In the Land of Orcas - Freediving with whales in Skjervøy, Norway

Orca Camp Norway - Diving with orcas - Is this something you would like to do? Let me know if you do in the comments below!

We traveled to the northern parts of Norway and arrived in Skjervøy on the 17th of November. We stayed for one week and had 6 days on the sea - 6 chances to freedive with orcas (killer whales) and humpback whales. Below you'll find timestamps for each day and a small summery.

Day 1 - 00:59
The first day everything was new. I had a lot of questions about orcas, strategy, what to think about and so on. We were extremely lucky and found a big pod of orcas feeding on a baitball (herring). We were alone on the sea. No other boats joined us to that particular spot. The footage you see of us diving with orcas is in chronological order. Seeing the animals up close was something truly special. I even started to cry under water, it was too much to handle. The first day we found two separate baitballs and spent over 20 min in the water with the orcas. A great success!

Day 2 - 03:47
The second day I was a bit more confident. I changed the settings on my camera to 4K, but some of the other settings weren't optimal for the low light conditions. Once again we were lucky, saw three baitballs a lot of orcas and even a humpback whale. When the humpback arrived I got a lot of adrenaline, but it was amazing seeing such a huge animal swim in the water. I aslo came super close to the herring and also two pollock.

Day 3 - 04:48
The third day we weren't as lucky as the first two. The sky was beautiful, but we didn't find an opportunity to swim with the orcas. We saw them from the boat, but none of use got anything from below the surface. As a result of this, we decided to go back to our camp a bit earlier, and I took the opportunity to freedive from shore, near our houses. As soon as we came back, I filled my wetsuit with hot water from the shower and went out exploring. Later that night we saw some aurora borealis (northern lights) and managed to capture it in a night time lapse video (GoPro Hero 8).

Day 4 - 06:22
This was a beautiful day. The sky was pink orange and we were exited. Early on we saw a huge pod of orcas with at least 16 individuals swimming together. We managed to see them below the surface. I also had an amazing experience with a humpback whale. I swam down to it (maybe 5 meters) and it started looking at me, turned it's head and went up to the surface. It was so cool!

Day 5 - 07:58
After four full days at sea, I started to feel that I have enough material to make a film. I decided to be a bit more risky and wanted to capture the animals in selfies - harder than you think! Plenty of shots were ruined because the orcas were not in frame, but I managed to get at least 3-4 selfies with orcas and humpbacks that I was satisfied with. Later at night we went on a northern lights "trip" to a place near the sea with less light pollution. The aurora was super strong and shifted in different colours. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. It's hard to describe, and the time lapse I got can't live up seeing it live.

Day 6 - 09:13
Our last day! The weather was perfect for flying my drone - which I did. Magnus Lundborg (  / magnus_lundborg  ) had an amazing encounter with a pod of calm humpbacks. I flew the drone and Magnus took shots / filmed under water. The light was great for this. A perfect ending to our adventure!

This is my longest and most adventurous video yet! I hope you enjoyed watching it. If you did, be sure to subscribe to our channel!

Big thanks to:
Magnus Lundborg
Andreas Persson
Lars Mikkelsen
Alois Maurizi
Francisco Nunes
Frank Wirth

My gear:
DJI Mavic Air
Gopro Hero 8
Gopro Hero 7
Paralenz
Cannon 80D

#orcacampnorway #orcafreediving #whalewatching