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Whales in Norway

Spectacular things happen in nature all the time. It’s hard to make a choice what you should go and discover first. But believe me, watching whales must be on top of your list!

To see or not to see … the killer whale!

For some reason, I missed every opportunity to observe killer whales. Although I travelled to destinations where these huge dolphins could be seen, I never went to see them. Until a few years ago, you could easily find them in a fjord in Norway called Tysfjorden, because millions of herring went there during winter. But the herring left Tysfjorden and with them, the killer whales were also gone. I thought I missed my chance forever. But scientists found out that the herring run now frequented the northern parts of the Vesteralen, a group of islands north of the Lofoten. And with the herring came the killer whales again! I didn’t hesitate and planned a tour for a small group. I was convinced that others would love to see this too!

It’s difficult to describe how it feels to see (and smell!) blows of huge whales everywhere around you, to see dorsal fins of killer whales circling around everywhere you look. Scientists estimated the total number of killer whales at present at about 700 individuals here, which is the world’s largest concentrations of Killer whales! And when you look in the water, all you can see is thousands and thousands of herring swimming around!

The magic of light

At this time of year, the sun climbs over the horizon again for the first time. Since the end of November, the sun was nowhere to be seen. It was not dark though. Instead, we got to see wonderful colours throughout the day; the kind of light I really love, which usually only lasts about ten minutes. I can imagine winter is very long for a lot of people, but for me, it would just be too short. What an amazing scenery! And when the northern lights started to show in the evening, we got so excited we almost forgot to go to bed.

Every day on the boat was different. We saw hundreds of killer whales and humpback whales playing underneath our boat. Fin whales gave us a taste of their breath … It’s a fantastic experience to see these huge animals up so close!

 

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