer than the other one.

On my second whale watching tour in Húsavík we had to search longer to spot the first humpback whale.
We saw one dorsal fin showing up close to the small island Lundey.

Luckily, the boat was not that full and the majority of the school kids were not that interested in observing the whales. Some of them were talking while others were busy with their mobile phones.

Can you imagine to be on a whale watching tour and playing games on a mobile phone?

I don’t refuse new technology. But playing games on a mobile phone during a whale watching tour?

I didn’t understand it.

Because of some disinterest in whales, I had more space to move.

Although that time the front was not accessible at all, I still had more space to move from position to position to get a good view onto the whales.

Most of the time the whales appeared just with their dorsal fin at the water surface and shortly after they disappeared again.

On that tour it was quite difficult to get the fluke on a photograph. Often, we were just too far away.

And other times, the boat was positioned at an angle from where it was difficult to photograph the underparts of the fluke.

Of course, we met again other whale watchers. In one moment, a humpback whale appeared at the water surface with a blow just next to a smaller whale watching boat.

The skipper of a boat usually does not know the exact position where a whale shows up again. However, through experience they know roughly where a humpback whale might show up after a dive.

Unfortunately, no whale was showing up just next to the boat on that tour. But this was ok. I still felt so privileged to have had the chance to go on board a whale watching boat.

It was indeed still special.

After some time, the student took this other device out of the water to analyse the content.

Luckily, there was still more zooplankton than microplastics in it.

We could have a look at the different species of zooplankton and ask questions. The student also told a little bit about how she got to Iceland. She was from Britain and studied a marine biology related course in Ísafjörður.

I learned that the water in that bay is still in a relatively good condition.

When the student was analysing the content of the box, the teacher could encourage some school kids to join and ask questions.

We saw quite many different species of zooplankton. There were so many that even the student could not identify to species level. For this kind of work, typically, an expert in zooplankton has to be asked.

Nevertheless, both tours were nice and I very enjoyed the humpback whale encounters on both days and the white-beaked dolphins on the first tour.

Húsavík Whale Museum

The Húsavík Whale Museum is located not very far away from the whale watching companies. From the main road through Húsavík, the museum can be reached easily. The big letters on the roof top of the museum can’t be missed.

I visited the museum on a morning. It was a cloudy day. The sky was covered in grey clouds and the sun could not find a way through.

I felt lucky that I did my hike to the Botnsvatn on the previous day (see above). A cloudy, almost rainy day is perfectly spent in a museum.

Although I went to the museum early in the morning at 9 a.m., I had not enough time to see everything in the museum. Before I went to the “Whales, Sails and Science” tour, I had a quick lunch and after that I immediately headed to the North Sailing company’s office to be on time for the whale watching trip (the tour started at 3 p.m.).

Thus, half a day in the Húsavík Whale Museum might be sufficient for some, but not for others.

There were several whale skeletons on display with the 25m-long blue whale skeleton as the largest one.

That blue whale was washed ashore in 2010 near Skagi (between Húsavík und the Westfjords in the north of Iceland).

An interesting part of the blue whale skeleton exhibition was a short film showing the development of the exhibition starting from the day when the animal was found at the shore and ending with its final installation in the museum.

I think the most interesting parts of the museum were the skeletons and the accompanied individual stories of each skeleton.

Another impressive skeleton was the one of a narwhal. Typically, only males possess long narwhal tusks (as seen in the photograph), but sometimes, even females might develop one. The function of these narwhal tusks is still unknown.

This skeleton was not found on a shore in Iceland, but came from Greenland where it was hunted. It is the only skeleton in the museum that came from an animal that was hunted as far as I know.

The next skeleton was from a minke whale which entangled in a fishing net and drowned. This happened on the peninsula Snæfellsnes.

Another skeleton was one of a humpback whale calf found on Grímsey.

In total, there were 11 skeletons in the museum.

But there was much more to see and learn. For example, there was also an art section with poems.

As I saw the documentary “Whale Wisdom” in the museum, I unfortunately had not the time to see the section about whaling in Iceland. I was too short of time.

Practical information

How to get there

Most visitors of Iceland get around by car. As I didn’t rent a car, I travelled by public transportation. It can be a challenge. However, it can work. I came from Dalvík as I had visited Grímsey. From Dalvík I took the bus to Akureyri. In Akureyri I had to change the bus to get to Húsavík. If you want to travel by bus, please visit the bus company's website. The name of the bus company is Strætó.

As not many people use public transportation, the bus was either a small bus or instead of a bus our driver brought us to our destination by car. This was indeed the case from Akureyri to Húsavík. We were just a few people.

I paid 1.960 ISK from Dalvík to Akureyri and 2.940 ISK from Akureyri to Húsavík.

The trip from Dalvík to Akureyri took less than an hour and the one from Akureyri to Húsavík about one hour.

Accommodation

I stayed at the Húsavík Green Hostel in the street Vallholtsvegur, 640 Húsavík. It was close to the harbour, and thus, to the whale watching companies and the Húsavík Whale Museum.

It is a very comfortable and clean hostel. I stayed in a four-bed room. The hostel has a kitchen and a very nice living room.

I was happy with my decision to have stayed at that hostel.

For three nights I paid 116,22 Euros.

More information about whale watching in Húsavík

Have you ever been whale watching in Húsavík or elsewhere? Which species have you seen? Please let me know in the comments.