Orca Safari-Vacation from my vacation November 16th 2017

When you think of vacation, the boiler-plate image that comes to mind is a restful lounge chair under a palm tree on a sandy beach.

Maybe for some people.

Two degrees colder than yesterday but bright, sunny and clear with the top deck glistening with ice droplets, we made our way out of the Sørkjosen harbour back to our playful new friends.

After breakfast, I layered up and put on the exposure suit before climbing the ladder to the observation area to join the other guests. With my binoculars, I scoped out the scene from the pinky pearl sky to the snow-laden peaks and the colourful wooden structures in the villages below. It was breathtaking. Again, my words will never do it justice and I'll have to depend on the kindness of my fellow passengers and their photos to illustrate.

Photo credit: Donna N.

Photo credit: Donna N.

Photo credit: Donna N.

We came up to a pod of shy but active Orca. They spyhopped and buzzed by us to check us out but Pierre Robert de Latour knew that they weren't ready for an in-water encounter just yet.

Photo credit: Donna N.

Photo credit: Donna N.

I was really enjoying the serenity of the scene and thought to myself, I think I'll just stay on board today while the others go out. Why not? It's my holiday. Maybe there is no lounge chair under a palm tree but I'll drink a hot cocoa instead of a Piña Colada with a paper umbrella and make the best of it.

As an Australian fellow passenger adorably put it:

"Now we have to take off all this clobber and put on all that *other* clobber!"

Her meaning was that we had so many layers of warm clothes that we need to strip off to don the decidedly NOT user-friendly dry suits.

I didn't regret my choice. I was able to get some privacy and some quiet time, compose all these reports and watch the others do their swim from topside.

There were two Humpbacks in the bay along with the Orca. It's not a good idea to get very close to the Humpbacks in Norwegian waters. They are in feeding mode, not sexy times and post-partum mode like in Tonga. A train of hungry Humpbacks here will blindly plow through a bunch of rubbery snorkelers.

Luckily, the big whales kept away and the swimmers saw plenty of Orca activities.

I helped them get the clobber off when they returned, freezing cold, numb and uncomfortable one and all.

Photo credit: Donna N.

And yet, they are still so enchanted with the beautiful Orca that Sula and Norway have shared with us!