High Arctic Archipelago: Canada and Greenland

Day 1: Arrive in Reykjavík, Iceland
Arrive in Reykjavík. Enjoy a morning excursion in the Reykjavík region as your first introduction to the land of Fire and Ice.  After lunch, check into your centrally located hotel in Reykjavík and enjoy exploring the quaint capital city streets at your leisure. Meals Included: Lunch, Dinner

Day 2: Fly to Nuuk, Greenland & Embark
Fly from Reykjavík by chartered aircraft to Nuuk, Greenland’s capital thriving capital city. Settle into your cabin and enjoy a scenic sailing out of the Nuuk fjord and into the open water of the Davis Strait, as we navigate north along the coastline. Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 3: Greenland’s West Coast and Sisimiut
Upon arrival to Sisimiut, a former whaling port, enjoy your choice of guided walks through the sights and sounds of the village, including Dog Town or Sallinnguit, a small island with centuries of history from Inuit culture through colonization and current day industry. In your free time, enjoy a local food tasting, visit the open-air museum, or explore the local artisan workshops. Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 4: Disko Bay
Sail into Qeqertarsuup Tunua, also known as Disko Bay, and be welcomed by floating icebergs calved off the world’s most active glacier, Sermeq Kujalleq. On Disko Island, the second largest in Baffin Bay, enjoy a day of expedition activities as conditions permit, including backcountry hiking, photo walks, and naturalist led botany walks. This evening, we sail away from the Greenlandic Coast and venture to the west and the Canadian Arctic. Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Days 5-11: Shores of the Northwest Passage
The Northwest Passage begins in the Davis Strait between Greenland and Canada. Our exploration takes us along the beautiful bays and inlets of Baffin Island’s Lancaster Sound, a favorite Inuit hunting and fishing location for hundreds of years. Carved by Ice Age glaciers, Lancaster Sound is also the eastern gateway to the Arctic Archipelago, where European explorers like William Baffin first ventured in the 17th century to search for the Northwest Passage. We continue our exploration of the Canadian High Arctic with a visit to the small Inuit community of Pond Inlet, Nunavut, an area that has been inhabited by Inuit for over 1000 years.

As we continue our exploration into Lancaster Sound, days are spent searching for ringed seals, arctic foxes, walruses, and polar bears, as well as beluga and bowhead whales. Visit Devon Island and take a walk with our ship’s archaeologist to learn about the Thule people—ancestors of the modern Inuit—that once inhabited this region. Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Days 12-16: Exploring the Queen Elizabeth Islands
We explore the ice-laden channels and glacier-carved islands that stretch for hundreds of miles—a stunning display of raw geology. We take our cues from nature in the High Arctic Archipelago: following wildlife, stopping for hikes on the tundra, dropping anchor in a beautiful fjord or an iceberg-strewn bay to explore and kayak amongst massive ice sculptures and soaring cliffs.

Sail among the northernmost cluster of islands in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, learning about the Inuit peoples who have hunted and fished here for thousands of years as well as the famous explorers who have sailed these waters such as Sir John Ross. We will be constantly on the lookout for animals that call this region home, such as ringed seals, arctic foxes, musk oxen, walruses, and polar bears, and beluga and bowhead whales. Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Days 17-21: Exploring Ellesmere Island and Northern Greenland
Heading ever northward, we make our way up the beautiful and remote east coast of Ellesmere Island. Cruise along scenic Smith Bay (a.k.a. Skog Inlet, named for Leif Skog, Lindblad’s own renowned ice captain and world explorer) bordered by a steep wall of mountains, with a glacial ice tongue which pours down the mountains on either side. Be up on the bridge as we search for a patch of “polar bear ice,” the mixture of first-year and multi-year sea ice that is the preferred habitat of the ice bears. Our binoculars seek out any small ivory-colored dot on an otherwise white ice surface. With luck, these small dots will be local polar bears exploring the ice and making their way across the landscape of the Arctic Archipelago.

After exploring to the edge of the ice, we turn our attention eastward to the largest island in the world: Greenland. The shores of northern Greenland continue to challenge explorers and locals alike to carve out their daily lives among some of the most beautiful and harsh conditions. We will kayak in sheltered coves, embark on hikes (when the coast is clear of polar bears), and visit local communities that continue the traditional hunting practices. Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 22: Ilulissat
Sail back into Qeqertarsuup Tunua, or Disko Bay, and enjoy an extraordinary cruise aboard local boats among towering icebergs of the UNESCO World Heritage-designated Ilulissat Icefjord. Visit the town of Ilulissat and hike into the Sermermiut Valley, once an Inuit settlement and now the home to a peaceful boardwalk overlooking the Icefjord. This evening, we sail away south along the coast, spend time on the bridge with your Naturalists and Bridge team keeping watch for whales and glimpses of the Greenlandic Ice Sheet. Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Days 23-24: Nuuk / Disembark Ship / Reykjavík, Iceland
Sail back into Nuuk and disembark the ship. Take an evening charter flight to Reykjavík and transfer to the to our overnight hotel close to the airport. On our final morning, transfer to the airport for flights home. Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner