Active Pursuits

Horseback Riding

Saltvík (tel. 847-9515; www.skarpur.is/saltvik), 5km (3 miles) outside Húsavík, offers a popular 2-hour strut along the seashore for 3,900kr ($62/£31) per person.

Sailing/Bird-Watching

North Sailing (tel. 464-2350; www.northsailing.is) offers the memorable 3 1/2-hour tour "Whales, Puffins, and Sails" on a two-masted schooner, combining whale-watching with a visit to Lundey, an island bristling with puffins. Passengers can help set sails or even take the helm. Tickets are 5,300kr ($85/£42) for adults, or half-price for children under 15, with one or two departures daily from early May to late August. (After Aug 15, you're unlikely to see puffins.)

Sea Angling

Húsavík's two whale-watching companies, Gentle Giants and North Sailing both offer fishing trips in pursuit of cod and haddock. Expect to pay around 6,000kr ($96/£48) for a 2- to 3-hour tour, with all equipment provided and arrangements made for grilling the catch. Gentle Giants schedules regular departures at 6pm in summer, but requires a four-person minimum.

Whale-Watching

Húsavík lies close to whale migratory lanes, and whale-watching prospects are somewhat better than elsewhere in Iceland; but visitors should keep expectations in check. Tour companies boast a 98% success rate, but "success" could be a fleeting glimpse of a minke (MINK-ee) whale, which is relatively small and doesn't put on much of a show. The most acrobatic performer is the humpback whale, whose feeding technique involves blowing a vertical spiral of bubbles -- immobilizing the fish within -- and then launching itself open-mouthed up through the spiral and into the air. Humpbacks appear two times out of three. Odds of seeing a white-beaked dolphin are one in three; a harbor porpoise, one in five. The very lucky see the world's largest creature, the blue whale, whose heart is the size of a VW beetle. The very, very lucky encounter a whale so accustomed to people that it allows itself to be patted; though, tour announcers do their best to pretend everyone has been lucky.

Húsavík has two whale-watching tour operators, Gentle Giants (tel. 464-1500; www.gentlegiants.is) and North Sailing (tel. 464-2350; www.northsailing.is). Despite the intense and sometimes silly advertising competition between the two companies -- North Sailing is "The Original," while Gentle Giants is "The Truly Original" -- differences are negligible. Gentle Giants charges 3,800kr ($61/£30), North Sailing 3,900kr ($62/£31). Gentle Giants is free for children under 16, while North Sailing is free for children under 15 and half price for children 15 or 16. Those who have difficulty making decisions might consider that Gentle Giants has snazzier two-color jumpsuits and gives away twisted donuts called kleina, while North Sailing hands out cinnamon rolls. Each has a ticket kiosk easily spotted from the main road.

The season runs from late April through October, when whales start returning south to breed. From June to August, several tours depart daily from 8am to 5pm. In late April, May, and September, three tours depart daily, the latest at 1:30pm. In October, Gentle Giants has morning tours on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday only. The standard tour lasts 3 hours.

Tours are sometimes cancelled in rough weather, so anyone coming from out of town should call ahead. Seasick pills are a good idea, even if conditions seem calm in the harbor. Insider tip: Take the insulated jumpsuits that are supplied to all passengers; we thought we could do without one, and learned otherwise.