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Are you looking for a life-changing experience? Alchemy partners Jacques De Vos & Pavel Tomm, run freediving expeditions in northern Norway, where you can get to freedive with one of nature's apex predators, the killer whale. Is it safe though? How do orcas behave in their natural habitat? How can one prepare for such a trip? What needs to be avoided? Dive in and discover the beauty above the arctic circle.
Each winter is between 6 and 7 million tons of herrings enter the fjords in the north of Norway. They are followed by pods of orcas and humpbacks and they are in great numbers to feed on them. They spend almost all the winter there. What makes this event really unique is that unlike anywhere else in the world you can see them feeding alongside each other and in some cases even cooperating together.
After a research expedition in 215 to study orcas, Jaques De Vos established a Norwegian local based company, and that's how Arctic Freediving was born. We joined Arctic Freediving in 2017, and until that time we used to live in Ko Tao, in the Gulf of Thailand, and work in the freediving center Blue Immersion. It’s a pretty place to live but of course, this opportunity to freedive with orcas and even being on the Arctic Circle was totally out of my mind, and that's how we end up there. From its beginning, the main goal of Arctic Freediving has been to maintain expedition with a high level of quality, which exceeds ethical and safety standards, based on marine-based encounters globally, and that's something with Arctic Freediving that we are following and developing till these days.
These expeditions are perfect for freedivers of course but also for people who are confident in the water. Well, it's the same as with any other wild element in nature, there will always be some degree of risk and no one can say it's 100% safe. What is important to say is that all the risk situations can be minimized or the unsafe situations can be avoided by following the guidelines of your guide and being properly prepared. We're very lucky to welcome guests from all over the world and all walks of life, so it's not just crazy or extreme people visiting us there.
In Arctic Freediving we put a lot of emphasis on preparation, that's why our programs start with a short base day before we are heading out to the sea. There we do several presentations about animals and about other things we can encounter, which could be everything from orcas and humpbacks of course, but herring and fishermen. We talk about behavior, we talk about in water techniques, like approaches for example, when it's okay to get in, or where to be in the water during the feeding for example. From its beginning we've been the only operator with in-water requirements for those who join us, which means there is a mandatory in-water session before we are heading out to the sea again, to check if everyone is self-sufficient in the water. Everyone must be a reliable body to whoever they are partnered with it's easy. You can prepare for that, you just need to know what to expect and all the information you can find on our website. You know in the end, everyone who has been on some diving expeditions or excursions and has this experience to be slowed down by someone who can't swim or by someone who needs constant supervision, everyone will appreciate the value of this.
Regardless of who you book with, do your research, do your research on Norway, animals, and operators, to know what you can expect. North Norway is amazing, it's a wonderland, it's a beautiful place to be. So do your research on fjords or on the local culture, northern lights, everything to get some taste of what you might expect, it's not just about orcas and freediving with them, it's a cool place.
It's important to understand your potential impact as a visitor and when and how you choose to join. So, before booking, check the operator, check if it's an informal operator, many of them don't have any standards, any training requirements, or even insurance. Have proper equipment. If you imagine yourself being in the water in a drysuit, you would never have the same experience as in freediving gear of course. And please, if you're there already, never break any rules or standards even if the operator or the guide is saying is okay, because it's not.
Orcas are apex predators and respected around the world, you can really find them everywhere. There are a few types, it's not just one orca everywhere. Ecotypes of different sizes, colors, have different social structures and dialects. The one we're diving with in Norway is the northeastern Atlantic ecotype and they are pretty big. The males can grow up to 9 meters and just the dorsal fin can be 2 meters tall, higher than I am. They're just getting on the surface next to you and these swords are getting out of the water, that's amazing, that's a really cool experience.
Of course, the best situation is feeding and we are in the water when they are feeding on herrings. So, to see them, how they communicate all the time constantly, hearing all these buzzes and clicks and whistles, and to see them how they're managing the bait ball, how they are pushing the ball towards the surface, or towards the shelter or even sometimes towards to us, they're using us as a barrier, that's impressive. And then when you see them, how they are picking the herrings, that's unbelievable. I guess all of you know that they're not flying through the bait ball like humpbacks for example with mouth open, but they do like a flip and then they are picking a few of them, one by one, they are chewing them, then they're splitting the bones, it's amazing to see. Orcas are huge as I said, herrings are small.
They have also incredible hearing and they have learned how to use fishing presence as an easy source of food, you can say it's not natural but on the other hand, it shows how clever they are and how they can adapt. So they can hear the fishing pump in the distance, up to 12 kilometers away, what they do is that they have like a scout in the fingers of fjord they staying in the vocal distance so they are still able to communicate, and as soon as someone is fighting the school of fish or a fishing boat, they share the information and all of them are coming. They can also see very nicely, both in and out of the water, so as soon as they are close to the fishing boat, you can very often see them spy hoping and they are basically checking what's going on on the deck, that's unbelievable. So there's very shortly something about Arctic Freediving and orcas and the expeditions we are doing there in the north of Norway.
If you guys want to know more, just visit www.arcticfreediving.com and you will get all the info you need there. Thanks to Alchemy for the support and I wish all of you to have the chance to freedive with them one day because it's pretty amazing.