Swimming with the Orcas - part 1

Since a long time, I was thinking about going to somewhere where I can do whale watching. I missed the opportunity when we went to Iceland in 2016. When I heard about, that orcas and humpbacks following the herring from October till January into the fjords in the northern parts of Norway I started making plans to travel there. Now, I am here in Skjervøy about three hours from Tromsø. While planning that trip I already checked out the possibilities to go on whale safaris and to book some tours in advance. I was quite surprised to see that it is even possible to go for snorkeling and swimming with the orcas. Totally in fire with that idea I ordered an underwater housing for my camera.

On 15-September, we arrived in Rotsund in a cosy cottage which will be our home for the next two weeks.The landscape at this time of the year is absolutely stunning. The mountains are covered by snow and roads or covered by ice.

On Monday we started early in the morning for a 45 minute drive to Skjervøy where all the tours do start. After an introduction about the safety rules and how to behave to the whales we started to dress up with drysuits which will protect us from the cold waters. We felt very comfortable with the company and the group.

Thirty minutes later we left the harbor on a rib boat, fingers crossed to find the whales. It was very cloudy that day and the weather forecast promised more rain and snow. Nevertheless, it didn't took much time when we saw a huge blow of about three meter in hight and about 300 meters away from our position. A pod of humpbacks!!!

The humpbacks are traveling all the way from the Caribic to the arctic waters of Norway for the herring. Orcas do live in the Norwegian Sea but also following the herring into the fjords from October to January.

We saw three groups of humpbacks that day and jumped into the water several times. The most impressive moment that day was when the humpback went through about 5 meter underneath myself and very slowly.

Actually, no day was like the others. Some days we got only humpbacks, while on other days the fjord was full of orcas. But everyday was a new adventure.

Getting ready for the close encounter with the whales.

It also took some time to get used to the underwater housing of the camera. All the settings shall be done before as there is not time for adjustments under water and the thick gloves makes it quite difficult to push the right button. Nevertheless, I got some shots of those breathtaking moments and I am happy with the images.

Taking images under water was something totally new for me. The seeing is just a few meters, focusing is not easy and orcas are quite fast.

From the end of November the sun doesn't make it over the mountains. There is daylight for 3-4 hours and you never know is is sunrise or sunset.

When we went out yesterday, we already knew that the weather will be rough but it was really a hard ride. It seams to turn out that in rough weather there are more humpbacks and less orcas. I got a couple of images but it was a bit difficult to get sharp images as we had waves up to three meters.

Humpback on a rough day on the Norwegian Sea.

One week is over, another one is coming. Stay tuned!