The weather has been beautiful this week in Húsavík and the bay is just full of humpback whales. These clumsy but friendly looking whales have been migrating north from their breeding grounds in the carribean.

Christian Schmidt, a guide at North sailing said he had seen between 20 and 30 individual humpbacks on a single trip. He said they seemed to be very hungry and were working together in the feeding process.

Whale watching tours from Húsavík began in early March this year. The weather has been mostly nice and number of guests is gradually increasing. The season has started well and many species have been spotted so far including finwhale, humpback and sei whale.

The Húsavík Whale museum is now open daily from 10:00 – 16:00. The higlight of the museum is the popular full size blue whale skeleton. It is a skeleton of a 25m long female that beached on the land of Ásbúðir in Skagi, North Iceland in 2010.

The museum will now be open every day from 09:00 – 18:00

For the past years, blue whales have made their way into Skjálfandi Bay, usually in early spring/beginning of summer as they head further up towards the northern hemisphere. As for this year and the last, the first animals where spotted during the first whale watching tours of the season, in beginning of March. The prime time for seeing those largest animals on earth is usually during the months of May and June.

One can therefore say that whale watchers in Húsavík are privileged to have the chance to see those gentle giants up close during their whale watching tour and then be able to observe a real life size skeleton of a full grown blue whale inside the Whale Museum. Húsavík, therefore, plays somewhat a home for the blue whale.

A blue whale seen on a whale watching tour with North Sailing, March 4th.

The Museum is closed Thursday January 5th and Friday January 6th, due to constructions.

The Museum opens again on Monday, January 9th, with regular opening hours from 10 to 16 during workdays.

The Húsavík Whale Museum is one of 21 Icelandic accredited museums to receive a grant for continuing education.

The grant is given by the Icelandic minister of culture- and education, through the Museum Council of Iceland, Safnaráð.

The grant will be used by museum staff to visit their counterparts at the New Bedford Whaling Museum at the end of January.

U.S. Ambassador, Robert C. Barber, visited the Húsavík Whale Museum recently. Ambassador Barber met with museum staff and local students that participated in the Connecting Coastal Communities project in 2015/2016. In addition to that, he met with whale watching operators in Húsavík to learn about recent, current and future challenges and cheer the operators to keep up the good and professional work.

In light of high number of visitors this season, the Whale Museum will be open daily in October from 10-16. The museum makes a great stop for visitors in the area, and a free cup of coffee in our coffee corner is a great delighter. From November 1st, regular winter hours take over and the museum will be open on weekdays from 10-16.

We also like to recommend our little museum shop in the entrance hall where various goods and whale-related souvenirs can be bought.

Last week, Valdimar Halldórsson and Huld Hafliðadóttir from Húsavík Whale Museum met with the U.S. Ambassador in Iceland, Robert C. Barber. The U.S. Embassy in Iceland and Húsavik Whale Museum have for the past months strengthened their relation, including the Embassy’s great support towards the museum’s partnering project with the New Bedford Whaling Museum, Massachusetts. The project, Connecting Coastal Communities, aims to connect two coastal communities on each side of the Atlantic Ocean (Húsavík and New Bedford), through museum work and youth exchange.

In the meeting the Húsavík Whale Museum gave formal thanks to the Embassy for it’s support, since such support is crucial to the museum’s educational component.  At the end of the meeting, Huld delivered a hand made gift from the students of the Connecting Coastal Communities project.

During the meeting, both parties declared sincere willingness to further cooperation.

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The last couple of days have indeed been lively and many guests have visited the museum. Ásrún Ásmundsdóttir and Belén Garcia Ovide, together with Ástþór Hannesson, have done a fantastic job standing the watch this summer at the reception desk. This summer the museum has also served as information center and many tourists have come to ask all sorts of questions regarding tourism in and around Husavik. This is Ásrún’s fourth summer in the museum and she has in addition managed the museum shop for the last two years.