Freediver Arthur Guérin-Boëri swims near an orca in the Arctic Circle.
What it feels like to dive with orcas in the Arctic
Photographs by Olivier Morin/AFP/Getty Images
Story by Kyle Almond, CNN
Published June 30, 2023
Freediver Arthur Guérin-Boëri swims near an orca in the Arctic Circle.
Just before coming face to face with the ocean’s biggest predator, Arthur Guérin-Boëri felt excited, but also a little frightened.
The French freediver, a five-time world champion, had just jumped off a boat and into the icy cold waters of Norway’s Kvænangen Fjord, near the island of Spildra in the Arctic.
The water was deep and dark. Visibility was minimal. And then he heard his girlfriend, still on the boat: “Don’t move! They’re coming at you!”
“I turned my head and I saw these two massive fins, 2 meters high, coming out of the water,” he recalled.
These were some of the orcas, aka killer whales, that he had traveled hundreds of miles to see.
Guérin-Boëri put his head underwater and saw the white of the orcas as they emerged from the dark waters, swimming right at him — smoothly, quietly.
“They just moved away from me at the last moment,” he said. “They passed next to me, looking at me with their eyes on each side of their massive heads.”
Swimming with orcas was a dream come true for Guérin-Boëri, who has broken eight world records in the sport of freediving, where competitors rely only on holding their breath. He had been wanting to do this for years.
“I wanted to meet the biggest predator in the ocean,” he said. “The orca is at the very top of the food chain. There’s nothing over him. And this creature has fascinated me since I was a child.”
Orcas have been in the news recently because a group of them has been ramming boats around Spain. Scientists are still trying to determine why. Are the animals playing? Did one of them have a bad experience with a boat? It’s made headlines because such behavior is unusual for orcas.
There hasn’t ever been a documented case of orcas killing a human in the wild, and they generally leave people alone. Guérin-Boëri knew this going into his dives, but that didn’t mean he was completely at ease as he went into the water.
His adrenaline and fear soon turned into admiration. “As soon as you see them actually, you forget about everything because it’s very beautiful,” he said.
Accompanying him was Olivier Morin, a Paris-based photographer with the news agency Agence France-Presse. This was Morin’s fifth trip to Norway to photograph document orcas, the largest member of the dolphin family, and he had invited Guérin-Boëri to be a part of the experience.
“I’ve never faced anything bigger in terms of emotion,” said Morin, who was underwater as well and photographed Guérin-Boëri.
Orcas are known as killer whales because they are the apex predator of the ocean, sometimes feeding on blue whales and even great white sharks. These particular orcas were following herring.
What is troubling, Morin said, is that these orcas have been steadily moving north because of climate change.
“Twenty years ago, the same orcas were spotted 200 kilometers (124.27 miles) more south on the coast of Norway,” he said. “And this is because of the herring. … The herring had moved because the water has warmed up almost a degree at that time — 0.5 or 0.6 degrees more. But it’s enough for the herring to have to go to this colder water themselves to find what they need. Two hundred kilometers in 20 years — it’s a lot.”
He and Guérin-Boëri spent a week on the tiny island, where he said only 16 people live. A storm limited their time in the water, which was about 2 degrees Celsius (35.6 degrees Fahrenheit). They were equipped with wetsuits, fins, a snorkel mask, thick gloves and boots, and some weight to help them on their dives. Morin had his cameras in waterproof housing.
“We couldn’t wait to be in the water because it was warmer (than outside) with the wind chill,” Morin said.
Morin had dove with orcas before, and he said he is drawn to the animals’ “warm eyes.” He said the orcas have stopped close to him before, examining him closely. He compared it to being scanned by an X-ray machine.
“When they look, they really stare,” he said. “They stare at your eyes, and at that moment you just hope this isn’t the one orca who wants to play with you a bit.”
Photographing the orcas can be challenging because of how silently — and quickly — they can move in the water. You have to be ready at all times.
“Sometimes they swim underneath (your) fins and at the last moment you just see them,” Morin said.
That doesn’t mean these animals are always quiet, though. Like dolphins or whales, they communicate underwater by whistling to one another.
Morin said you can really hear it well when there’s a group of orcas together, and it’s “absolutely magical.”
Guérin-Boëri said he was grateful and humbled by how the orcas seemed to welcome him and Morin into their environment.
“You understand that, you know, those creatures are living a life and actually they don’t really care about you,” he said.
Morin said it’s all about the approach. “We don’t go to see orcas. We go to propose the orcas to come to see us,” he said. “That’s the way it works. They choose to stay around us, and not vice versa.”
Morin and Guérin-Boëri would dive as deep as 5-7 meters (16-23 feet) at a time, spending anywhere between 20 seconds to a couple of minutes underwater. Guérin-Boëri can hold his breath for 7 minutes and 30 seconds, but that’s under optimal conditions. Not in frigid waters with thick gear.
“It’s not really the best situation to do long breathholds,” he said. “Even for me, one minute, it was very, very difficult.”
Guérin-Boëri hopes to go back soon and stay longer. He’s planning a documentary series where he will be diving in different places around the world to learn more about the animals and the people there. The first season will be about the Arctic.
Morin splits his time between Paris and Finland. The hostile conditions in Norway were right up his alley.
“This mix of the mountains, those fjords, it has a big strength — and this talks to me,” he said.
Many people choose to escape the region because of its harsh winters that barely see sunlight. The conditions can be dangerous if you’re not careful.
That kind of humbling nature is what energizes Morin.
“I like the North,” he said. “I need the North.”
