Open RIB Whale Tours to Skjervøy

What an open boat in an Arctic winter is actually like

You will be handed a suit that makes you look like a traffic cone. Wear it, and wear proper layers under it, because the suit keeps your own heat in rather than making any of its own. At sea you sit low. The water is an arm’s length away instead of three metres below a rail, and when a humpback surfaces close you feel the blow as much as see it. That proximity is the entire product.

The cost of it is exposure. There is nowhere to go and warm up for two and a half to three hours, no cabin, no door. Spray freezes on your goggles. Your hands stop working before the rest of you notices, which is why the mittens matter more than the jacket. If the thought of that sounds like an ordeal rather than the good bit, take the covered boat instead — the warm version of the same day is on the Skjervøy page, and the heated boats that never leave the harbour are on the big boat page.

The 04:45 boarding

This is the highest-rated tour on the site at the time of writing, and the hardest day on it. Four hours up, about three at sea, four hours back, with a bus that has Wi-Fi and toilets and a skipper who does the actual work. A hot drink and a sandwich are included. Tabitha from the UK called it “the most magical day”; Fiona from Greece logged humpbacks and orcas on the same trip; YingHsuan from Taiwan left the single most practical line in the whole review file, which is to take the seasickness tablets first.

Read the restrictions before you book rather than after. Minimum age 14, minimum height 140 centimetres, and the listing states it is not suitable for pregnant travellers or anyone with back problems. A RIB slams. That is not a comfort note, it is a spine note. Camera gear is at your own risk and drones are not allowed.

The small-group RIB

Meeting point is the ground floor of Prostneset bus terminal, behind the Magic Ice bar. The group size is the difference here: four to twelve people in the boat rather than a full load, which changes how the guide talks to you and how often you get the side of the boat you want. Thermal suits, mittens, balaclavas, waterproof boots and ski goggles are provided. So are fresh baguettes — chicken, ham and cheese, boiled eggs — with tea, coffee and biscuits, photographs from the excursion, and a year’s access to the operator’s orca documentary series.

What comes up over and over in the reviews of this one is conduct around the animals. Sarah from the UK praised the respect shown for “the rules and health of the mammals”. Nathalie from Sweden wrote that you should choose this company if you want a company that cares about the animals. Ann-Sofie from Sweden simply said she couldn’t stop crying. Norwegian whale-watching guidelines ask operators to keep their distance, minimise engine noise and let encounters happen on the whales’ terms, and a small boat with a skipper who takes that seriously is where you feel the difference.

Who these two are not for

The layering that makes a thermal suit work is a subject in itself, and getting it wrong is the difference between three good hours and three long ones: what to wear has the order I actually put things on in.

If the road rather than the boat is what worries you, the four hours are described honestly, hour by hour, on getting to Skjervøy. If you are still weighing an open boat against a warm one, that argument lives on RIB versus big boat.

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