Orca Safari-Afterglow November 13th 2017

Monday afternoon the 13th of November
Pierre Robert, the Orca expert was ecstatic on the way back to the harbour to couple with the main ship. He stood on the bow of the Harek and did the hoochie coochie dance waving his arms and wiggling his wetsuit with exo-speedo bum. You can't do a better happy-dance than Monsieur de Latour post-encounter.

Photo credit: Donna N.

There were five homemade pizzas waiting for us cooked by Felise and John. We were all on an adrenaline rush as we gulped down the food taking inspiration from the whale feeding we had just observed.

The mood on board was discernibly celebratory. Even the quietest among us laughed and smiled and actively participated in recounting their version of the experience.

It turns out that I shouldn't have felt awkward for being a slow-poke. One guest in the other group had erred on the other side of the coin and was too eager. He jumped in BEFORE the signal and got in pretty big trouble. I observed how he bounced back from his dressing-down and felt a bit better. All was forgiven.

Everyone excitedly pulled up their photos and video and shared them on the big TV screen in the lounge/mess hall. It was so, I'm trying to think of the right word but to coin a phrase these independent people were "coagulating" coming together in the like-minded enjoyment of the moment.

We had time to come down from our high and ended the evening with another excellent and informative presentation about Orca feeding and how a critical over-fishing situation in the 1970s almost ruined the Norwegian ecosystem.

Now, even though quotas on herring fishing have been set and are being respected, a new threat has emerged : Krill hunting. Krill are tiny shrimp and are the main food consumed by the Humpback whales. Krill are rich in a nutritious oil and fatty acid called Omega-3. You've surely heard of this being added to products for its anti-aging properties. Well, the bad news is that it takes a large harvest of Krill to produce a small quantity of Omega-3 and the whales have had to modify their food-source to compensate. They are now in competition with the Orca for the Herring.

Pierre Robert has even observed fights between the Orca and the Humpbacks but most interestingly, in the 20 years he has been in the region, he has seen the feeding grounds and hunting techniques evolve to reduce the impact of their new rivals. It was such an interesting talk.

Next we were treated to a Codfish dinner with roasted potatoes, cauliflower and asparagus, green peas and a reduction of lobster sauce that had been cooking since 9 am! It was exquisite. A subset of our group stayed up late drinking wine and chatting as we edited our respective photos, videos and trip reports until the excitement of the day morphed into exhaustion and we staggered off to bed.