Our recent trip to meet up with billions of herring and a few hundred orcas came true!

Top: A young Northern humpback calf our rare encounter bonus of the trip. Middle: A female orca comes in for a closer look.

Bottom: Two large males patrolling the snowcovered coastline.

It looked bad there for a while when a powerful storm plowed through the sea a few days before our departure. However, the ocean calmed we got our chance and met up with the orcas on 4 of our 6 days trip. Actually we had orcas whenever the weather was calm enough for us to be out on the water. 

This year, despite multiple sightings under water, during 3 days snorkeling, we had a hard time getting up close and personal and thus the prize winning photo - a full frame orca didn't happen. The consolation prize was quite an unexpected surprise as a Northern humpback calf surfaced only 30m away from the boat. 

The trip will be remembered for groups of orcas swimming, spy-hopping and breaching in to the sunset, as well as great company and camaraderie.

Title image: A face to face encounter between a diver and a orca is very rare. The photographer in the picture didn't see the young orca before he was only a couple of meters away, and by then the orca went into warp speed and disappeard into the blue.