The whale watching season in fjords around Tromsø lasts from November till January, when herrings are entering the fjords, followed by killer whales and humpback whales. We missed it last year, so the plan was set for this year. And it offered us great opportunity to finally visit another Norwegian city than Trondheim. First impressions from Tromsø - a lot of car traffic, no cycling infrastructure, blue colour and amazing landscape.
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| local library |
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| in the harbour |
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| on the bridge to the strange Arctic Cathedral |
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| view from the bridge, 13:00 |
Saturday morning we were picked up by Julia and Richard from the whale tour operator and went to Skulsfjord to get on the boat. For those, who would like to try whale watching, a few tips might be useful. There are several ways how to approach whales and many companies offer their services. It seems like very popular activity, so book your tour early. It is possible to go on an inflatable boat, on a sailboat, on seakayak, on huge tourist boat or on a small motor boat. The length of tour differs from 2 to 6 hours, as the type of provided services. Or it is possible just to take a ferry and hope to see some whales. Sometimes you can see them even from the shore. We decided for long tour on a small boat for 12 people max, being guided by marine biologist. The tour was organised by
Arctic Explorers. If you are interested in getting to the whales as close as possible and as fast as possible, this kind of tour is definitely
not for you. But if you love a long cruise in the fjords, trying to search for whales far away from other companies, staying out till the dark, pay respect to whales by not approaching too close to them, listen to nice stories, eat perfect bacalao...then that tour is the right one. We enjoyed every moment of it and it was truly amazing experience. We did not take too many photos, as it was better just to observe and enjoy the nature. Big thanks to our guide Julia and skipper Richard!
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| a short lesson about the killer whales provided by our guide Julia |
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| a spot where a group of orcas was feeding, watched by many observers. We stopped there just for a while and continued further, as there was too much traffic in this spot |
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| Orcas in the water, seagulls and sea eagles in the air. Feeding fest |
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| the landscape is absolutly amazing |
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| another popular spot |
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| and some privacy |
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| it could be cool to be on that small boat |
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and the last orca we met...I stopped to count them soon, but we saw maybe 50, maybe more. We were also lucky to see two humpback whales, spotted by Belma, when we were having lunch in one of the fjords. And we observed a rescue operation, as another whale was trapped in fishing net
A few more pics and the map of our tour from Julia. A yellow star on the map shows the place where we met a pair of humpback whales.
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| Sunday morning in Tromsø from our balcony |
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| and Tromsø from Fjellstua, 12:00 |
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| not using the cable car was more challenging than I expected, as the path was really icy. But the views were great |
