Northwest Passage

Arrive in Ottawa and check in at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier hotel in the heart of Canada's capital.

Lodging: Fairmont Chateau Laurier

This morning you’ll be transferred to the airport to board a charter flight bound for Resolute. The flight is a great opportunity to take in the ‘big picture’ view of the Canadian north, with views including Hudson Strait and Baffin Island. A local representative will meet you upon landing, and in the afternoon you’ll begin Zodiac embarkation to the Akademik Ioffe, your ship and home for the next 12 nights.
You’ll set sail in the evening, heading east towards Lancaster Sound. Once on board, you’ll be introduced to the expedition team and have your first briefing on the adventures to come. A critical factor on your journey will be the state of the ice. Your expedition leader and ice pilot will bring you up to date on the prevailing conditions and explain how you'll best make your way through the Passage. Ice and weather conditions may make it necessary for us to make changes to your itinerary, but this unpredictability is all part of the exploratory nature of this remarkable adventure.

Meals: Dinner

During the night your ship will sail across the Barrow Strait; your morning will begin in the waters of Peel Sound. Today is dedicated to searching for whales, as the Sound is a known habitat for narwhals and belugas.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Many of the expeditions sent to discover the fate of the Franklin Expedition, perhaps the most infamous failure of all searches for the Northwest Passage, stopped at Beechey Island. Here you will pay your respects to three of Franklin's crew who are buried on this desolate island. This site is a reminder of all the courageous people who died while seeking the northern route to Asia.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Your westward journey begins today as your ship sails through Bellot Strait. The Strait is a narrow channel that separates the North American mainland  from Somerset Island. Halfway through the Strait you will sail past Point Zenith, the northernmost point of mainland North America.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Today you will stop on an island that will undoubtedly be one of the historical highlights of your trip, in a place where the mystery surrounding the notorious Franklin expedition still prevails. Here, within 25 km of King William Island, Franklin’s HMS Erebus and Terror remained trapped in ice for two winters. The ships were abandoned on April 22nd, 1848, north-northwest of Victory Point. The only written record ever recovered from the expedition was found 10 years after its disappearance. Francis McClintock’s expedition discovered the evidence buried in a cairn at Victory Point. Other traces have been found scattered along the coast of the island, but no trace of the ships has ever been discovered.
In contrast to Franklin’s disastrous expedition, Roald Amundsen sailed down the west coast of King William Island with very little trouble in 1903 and 1904. He set up scientific instrumentation in several locations and then located the magnetic North Pole, which at that time was very near King William Island.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

You will sail in shallow, ice-dotted seas today. If the opportunity presents itself, you'll follow a polar bear through the ice as it tracks ringed seals. Keep your binoculars handy, as seabirds feed in the open stretches of water here.

During this portion of the voyage you'll enter the second of Canada's three Arctic territories, the Northwest Territories. You'll visit the tiny community of Holman, where the indigenous people have established a print shop and an artists' cooperative.

Witnessing an extraordinary natural phenomenon will be the goal as you explore this section of the Northwest Passage. The bituminous shale of the Smoking Hills has been burning spontaneously for centuries, and this phenomenon has affected the local vegetation and the acidity of the area's tundra ponds.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Today you reach the end of the Canadian Northwest Passage as you enter the Amundsen Gulf and begin your homeward journey. On the way to Cambridge Bay, you'll visit historic outposts and villages. Victoria Island is home to musk oxen; seeing these prehistoric beasts with shaggy coats and massive heads is truly amazing.

The history of the search for the Northwest Passage coincides with the histoy of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Hudson's Bay Company. Your shipboard historian will relate stories of the redcoats, the fur trade, and the merchants who governed the Canadian Arctic for nearly two centuries.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Arrive in Cambridge Bay today, then fly to Edmonton to spend the night.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Transfer to the airport for your flight home today.