Northwest Passage: Legendary Arctic Sea Route (Aug 30)

Arrive in the Icelandic capital and make your way to your designated hotel, which is included in your Charter Flight & Hotel Package. You will have the day to explore this fascinating city known for its stunning modern architecture, contemporary music and Viking history.

After an early breakfast at the hotel, guests will transfer together to the airport and board our private charter f light to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. This is a very small town that for decades served as Greenland’s primary airport. Upon arrival, you will be transferred to a very small harbor, where your Expedition Team will provide Zodiac shuttles to your awaiting ship. After a late-afternoon embarkation, we will set sail for the stunning Arctic wilderness.

Upon leaving Kangerlussuaq, we set sail across the Davis Strait to the east coast of Baffin Island. Join us on the outer deck as we cast off, keeping an eye out for seabirds and marine life gliding alongside the ship. Have your binoculars at hand to scan for seabirds, including great black-backed gulls and black guillemots. There are many ways to spend your time aboard Ultramarine. Visit Tundra Spa and other onboard amenities, or attend educational presentations led by our polar experts—glaciologists, historians and other specialists. You’ll learn about northern communities and ways of life in preparation for our first community visit. There will also be mandatory briefings with our expedition team on how we’ll safely explore this remote and compelling Arctic region. You will also have time to relax in the Observation Lounge while spotting drifting ice, seabirds and other wildlife. From the outer decks, take in the wideopen panoramas of western Greenland while we cross the Arctic Circle at 66°33′ North.

We’re excited to be heading to Qikiqtarjuaq, fondly called Qik, a small Inuit hamlet located north of the Arctic Circle on Broughton Island, off the east coast of Baffin Island. Known as the iceberg capital of Nunavut, Qikiqtarjuaq sits at the northern entrance to the mountainous Auyuittuq National Park, which is home to narwhals, bowhead and orca whales, polar bears, seals and migratory birds. Community visits, arranged in collaboration with our local partners, enable guests to learn about on-the-ground culture, and purchase art and traditional handicrafts, such as parkas, boots and local art when available. As icebergs travel down the Davis Strait, many are naturally trapped at Qikiqtarjuaq. The surrounding waters are also home to ringed and harp seals, often surfacing between floes. A hike up to the hilltop offers sweeping views of the community and its coastal setting. You’ll also see inukshuks—carefully placed stone figures or cairns that have served as navigational guides and markers of important places, but also as expressions of spirit, memory, and connection to the land. Cruising further north along the mountainous east shore of Baffin Island, we’ll approach Isabella Bay, an important summer and fall feeding area for the largest concentration of bowhead whales in Canada. Bowheads are a truly remarkable Arctic leviathan, with research suggesting they can live more than 200 years—making them the longest-lived mammal on Earth. Isabella Bay is a marvel, its dramatic landscapes and wideopen horizons best experienced from the outer decks of Ultramarine. We’ll aim to launch the Zodiacs and explore the bay, binoculars at the ready. For our intrepid paddlers, our sea kayak and paddling programs may also be available here.

This is an especially exciting day as you become one of the very few travelers to explore the majestic Icy Arm Fjord, which cuts almost 80 kilometers deep into northern Bafffin Island. Accessible only by water in summer months when the sea ice recedes, this rarely-visited fjord is known for its unrivalled landscape of towering cliffs and stunning glaciers, and is valued as much for its sheer remoteness as it is for its singularly pristine environment. Icy Arm Fjord epitomizes the raw beauty of unspoiled Arctic wilderness. We may observe polar bears, Arctic foxes, seals, walruses, as well as guillemots, kittiwakes and other Arctic-dwelling birds. Excitement grows on Day 6 as Ultramarine’s two twin-engine helicopters are made ready for flightseeing excursions. Prepare to view the remote Arctic terrain from the seat of a helicopter—camera at the ready. It’s also an excellent day for Zodiac cruises, which offer guests a sea-level intimacy with the the surrounding lands and waters. If weather conditions prevent heli flightseeing on this day, we will aim for another potential flight seeing opportunity at a different location.

At the top of Baffin Island sits TallurutiupImanga (also known as Lancaster Sound), a true Arctic oasis. Known by the Inuit and their predecessors for thousands of years, this channel and the surrounding lands are extremely rich in wildlife and history, both indigenous and European. The surrounding area affords several hiking opportunities. At Dundas Harbour, on Devon Island, you’ll visit an abandoned beachside outpost of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. At Croker Bay, we’ll plan to cruise close enough to appreciate the splendor of glacial textures and calving ice, while always keeping a safe distance. Walrus frequent the waters here, so be sure to have your camera handy. Next we’ll head to the western end of Devon Island, on the north side of Tallurutiup-Imanga, and go ashore at windswept Beechey Island, which is home to Beechey Island National Historic Sites. Maintained by Parks Canada, these sites tell the story—or at least the part that’s still not shrouded in mystery—of Sir John Franklin’s much chronicled 1845- 46 expedition to explore the Northwest Passage. The island is small, only 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) at its widest point, but its shores are steep, and rise to a flat plateau 244 meters (800 feet) high. That’s where Franklin and his crew of 128 men spent the winter after embarking from England on two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror. The ill-fated 1845-46 expedition—to navigate and chart the Northwest Passage—ended in tragedy for all 129 men and their two vessels. What happened to Franklin and his crew is the stuff of legend, and the focus for several search expeditions over the years, which discovered bodies, personal belongings of crew members, and handwritten notes that suggested starvation, deaths from hypothermia, scurvy, and lead poisoning from the tinned food supplies. Accounts by Inuit suggest the crew split up into small groups and subsequently perished. What is known for certain is that no one survived. The graves of three officers from HMS Erebus— John Hartnell, William Braine, and John Torrington— were discovered in 1851. You will have an opportunity to visit their graves, and honor the memory of the entire Franklin crew who braved daunting challenges to explore the Northwest Passage. Franklin’s story is an integral part of the history of Arctic exploration. The wrecks of Erebus and Terror were discovered in 2014 and 2016, respectively. We also hope to explore the shores of the uninhabited Prince Leopold Island, known primarily as a significant Migratory Bird Sanctuary and an Important Bird Area, where we aim to launch the Zodiacs for an immersive cruise at the foot of the bird cliffs. The island is renowned for its steep cliffs that host hundreds of thousands of nesting seabirds, including thick-billed murres, northern fulmars, and black guillemots during the summer months. Port Leopold, an abandoned Hudson’s Bay Company trading post dating back to 1937, sits on the northeast tip of nearby Somerset Island. It’s the closest landmark to Prince Leopold Island, situated about 13 kilometers (8.1 miles) to the southwest. This site is closely tied to the history of Arctic exploration, including the search for the Franklin Expedition. Visitors can still see the remains of the original trading post, including the old store and the manager’s home.

As we position from Lancaster Sound down along the east coast of Baffin Island, spend time out on deck to soak in the scenery: expansive landscapes, jagged spires, and bird life. Today is also ideal to enjoy the onboard amenities—such as Tundra Spa—and deepening your knowledge through presentations by our polar experts.

Well inside the Arctic Circle, Sam Ford Fjord is a standout Arctic adventure destination on Baffin Island’s northeast coast, and one of the world’s most spectacular big-wall playgrounds. A traditional Inuit hunting area, the fjord is a study in contrasts: sheer granite cliffs seem to rise straight up from the ocean below, reaching up to 457 meters (1,500 feet) above sea level. If weather conditions permit, this region offers fabulous Zodiac cruising, sea kayaking and paddling as well as opportunities to go ashore. With a bit of luck, we may see Arctic fox onshore, and we’ll keep our eyes peeled for polar bears during our off-shore excursions. Cruising the fjord in a Zodiac is a striking reminder of just how small we are. Winding along a 110- kilometer (68-mile) path, Sam Ford Fjord narrows to less than 3 kilometers (2 miles) wide as it meanders farther inland.

As Ultramarine continues eastward across the Davis Strait, you’ll have a choice of presentations by our polar experts, who will share insights that bring greater meaning to the experiences so far and set the stage for our time in West Greenland.

Prepare yourself for an awe-inspiring experience. Ilulissat, located in Disko Bay, is home to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Ilulissat Icefjord, which is the thoroughfare for countless icebergs calved from one of the world’s fastest-moving glaciers, Sermeq Kujalleq. Locals have constructed a boardwalk leading to an elevated overlook, where you can view bergs of all sizes spread out before you. From this vantage point, it feels as though you’re standing where the town ends and the wilderness begins. Visitors say they’ve felt humbled by the sweeping vista of ice. You will also notice the Arctic cotton grass and summer wildflowers thriving in the long daylight hours. The inner harbor is a rare sight: icebergs drifting among fishing boats and skiffs. The town itself is well worth exploring, and has become one of Greenland’s top destinations. Recent years have brought growth— colorful homes now sit beside new restaurants, boutique hotels and small businesses. History buffs will be excited to know Ilulissat is the birthplace of Arctic explorer Knud Rasmussen, who traveled by dog sled from Greenland to Alaska (and briefly Siberia) during the Fifth Thule Expedition (1921–1924). Fluent in Kalaallisut, he learned from and documented the Circumpolar Inuit he met—making it one of the Arctic’s greatest expeditions. It was in these dramatic landscapes around Ilulissat that Rasmussen’s passion for exploration took root. As we approach town, watch out for whales, which frequent the iceberg-laden waters. Pride of place for our seasoned expedition team is Eternity Fjord, which is home to the tallest mountains in all of West Greenland. This a favorite spot for us to launch the Zodiacs to explore in-depth— where larger vessels can’t navigate. There are few settlements along this lengthy fjord, but you will quickly appreciate nature in its rawest form as you hike among the towering mountains, and photograph the colorful tundra and other dramatic landscapes. Another fascinating highlight is Maniitsoq, often called the “Venice of Greenland,” as it’s situated in an archipelago intersected by natural canals. Soaring, snow-capped mountains surround this small, rocky town, whose name means “the uneven place.” Playful humpback whales spend the summer in the surrounding waters, so we’ll keep our eyes peeled as we transit ashore by Zodiac.

Today we’ll explore 50 kilometers (31 miles) above the Arctic Circle. Our destination is Kangerlussuaq, which is Greenlandic for “the long fjord.” At the end of this 180-kilometer (112 mile) fjord is a settlement bearing the same name. Fishing boats based in the town of Kangerlussuaq sail the full length of the fjord to access the ocean. The town is known for its natural beauty—and for previously being the home of the largest airport in Greenland. You will be ferried from ship to shore on one last Zodiac ride, then transferred to the airport where you will board your charter flight to Iceland’s Keflavik International Airport, approximately 45 minutes from Reykjavik. Upon arrival at the airport, you will be transferred to your included hotel for the night, which is part of the Charter Flight & Hotel package.

After breakfast in your included hotel in Reykjavik, you can transfer independently to the Keflavik International Airport for your onward journey or explore Iceland as prearranged.