Moments you will never forget on your Northwest Passage adventure
We here at Cruise Traveller are confirmed expedition enthusiasts. There’s nothing we value more than unique experiences, with a small group of like-minded travellers, on a far-flung corner of our planet. After all, our motto is: “Life’s too short for average holidays” – and we mean it.
That’s why we hold Adventure Canada’s Northwest Passage expedition cruises in such high regard. Each year for a small window of time, the passage up into the far reaches of Canada’s Arctic open up and the team on Adventure Canada take 198 guests and 124 crew into one of the world’s last true wildernesses.
Here’s just a sample of some of the moments you will never forget on your trip into the Arctic.
1. Go far far north
Smith Sound, rimmed by ice floes, sharp headlands and ghostly ruins is a tribute to those explorers who gave their all to find a way into discovering the Northwest Passage. As you travel through this white wonderland, be the farthest north you can be.
2. Be dwarfed by ice
The town of Ilulissat is home to about 4700 people and one of the biggest glaciers in the northern hemisphere. This UNESCO World Heritage Site in Greenland is a towering monolith that regularly drops enormous ice bergs into the ocean each year. Sadly, this along with all the world’s glaciers is in decline due to climate change. Travelling to a place like this is both awe-inspiring and humbling as we work together to slow our planet’s decline.
3. Find a place where dogsleds are still king
Northwest Greenland is home to the isolated, resilient Inughuit, the world’s northernmost people, who still prefer dogsleds over snowmobiles, skin kayaks over motorboats, and polar bear trousers over flimsy commercial snowpants. Learn from the locals what life is like in a land without trees, where very little plants grow and where winter is long and hard.
4. Whales and Wildlife
The Tallurutiup Imanga is a marine sanctuary that was established through a pact between Inuit and Canada and with good reason. Here bus-sized bowhead whales skim the waters for plankton, belugas and elusive narwhal feed on cod. Above on the cliffs murres and guillemots nest in thousand strong communities. While drifting past are seals and polar bears in an endless game of chase.
5. Wrecks ahoy
The famous Erebus and Terror find their graveyards here in the Northwest Passage. Sir John Franklin set out in 1845 on these two well-provisioned ships and never returned. You can pay homage to these men on Beechey Island and learn more about the wrecks current and ongoing investigations during your trip.