Northern Norway

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Kvaløya, Troms, Northern Norway 10-25/11-2013

N69°51.089´
E18°49.377´

An update from our stay on Kvaløya in Troms, Northern Norway. After 1900 kilometers of driving from our base in Sweden, we finally arrive our destination Kvaløyvågen on the island Kvaløya...

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We are here to film the humpback whales that have started to gather in the fjords. Last year became a big sensation for nature lovers when huge amounts of both humpack whales and killer whales started to appear at the coast of Troms. On the same date as last year, the whales even showed up this year. An opportunity we do not want to miss!

As we are far north, the day light hours are few and we need to take advantage of the limited light when having it. It is a windy season in Northern Norway and the gales appears one after the other, but when finally having ok weather conditions we are ready and out in field already before day light has risen.

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Out on the fjord it does not take long before we see a huge dark shape appear at the surface. A giant which can get up to 15 meter long and reach a weight of 30 tons.

Yes, it is a humpback whale, or even better, there are plenty of them! :)

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Time to get into the water!! The lack of natural light under water makes it even more important to take advantage of the few day light hours.

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Lack of light and poor visibility makes the conditions for under water filming limited. The only chance we have to get something on picture anyhow is to get very close.

Both humpback whales and killer whales are feeding on herring, which is the reason why there are so many whales in the area.

 In the poor visibility I suddenly see a big school of herring in front of me. The small fishes are swimming fast and I understand that there must be something much bigger close by...

The school of herring starts to encircle me and shortly therafter the fishes shows strong panic when trying to escape in all directions. There is panicked herring and air bubbles everywhere! And then, out of the blue, I find myself surrounded by feeding humpback whales! The giants are suddenly all around...

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As fast as they appeared, both herring and whales disappear again. But the "fish-feast" continues in the fjord and it will not take long before we get even more encounters.

The hours pass and it starts to get dark quickly. Time to head back to our cottage again...

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It feels great to be back in the beautiful landscape of Norway. Deep fjords, high mountains, whales and plenty fish is a great combination!

More Norway trips are waiting ahead, but before that the Southern hemisphere is calling for me .... :) .... More from me soon...