ORCA, FIN WHALE AND NORTHERN LIGHTS EXPEDITION
Snorkel with Orcas (killer whales) and the second largest animal on our earth, the fin whale. Experience the stunning nature spectacle, the northern lights.
Place: Andenes, Norwegen
Date: december to january (7 days), also on other dates (as custom tour or exclusive travel)
Price: 1999,- EUR in a double room or 2199,- EUR in single room (the prices can change for custom tour or exclusive travel).
Minimum participants: 4 guests (also bookable as custom tour or exclusive travel).
Qualification: Snorkeling experience in cold water.
Inclusive: Accomodation for 6 nights in Andenes including breakfast, 5 snorkeling trips (ca. 3 hours per trip) with focus on orcas and fin whales, dry suits, 2 northern light expeditions to further away spots and 3 to cloth by spots (by small hikings), transfer from/to the airport Andenes, photography courses for beginners with focus on orcas and northern lights (not mandatory).*
Exclusive: flights, lunch, dinner and drinks, camera, notebook, tripod and remote release (necessary for nothern lights photography).
Combination possibilities: If your flight stops at Tromsø the viewpoint, the cathedral, the polar museum and a northern lights safari are perfect combinations.
Itinerary:
DAY 1: Transfer from the airport Andenes to the hotel.
DAY 2: The first snorkeling expedition to the orcas (killer whales) and fin whales starts after breakfast at 10 a.m. and end at around 1 p.m. The afternoon is on free disposal. On the evening you can watch the northern lights at the habour of Andenes. For participants in the photography course it starts in the afternoon and is about the functionality of cameras. The course is not mandatory, but included.*
DAY 3: Same as DAY 1 (orcas and fin whales). The afternoon is on free disposal and in the evening you're going to visit one of the top spots of the Vesterålen for northern lights watching and phographing. zur Nordlichtbeobachtung und -fotografie. For participants in the photography course it starts in the afternoon and is about the orca and nothern lights photography.*
DAY 4: Same as DAY 3 (orcas and fin whales). Nothern lights will be observe around the habour of Andenes. For participants in the photography course it starts in the afternoon and is about pictorial design.*
DAY 5: Same as DAY 3 (orcas and fin whales). For participants in the photography course it starts in the afternoon and is about image processing with photoshop.*
DAY 6: Same as DAY 2 (orcas and fin whales). For participants in the photography course it starts in the afternoon and is about publishing the pictures mainly in social networks.*
DAY 7: After breakfast transfer to the airport Andenes.
Facts and short description of the expedition:
Andenes is while the polar night (end of novembre to end of january) a sleepy little town on a group of norwain islands, the so called Vesterålen. To use the twilight of the polar nights all orca and fin whale expeditions happens at a specific time. Cause of the 1000 meters deep drop off around those group of islands the chances are very high to encounter orcas and fin whales. Sometimes more than 100 orcas were counted at one trip.
The weather is normally consistent and it's rare that a trip has to be cancelled due to the weather conditions. Due to the fact that this can potentially happens, we decide to do five snorkeling trips. Not just in the water it will be interesting, also on land: At this time of the year the chances to see northern lights are very high. From green over red to violet the the light baths can reach over the whole sky.
The accomodation in Andenes is one of the best hotels on the island. A central location a great breakfast garantee a great start into the day, which ends typically with the northern lights in the night. Beside the polar museum and the known lightshouse there is also a NASA station with a skyrocket ramp (ca. 5 km from Andenes) to observe and understand the northern lights. Trips to there can be arranged on one's own, if you prefer a rental car (AVIS station is in Andenes) or we can arrange a transfer for you.
Hints:
*The photo course is just available for group travels.
Orcas and fin whales can be potentially dangerous for humans, even if we never heard of an accident in natural environment. Warm clothes is necessary, cause it can reach very low felt temperatures around -30°C and even more.
As with all interactions with wild animals, we can not garantee an encounter. At all activities inside the water Sea More Expedtions works as a travel agency, not as an operator.
The photo course is not mendatory. For all participants we recommend a laptop with Photoshop, a camera (preferred DSLR, compact is for sure also okay) and an underwater housing for the camera, because otherwise we can just convey theory.
