A new chapter: moving to Iceland
- Mathilde
- Apr 11
- 8 min read
Iceland, the country of Northern lights, beautiful landscapes, volcanos, glaciers and whales! How amazing would it be to live here! Back in 2019 I spend 2 months in Húsavík, where I volunteered for the Húsavík whale museum, and where I got a taste for living in Iceland. It has now (2025) been nearly two months since I moved to Iceland. I moved here for work, as I got a job offer with Láki tours as a whale watching guide. Now I am living in Grundarfjörður and work in Ólafsvík on the north coast of the Snæfellsness peninsula. This move has been quite the change for me. From working and living on ships, crossing seas and oceans, I now live on land and only go out to sea for a few hours per day. However, the essence remains the same, sharing the beauty of whales living their best lives in the wild!
Reflections and a need for change
Throughout last year it became increasingly clear to me that it was time to move on and find a new job. Even though I loved working on cruise ships and ferries and really love educating and showing guests the beautiful animals we have in our world’s oceans. The work itself really was fulfilling and I did it passionately. Unfortunately, both the management side and financial strain of this previous job started affecting my mental health. The positives couldn’t outweigh the negatives anymore. I won’t go in details, but the situation became unsustainable for me. I was getting paid less, offered less contracts (because I had too much experience), and I didn’t feel like I was being heard, which let to me to feeling undervalued. I know that I wasn’t the only one struggling, and it was a toxic situation in which no-one should find themselves. Despite the fact that the job itself is brilliant, and at times I do still miss it. It is okay to miss things, and I do look back fondly on the time I had on the ships. And I do feel grateful for all the experiences I was offered. I definitely learned some life lessons in the last three years, which I will take with me into the future.
The moment I felt the need to find a new job, I immediately started preparing for this new chapter by getting my STCW certificate (safety at sea) and started thinking about what I wanted to do. Seeing that I love interacting with people and watching for whales with guests, the position of whale watching guide, very quickly came to mind. I then started looking to where I would like to do this? There are so many places in the world with lots of whales and where whale watching is possible and where is the code of conduct for responsible whale watching adhered? This code of conduct are guidelines which aim to minimise the impact of the whale watching boats on the whales, to ensure the best encounters with respect for animal welfare, and to raise more awareness and understanding of appropriate practices when whale watching.
So, with all this in mind: what is a beautiful place with lots of whales and good country to live in? Iceland came to mind, together with the Azores / Madeira (Portugal) and Norway, these countries became my top contenders. In the last quarter of 2024, I started looking for whale watching companies in these countries and seeing if they had any vacancies. For now I became adamant in finding a job in the whale watching sector.
A friend of mine shared a social media post of Láki tours in Iceland, saying that they were looking for a whale watching guide, I immediately applied. And got an interview! Great, my first job interview, I went into this interview, as if this was going to be a practice job interview. Seeing that this was a very small company, and they were looking for just 1 person. I expected to have a better chance to get into a bigger company where more guides were needed. Then everything happened very quickly. Just mere days passed and I got to, my surprise, the job offer just before Christmas! Probably the best Christmas present one could get.
A new home and job.
And now, here I am, nearly two months have passed since my move. Slowly adjusting to living and working here in Iceland. Definitely loving the job, in the beginning it was quite surreal to see orca's so frequently! Especially after the last three years where orca's seemed to elude me. In all fairness, its the orca's that convinced me to choose Láki tours, the idea of finally seeing orcas up close! Just chefs' kiss! What also really attracted me to Láki tours, is that they work closely together with a non-profit organisation called orca guardians. They are dedicated to the protection of Icelandic orca's and their habitat through non-invasive research, which mostly consist of photo-identification research.
Grundarfjörður is a small town, and living in a small town does come with its challenges. With reduced opening times of shops, there is a need to plan in advance for doing groceries and what to get. It’s definitely not like the Netherlands where you can quickly go to the shop if you forgot something. It's just something one need to get used to, and adapting to this live style is relatively easy. A different challenge does need some attention when I am in the Netherlands again, seeing that I feel the lack of a car or a driving licence (which will hopefully be done before the end of the year). There is no proper public transport, except for a bus, which runs only a handful of times per week. The weather comes with its challenges as well, fours seasons in one day is definitely a thing here. I very quickly took over a weather specific saying ; ‘’the weather is nice, in the present moment!’’ One really never knows what the weather is going to be in 5 minutes time. It literally can go from a bright sunny day to snowy/stormy day in a very short amount of time and vice versa. On topic of the weather, rainbows in Iceland are just on another level! The colours are so bright and strong! I have seen plenty of rainbows in my life, but these here keep amazing me with their bright beauty! In these two months the sunrise and sunset have changed drastically. When I arrived, mid-February, sunrise was around 09:30 and sunset around 17:50. Currently its mid-April and sunrise is as early as 06:15 and sunset is at 20:40. What really astounds me is how quick this is change is happening. I did expected to happen quickly, but thinking about it vs. experiencing these changes, definitely, are two different things.
The landscape of Iceland is absolutely amazing. On a clear day, the West fjords of Iceland can be seen on the horizon. On some evenings I only need to step outside my home and look up to see the northern lights. There are a couple of waterfalls on walking distance including Kirkjufellfoss, and am surrounded by mountains. These landscapes are a definite improvement to the Netherlands. What about the wildlife here? What can be seen on the whale watching trips?
Wildlife of Breiðafjörður, Iceland
During the whale watching trips we go into Breiðafjörður. Which is the largest fjord in Iceland, which is well known for its abundance of marine wildlife, including whales and many seabirds. Until now we have seen Harbour porpoises, white-beaked dolphins, humpback whales, sperm whales, fin whales and orca! Later in the year we also hope to spot minke whales, long-finned pilot whales and maybe, if we're lucky a blue whale. Regarding seabirds, the northern fulmar is always present, we see lots of black-legged kittiwakes, northern gannets, black guillemot, common guillemot, razorbills and eider ducks. Right now we are waiting for the puffins to return which should happen within a couple of weeks. On land you have a chance to see the Arctic fox, and the white-tailed eagle! You can even see them from the road, if you are lucky.
These first trips have been amazing and challenging at the same time. Finding a rhythm and your place in a new job is always challenging, but I am starting to get a day to day rhythm. In the beginning I had quite a bit of studying to do, specifically the safety announcement and other text a guide needs to know by heart. Being a whale watching guide is definitely different than being a lecturer. I do noticed that I have been so used to having a presentation to guide me and help explain things. However the more I guide, the more these texts start to be imprinted in my brain.
Something that will take some more time to adjust to, is the cleaning up other people’s seasickness. This is definitely not my favourite thing to do, however it is part of the job, on the plus side, these people tend to be the most grateful of your presence and help. Luckily, its not always needed, majority of the time most people are absolutely fine. This does mean though, that my pockets are now always stuffed with seasick bags just in case any one needs one. Besides seeing all these whales, what I truly love to see is the joy and happiness on the faces of our guests whilst seeing whales in the wild. Honestly, in my opinion, there is nothing that can give a person more joy, than seeing animals in the wild and in their own habitat! Having happy and grateful guests at the end of an trip is such a rewarding feeling. Each trip is completely different. The morning and afternoon trips are never the same. We have had all different kinds of sea conditions, from mirror calm to rougher weather. Whenever the weather forecast is to bad we cancel trips, which means we have those days off.
In these two months we have predominantly seen orca's and humpback whales, with the occasional white-beaked dolphin, sperm whale and fin whale. We have seen many different behaviours, from socialising to feeding, to breaching and spy hopping. We have seen very young orca calf's and different species interacting with each-other.
The weather has generally been on our side, with the odd spell of bad weather for a few days. I sometimes still can’t really believe it that I am now here and seeing amazing animals like orca’s and other whales on an almost day to day basis! And that with a lovely team of passionate, whale lovers, who also enjoy our evenings playing board games.
Changing jobs, definitely didn’t immediately heal my mental health as the move in itself come with some level of stress. But then, when is moving not stressful? However, I love being in a new place, being surrounded by nature really helps to be and feel more positive. In time I hope to be inspired again to write some more. I do have many ideas for topics to write about. I just need to find the time and inspiration to write more often. At times I have been incredibly happy lately, seeing whales up close, always brings a smile to my face!
For next few months, at least until early October I will be here in Iceland, keep following me on social media for more updates!
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