High Arctic Archipelago: Canada and Greenland

Upon arrival in Reykjavík, you can enjoy a morning excursion in the surrounding region. This will serve as a first introduction to the unique and fascinating land of Fire and Ice. Following the excursion, you can enjoy lunch before entering a centrally located Reykjavík hotel. From there, you can explore the charming streets of the capital city at your leisure.

Your journey starts with a chartered flight from Reykjavik to Kangerlussuaq, located on the western coast of Greenland. After settling into your cozy cabin, you can enjoy scenic sailing through the Kangerlussuaq Fjord, which stretches 120 miles long and boasts stunning hanging glaciers and striking basalt ribbons. It's a truly breathtaking experience!

Upon arrival at Sisimiut, a former whaling port, enjoy your choice of guided walks through the village's sights and sounds. In your free time, enjoy a local food tasting, visit the open-air museum, or explore the local artisan workshops.

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. Explore 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, sail away from the Greenlandic Coast and venture to the west and the Canadian Arctic.

The Northwest Passage begins in the Davis Strait between Greenland and Canada. Your exploration takes you 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. Continue your exploration of the Canadian High Arctic with a visit to the small Inuit community of Pond Inlet, Nunavut, an area inhabited by Inuit for over 1000 years. As you continue your exploration into Lancaster Sound, days are spent searching for ringed seals, arctic foxes, walruses, polar bears, and beluga and bowhead whales. Visit Devon Island and walk with your ship’s archaeologist to learn about the Thule people—ancestors of the modern Inuit—who once inhabited this region.

Explore the ice-laden channels and glacier-carved islands that stretch for hundreds of miles—a stunning display of raw geology. Explore the rocky, Mars-like terrain of uninhabited Devon Island. You take your cues from nature: following wildlife, stopping for hikes on the tundra, dropping anchor in a beautiful fjord or an iceberg-strewn bay to explore, and kayaking beneath massive ice sculptures and soaring cliffs. Sail past the northernmost part of mainland North America in the Bellot Strait, one of the narrowest and most infamous passages. Learn about the Inuit people who have hunted and fished here for thousands of years. You are also on the lookout for the animals that call this region home, such as ringed seals, arctic foxes, musk oxen, walruses, polar bears, and beluga and bowhead whales.

Heading ever northward, make your way up Ellesmere Island's beautiful and remote east coast. 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 you 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. Seek out any small ivory-colored dot on an otherwise white ice surface with your binoculars. With luck, these tiny dots will be local polar bears exploring the ice and making their way across the landscape of the Arctic Archipelago. After exploring the ice's edge, turn your 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. 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.

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. As you sail south along the coast this evening, spend time on the bridge with your naturalists and bridge team, watching whales and glimpses of the Greenlandic Ice Sheet.

Sail back into Kangerlussuaq and disembark the ship. Take an evening charter flight to Reykjavík and transfer to the overnight hotel close to the airport.

On your final morning, transfer to the airport for flights home.