In a bay inside a fjord in north-west Norway, high up in the Arctic Circle, an orca whale rises vertically from the water – a spyhop – and side-eyes us for a beat before slipping back into the deep.

“It has probably never seen humans before,” reckons Mads Odgaard, one of two team leaders with Majestic Whale Encounters, a Sydney-based agency offering the chance to swim with orcas and see the northern lights in locales few travel outfits dare to go.