Skjervøy Orcas

Verified2026-09-30 checkedPelagic

Orcas and humpbacks working herring inside the Arctic Circle, in four hours of winter daylight.

Depth: 0–10 m0–33 ft
Difficulty: Advanced
Entry: Boat
Typical current: Moderate
Coordinates: 70°1.998′N 20°58.002′E
Activities: Snorkelling · Freediving

Every winter the Norwegian spring-spawning herring overwinter in the fjords north of Tromsø, and orcas and humpbacks follow them in. Snorkelling only: bubbles push whales away, and Norwegian rules keep scuba out. It is 4 °C water and about four hours of usable light a day, so this is a drysuit-and-hood trip and the entries are short and repeated — in for a few minutes when a pod is on a bait ball, out again. Nobody can promise an encounter. When it happens, a carousel feed with a humpback lunging through the middle of it is the single most extraordinary thing in cold water.

Fly to Tromsø, then three hours by road to Skjervøy or a liveaboard from Tromsø harbour.

Best season

ExcellentNov–Dec
GoodJan

Conditions

Water temperature: 9.2°C49°F
Wave height: 1.2 m4 ft
Air temperature: 6.5°C44°F
Wind speed: 37.8 km/h23.5 mph

Updated 2026-10-07 16:15 UTC · Source: Open-Meteo

Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0)

Conditions are reported for information only. Assess the site yourself and follow your guide and your training.

No live conditions for this site yet.

We only show numbers we can attribute to a source.

Sea state and tide

On a date

Tide · 10/7

Low05:24-1.02 m
High11:370.83 m
Low17:44-0.98 m
High23:460.91 m

Forecast heights against mean sea level. Real tides in a bay, a harbour or over a flat can differ — check an official tide table before you get in.

Pick a day to see its tide

Only wave height and wind are scored, because those are what close a boat ramp or a shore entry. Water temperature is reported and never scored: 12°C is an ordinary dive in a drysuit and punishing in a 3 mm, and a number that cannot see your suit has no business marking it down. Stars do not decide whether you get in — you and your guide do, on the day.

Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0)

Marine life you may see

OrcaOrcinus orcaNov–JanSeasonal
Humpback whaleMegaptera novaeangliaeNov–JanSeasonal

From divers

What people who were in the water reported. Not a forecast, and not a judgement about whether the site is safe to dive.

No recent reports from divers. If you dived here in the last two weeks, you can say how it was.

How divers rate this site

Nobody has rated this site yet.

Log a dive here and you can be the first.

Log a dive here

Rating is open to divers who have logged a dive here.

Who is going

Nobody has planned a dive here yet.

Somebody reading this page is the most likely person in the world to organise one.

Create a plan

Dive shops here

How we check

No dive shop has claimed this site yet.

Be the first shop to join BubbleSong Diving World.