Whales

A long time ago Iceland used to hunt a lot of whales and much like there are small fishing villages now, there were often villages built around whale catching. A few decades ago, however, Iceland stopped all whaling (apart from some minor scientific whaling recently) and currently prefers to go out on boats to watch them and admire, rather than attacking and consuming them. Many such whale watching trips are available from various places around the country, perhaps the most known going from the North of Iceland and Reykjanes which is close to the International Airport and the blue lagoon.

Probably the most famous of Icelandic whales is the one named Keiko. He was caught off the shores of Iceland and put in an Icelandic zoo, but when the zoo closed down, the whale was sold to USA. Later it then achieved fame through the film Free Willy and soon after caught the eye and sympathy of some people who formed a charity to bring him back to Iceland.
A few years ago that task was accomplished and now he swims freely in the ocean, still monitored by the aforementioned charity and was recently swimming around Norway.

One good place in the North of Iceland that offers whale watching is:
http://www.nordursigling.is/

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