On Wednesday, November 15th, the day after we were denied an in-water encounter with Orca because there were too many Humpbacks, (oh, boo-hoo-hoo as if *that* was such a hardship!) the Norwegian whale gods gave us abundant opportunities to swim.
It's pretty much impossible to describe what it is like to be in their world, hearing them click and feeling their vocalizations resonate through your own body. If you can visit the
Facebook page of Pierre Robert de Latour and view his videos and photos, you might get some idea of the undersea experience from the images but the best way to understand the difficulty I'm having putting it into words would be to go to Norway and try it for yourself.
Let me instead tell you about life on board the M/S Sula and how this is a trip that you need to take.
I can start by reminding you again of how wonderful the food is. I come from Montreal, one of the best foodie-cities in North-America, have travelled extensively and am not exactly a size zero kind o' gal so I feel like an authority on this point. After Wednesday's successful whale encounter we enjoyed two types of home-made, hot and hearty bouillons, one with mussels, scallops and shrimp and one was a curried beef stew.
Dinner that evening was fall-off-the-bone lamb shank with ooey gooey marrow dripping into the roasting pan accompanied by thick yogurt mint sauce, mango chutney, papadums and a stick-to-yer ribs side dish of long grain rice with discs of grilled corn on the cob, arugula and tomato.
Thursday's lunch was pasta with three different home-made sauces and I was too busy eating to have noted what kind of sauces! Then we relished a fish-supper caught by the crew using rod and reel. It was Monkfish and Pollack served with feta salad and a beet carrot potato vegetable side dish. There was a huge mid-day meal of Orca-sized hamburgers before heading back to terra-firma on our last day. These burgers were so big they needed to be held fast to the buns with dangerous wooden skewers reminiscent of whaling harpoons...scary!
I mean we're on a 90 foot fishing boat with a tiny kitchen, not a cruise ship with a giant galley and a staff of hundreds! There was a different kind of freshly baked bread every day! It was so unexpected and it was so much better than the mass-produced trough-feed that you get on "luxury" boats. They are even accommodating for all manner of vegetarian, gluten-free and diabetic requirements. I wouldn't ask them to do strict Kosher or Halal but they would do their best to keep everyone happy.
Aside from raving about
Chef John's incredible food, I'd like to commend the rest of the crew of the Sula for their enthusiasm, energy and humour.
Felise was up early serving us breakfast, out late at night shopping for fresh food and tirelessly climbing up and down stairs and ladders fetching things pretty much the rest of the time! Despite all of this she would happily describe each meal, triple checking for guest allergies and when we were out swimming, she still had housekeeping to do but honestly, she never missed a chance to be friendly. She initially claimed that she wouldn't remember our names but within a day, knew our personalities, teased us and when she could spare a minute would join us outside to take in the beautiful sights and sounds of the Norwegian fjords.
Captain Olav was not only an experienced seaman that navigated us to the best spots but he is also an excellent photographer. He captured this really
nice photo of two spy-hopping whales that I swear were watching and reacting to my crazy human dancing and waving. We always felt safe while on board. In summer, he takes the Sula up to Svalbard for viewing Polar Bears and Walrus as well as Beluga and other whales. I'm saving my pennies and my vacation days so that trip might be featured soon!
While Captain Olav drives the big boat,
Tony Meyer and
Gijs drive the Hårek, the aluminium dinghy. Tony's experience with the Orca in the region and his videography talent got him invited to work on the making of a major marine wildlife documentary the week our group visited. Although I never got to meet him in person, from the Facebook feeds, his personality and friendship with the crew of the Sula shines.
Gijs is also one of the most good-natured people you could ever meet. He loves his work, can't help but tease Felise like a little sister every chance he gets and even though he grumbled that he wasn't going to jump in the harbour with us for our polar plunge, he eventually couldn't help himself because he's such a viking! There was so much laughter when Gijs was around.
Finally, I must describe the Orca-whisperer, Pierre. He is French. He will tell you that he was born with fins on his feet as he began his underwater life spear-fishing at the age of nine. Every evening of the trip he will do an hour long presentation about the Orca and each one is well-prepared and passionately delivered. When you consider that he does at least a dozen trips of 3-6 days each every year, that's a lot of repeating the same information but you would never know it.
His curiosity about as well as his love of what he calls his Orca family, the kingdom of the dark, and his desire to communicate their story to us earth-bound laymen keeps his narrative fresh.
The reason that I pointed out his French nationality was to illuminate another interesting thing that I noticed about Pierre. Coming from Quebec as I do, although I'm a native English-speaker, I'm fluent in French and use it daily at work. Naturally, when introducing myself, I addressed him in his language but I got nothing but a blank stare in return. There was no appreciation for the little pun that I made "Je me sens Sula-gée" a play on the word 'soulagée' I feel relieved. He didn't react at all later in the week when I nicknamed him "chef d'orquestre", leader of the band but playing on orque (Orca) instead of 'orchestre'.
Of course his guests come to Norway from all over the world and speak many different languages so English becomes the lingua franca for the lectures, and it was during one of his lectures that I finally understood. In human communication, it's been estimated that 93% of it is non-verbal. We give cues with facial expression, tone, the way we hold our bodies. In whale communication, obviously 100% is non-verbal in the sense that they don't use words.
Pierre doesn't care about the 7%, it's extraneous noise to him. He can tell you everything with just one look and often will but this does not signal indifference. When he is with his Sula family, he cannot hide his love for them and expresses it openly!
So don't just take my useless words for it, visit
OrcaNorway.info or use this
booking engine and enquire about a trip.
