Passengers scramble all over the deck. They run back and forth shouting and screaming. The Captain is out of his cabin and staring out into the sea, his mouth wide open. No, this boat wasn’t sinking. This was a whale watching expedition reaching peak success.

Sleep-deprived and hungry, I made my way through the snow towards the dock, along with my friend and companion for this trip; Izaak. We were ready to begin our Brim Explorer Whale Watching tour. After an evening in Oslo two nights ago, we’d taken a quick flight up north to the sleepy Norwegian city of Tromsø and had spent our previous day wandering around in the snow and exploring the quirky Troll Museum. Later that evening we’d travelled to see the Northern Lights. It was a cool experience, although rather than the luminous greens that we’d seen in photographs, we were exposed to dancing lights of grey and white. Still impressive, if a little disappointing.

And so after staying up till well past midnight for the Aurora, we were up early to walk through the darkness (which wouldn’t change much for the rest of the day as this was the Arctic in December) in the hopes of spotting some whales.

We found a comfortable spot on the boat where there were around 30 passengers from all over the world. For the next few hours as the boat headed off further North into the fjords we were given talks by the guides about the whales we might see (Mainly Orcas, Humpback and Fin) but were also warned that, due to the whales being wild animals, it was possible we wouldn’t see anything.

To pass the time we ate stew, had whale hot chocolates (Creamy hot chocolate with wafers shaped like whale tails) and wandered around on the deck, gazing at the waves, the glaciers and the snow-covered mountains.

Polar Night, as its often referred to, means that there is no sun, or at least very few hours of dim sunlight. Being surrounded by snow on every land mass around us, however, helped to light up the landscape so we could see everything. Somehow, staring at nothing but snow and water for miles proved endlessly fascinating.

After around 3 hours, the boat came to a stop. We were at the whales’ feeding ground.

Everybody piled out onto the decks. The guides talked through a microphone and briefed everyone to shout if they saw anything. And then we waited….people dancing about on their feet to keep warm and squinted into the distance.

And then suddenly a shout went up. Hearing this the Guide got on the microphone “Two O’clock!”. Everyone rushed to the side of the boat and looked to “Two O’clock”. In the distance was a spurt of water. This wasn’t the only one. “Four o’clock!”. Again, everyone rushed over to see spurts of water in the far distance. “They’re humpbacks!” The Guide informed us.

This went on for some time. Spurts of water in the distance. Sometimes a little closer. Glimpses of tails. And then suddenly….nothing.

I was content with this. I’d never seen whales before and had a nice boat ride out to see them from far away. I stood on the top deck. Next to me was one of the Guides chatting to a passenger.

And then….a large brownish grey head popped up out of the water right next to the boat below me. I was in shock. I lifted a finger to point and made a barely discernible noise “Oooo-“. The Guide looked where I was pointing and her face lit up. And then the chaos began….

The whale spurted its water and dived, its fan-like tail sticking up out of the water. Passengers on the other side of the boat yelled out. “TWELVE! TWELVE!” yelled the guide into the microphone. The rest of the passengers ran towards “Twelve”. One of the Guides running with glee reminded us not to run. We reached Twelve and there were two whales spurting and diving. They dived again. Passengers looked around the boat, wondering where they were going to pop up next. Even the Captain had joined us on deck and had a huge smile on his face.

“FIVE! FIVE!”. The passengers ran once again. I bumped into Izaak and could barely speak through my excitement. “It looked blue! It looked blue!” I said, barely making any sense (I’d seen the humpback’s flippers underwater which are white, but appeared blue because of the water).

This went on for at least twenty minutes with the whales, perhaps curious of the humans onboard who were clapping and cheering at every sighting, popping up next to the boat and then diving again and again. Eventually they started to move on towards another boat in the vicinity but they’d left us with a show that we’d never forget.

As we stared after the humpbacks, the sky turned dark, snow began to fall and a strong wind picked up. In spite of the elements our moods weren’t dampened. We headed back into the boat and set sail for Tromsø.

If you find yourself in Norway I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend a whale watching tour, especially those by Brim Explorer who specialise in ethical whale watching tours with electrical boats which do not frighten the whales. Seeing those humpbacks is truly one of my favourite things I’ve ever done.

Silent fjord Tours – Boat tours on the fjords of Norway – Brim Explorer