Day 37: Whales!

Hi hi! (That’s the greeting here. I have messed up a few times and followed it up with, “How are you?” Don’t do that.)

Today, we took a rest day in Andenes, mostly to see whales, and to explore this northernly town before we ferry over to Gryllefjord - our first step out of the beautiful Lofoten Islands and closer to Tromsø. Lo means lynx, can you guess what foten means? Hint, a Birds Eye view of Lofoten from Google Maps may help!

We got up at 7, made our breakfast beside our tent and were out quickly, cycling 15 minutes into Andenes to make our whale watching tour. We got suited up in waterproof jumpsuits as well as life jackets and then had a wonderful tutorial by our guide who is on track for a PhD in sperm whales. We learned that sperm whales are the biggest of the tooth whales (blue whales are the biggest of the baleen) and their blow hole is on the left side of their head. They can dive to 1000 meters and typically spend 40 minutes under water, but 2hrs is the record! They then surface for 5 to 10 minutes and then return to deep waters. There are only male sperm whales around Norway at this time of year as mothers and calves are in warmer waters. Also around Norway in July are orcas, minke whales, and pilot whales (which are actually dolphins - what a funny joke). If you want to know more about what preys on sperm whales, their predators, lifespan, causes of death, their fins, how many there are, and how they got their name please let me know! I‘d be happy to share! But like Mark with the ship museum, I don’t want to overdo it :)

Then we boarded the ship. A small black speed boat (think Jason Bourne getaway boat). It sat 12 passengers up front, the captain, and our whale specialist. We were warned we may not see any whales. Typically orcas and pilot whales are found in pods and can be together. Sperm whales travel alone from other sperm whales and definitely alone from other species.

We drove 7 miles out into the middle of the valley, which has depths of 2000m. Our guide then put a hydrophone in the water to listen for whales. Sperm whales make a ticking sound for echolocation. She heard one! We traveled closer to it. Then she heard three. Then we traveled in a triangle, back and forth. Where was it? When was it going to surface? Would we have the 2hr stubborn sperm whale? Finally, he surfaced! He moved quickly, we approached from behind keeping our distance, he moved even farther. You never want to stress a wild animal so we backed off. The whale kept moving and then dove back under. Our guide listened again on the hydrophone. The sound turned from a ticking sound to a squeaky door sound, which is the sound of eating. Squids typically move in triangular shapes and so this sperm whale was chasing squid, one of their most desired meals. Thankfully, the whale’s speed was because it was busy chasing and eating and not because we were selfishly chasing it.

We let that one be. Hydrophone again and there was another 1 mile away. We arrived and it had just come to surface. We followed slowly, this whale didn’t speed up. In fact, it slowed. We turned off the engine and floated alongside this breathing 120ft sperm whale. We could hear and see its each breath. It was magical. The whale was calm, insouciant, and yet we couldn’t be any more in awe. I cried. Let out a few “wows” and “woahs” as well. I turned around to see my husband giggling at my reactions, but secretly I think he was awed as well.

The whale dove after 7ish minutes of breathing and that was it.

We headed back to the harbor after 3 great hours at sea. No orcas or pilots or anything else today. Some cute puffins swimming & gulls flying.

Mark and I had a lovely lunch at a cafe and caught up on computer time. We cycled down to where our ferry is for tomorrow morning, just to be sure. We popped into small bookshops, plant stores and sports outlets. Cycled back to camp, Mark spent a few hours on the beach while I read Deep Survival in the tent with a cup of tea that Mark made for me on the camping stove.

We cycled back into town at half 5, pizza dinner at an ok spot, and a drink at the hotel in town after. We heard a guy on the phone say, “Because I’m in an [expletive] country where the sun doesn’t set and I haven’t slept for a month.” Agreed, you wouldn’t want it to be like this all the time, but it’s fun for us while we are here!

Weather has been foggy and chilly today so I write this from the warmth and quiet of our tent.

Early morning for the ferry & tomorrow we stay in a little Airbnb cabin with no running water. Should be fun!

Night!

PS I am still on cloud nine from our whale time!