|
Arctic Explorer 2013
July 27, 2013 - Aug. 6, 2013
Aboard the Sea Adventurer
Seeking out rugged mountains, rolling tundra, icecaps and glaciers, this adventure is entirely north of the Arctic Circle!
We’ll hug Baffin Island’s fjords, surrounded by towering cliffs, and then cross Davis Strait to witness Greenland’s epic icescape.
We begin in the High Arctic archipelago at the entrance to the Northwest Passage, and visit Beechey Island to see the graves of crew-members from the ill-fated Franklin expedition. The search for Franklin’s ship continues to this day.
During this peak wildlife season, we’ll cruise Prince Leopold Island, where thousands of Thick-Billed Murres, Northern Fulmars and Black-legged Kittiwakes summer and call in at Nigingnaniq (Isabella Bay), a pristine feeding ground for most of the region’s threatened bowhead whale population.
On Baffin Island’s tip is Mittimatalik (Pond Inlet), overlooking the immense beauty of Bylot Island. Here our Inuit hosts will welcome us with creative Inuit games and the unique sounds of throat singing before we set sail for Greenland.
On our route south is Ilulissat Icefjord where most of the Atlantic’s icebergs are formed. Our journey comes to an end after sailing the spectacular 168 km Kangerlussuaq Fjord.
View Arctic Safari 2012 in a larger map |
day 2
Prince Leopold, Somerset Island and Beechey Island
day 3
Mittimatalik (Pond Inlet)
day 5
Kanngiqtugaapik (Clyde River)
day 6
Igaliqtuuq (Isabella Bay)
day 8
Uummannaq, Greenland
day 9
Ilulissat, Greenland
day 10
Itilleq, Greenland
day 11
Kangerlussuaq, Greenland
Arriving in Resolute this afternoon, we embark the Sea Adventurer and settle into our new home.
The tall cliffs of Prince Leopold Island are one of the top bird sites in the High Arctic both during the breeding and summering seasons. It is a breeding site for Thick-Billed Murre, Black-legged Kittiwake, Northern Fulmar, Glaucous Gull, and Black Guillemot. It was beneath these tall cliffs, that Sir James Clark Ross, perhaps the greatest polar explorer of the 19th century, was based in 1848-49. Ross's 1848-49 expedition in search of the Franklin expedition was not successful; they spent a frustrating winter locked by ice in Port Leopold on the northeast coast of Somerset Island and returned to England the following summer. It was also from this area that Sir John Ross (James's uncle) escaped in 1833 after abandoning the Victory and spending four harrowing winters in the Arctic.
Beechey island is best known as the epicentre of the Franklin search, for it was here that the lost expedition spent its first winter (1845-46). The only record of the expedition, and subsequent explorers making it to Beechey, is the remains of three storehouses, workshops, a washhouse, many empty meat tins, and of course, three eerie graves.
This bustling Arctic community is surrounded by one of the most beautiful landscapes in the Eastern Arctic. We will have a chance to explore the town, as well as enjoy a cultural presentation at the Nattinnak Centre.
We will make an expeditionary stop today on our way south on Baffin Island.
Perched on a floodplain surrounded by soaring mountains, Clyde River offers excellent views of glacial action. Once an important trading post, the area is home to various species of seal and the polar bears that prey on them. It is known as the "Gateway to the Great Fiords", and there are 10 fiords within a 100-kilometre radius of the hamlet.
Also know as Isabella Bay, this is a late summer and fall feeding destination for many Baffin Bay/Davis Strait bowhead whales. We were lucky enough to find a pod of 60 bowheads here in 2005.
In Karrat Fjord we will cruise one of Greenland's most spectacular fjords. During ice breakup, narwhals and seals use the long leads created by high winds in this region to hunt the rich waters of the fjord. The cliffs within the fjord should give us good opportunities to see colonies of dovekies. Time spent on deck today should result in some good wildlife sightings, not to mention unbeatable photographic opportunities
Despite being situated in the shadow of a mountain, Uummannaq is the sunniest place in Greenland! It is an impressive and imposing 1,175-metre hunk of red gneiss called Uummannaq Mountain. This mountain serves as the town's backdrop on which colourful, single-family homes desperately cling, anchored by cables and pipes. The famous Greenlandic mummies dating from the 15th century were found on the shore opposite Ummannaq.
250km north of the Arctic Circle we find the stunning coastal community of Ilulissat. Ilulissat translates literally into "iceberg", and there couldn't be a more fitting name. Our visit will include time in the colourful town and a chance to hike out to an elevated viewpoint where we can observe the great fields of ice. We will also cruise in our fleet of zodiacs in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Ilulissat Icefjord. The Icefjord is where we find the Sermeq Kujalleq Glacier, one of the most active and fastest moving in the world at 19m per day and calving more than 35 square kilometers of ice annually. The glacier has been the object of scientific attention for 250 years and, because of its relative ease of accessibility, has significantly added to the understanding of ice-cap glaciology, climate change and related geomorphic processes.
Living in a small town that relies primarily on fishing for its existence, Itilleq's residents are closely tied to the land and its resources. Beautifully coloured houses speckle the rocky landscape as the town's children play freely in rocky fields. We'll engage the local soccer team in a friendly match before parting ways.
Lying at the head of the longest fjord in western Greenland, Kangerlussuaq has one of the most stable climates in the region though temperatures can range from -50C in the winter to as high as 28C in summer. Kangerlussuaq, which means 'The Big Fjord' in Greenlandic, is appropriately named, as it's 168km long and is the end of our voyage.
|
| 1 |
Quad Lower Forward, 2 upper 2 lower berths, porthole window. |
$3995.00 |
| 2 |
Triple Lower Deck, 1 upper 2 lower berths, porthole window. |
$5395.00 |
| 3 |
Junior Double, two lower berths, porthole window |
$6495.00 |
| 4 |
Double, two lower berths, midship, porthole window. |
$7395.00 |
| 5 |
Main Double, two lower berths, porthole window. |
$8595.00 |
| 6 |
Deluxe Double, two lower berths, midship, porthole window. |
$8995.00 |
| 7 |
Superior Double, two lower berths, picture window. |
$9995.00 |
| 8 |
Junior Suite, two lower berths, sitting area, picture window. |
$10595.00 |
| 9 |
Suite, two lower beds, sitting area, picture window. |
$10995.00 |
| 10 |
Owner’s Suite, two lower berths, shower & bathtub, picture window. |
$11795.00 |
|
 |
What's Included
- All entry & park fees
- Your complete itinerary
- Team of resource specialists
- Educational program and pre-departure materials
- All shipboard meals
- All Zodiac excursions
- Service charges and port fees
What's Not Included
- Commercial flights
- Mandatory medical / evacuation insurance
- Personal expenses
- Additional expenses in the event of delays or Itinerary changes
- Discretionary gratuities to ship's crew (approximately $10 - 14 per passenger per day)
- Visas, or inoculations, if required
- Physician's fees confirming you are fit to travel
- Possible fuel surcharges
- $250 Discovery Fund Fee
- Charter Flights
- Charter Flights are available from Ottawa to Resolute Bay and return from Kangerlussuaq, Greenland to Toronto Pearson Airport (YYZ) for $1,891.99 USD.
- Experience the midnight sun
- Marvel at the Ilulissat icefield, where 90% of the north Atlantic's icebergs are born
- Seek out the thousands of birds that call the Arctic home during the peek Summer season
- Search for whales as we explore Northeast Baffin
- Enjoy a cultural presentation and country food at Kanngiqtugaapik
- Keep watch for bowhead whale as we cruise Isabella Bay
- Take in the breath-taking scenery as we cruise Karrat Fjord - one of Greenland’s most beautiful
- Visit Greenland’s heart as we explore the colourful town of Uummannaq
- Visit the site of the famous Greenlandic Mummies
- Participate in or cheer on our annual sporting match in Itilleq
Aaron Spitzer
History and Politics
Aaron has long had a thing for the Arctic. Born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, he was just 13 when he convinced his mother to take him on a roadtrip to Canada’s Northwest Territories. During that first northern adventure he discovered (and subscribed to, and began writing letters to) the magazine he now edits: Up Here, the journal of Canada’s North.
The road to Up Here, however, was not a straight one. In 1995, Aaron earned a degree in political science from Carleton College in Minnesota, then had a brief flirtation with law school. The flirtation didn’t last. Unable to shake his childhood fixation, he moved to Alaska, where he worked as a bookseller, kayak guide, legislative aide and, finally, editor of the Tundra Drums, the newspaper serving the isolated Yup’ik Inuit region of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.
It was in Arctic journalism that Aaron found his calling. Here, he says, was a way to not just live in the North, but to fully immerse himself in it – to explore its wild places, to pick the brains of its prominent people, to be in the front row of its most dramatic events. It was one of those dramatic events – the 1999 creation of the Inuit homeland of Nunavut in the Eastern Arctic – that brought Aaron to Canada. He moved to Iqaluit to serve as managing editor of Nunatsiaq News, then went on to positions in the Yukon and Northwest Territories with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Lonely Planet travel guides. In 2006 he moved to Yellowknife to take the helm of Up Here; four years later, the National Magazine Awards Foundation named the magazine the best in Canada.
In his scant free time, Aaron paddles Northern rivers, pokes away at his Master’s Degree (about the future of governance in the Northwest Territories), and, of course, sails the Arctic with Cruise North, where he serves as what he calls an “un-naturalist,” teaching guests about the North’s human history, politics and culture. This August he’ll be on board with his girlfriend, marine mammologist Deanna Leonard. Alas, their four-year-old son, “Mark the Shark,” is staying home with his grandmother.
Bernadette Dean
Culturalist
Bernadette grew up in Coral Harbour on Southampton Island in northern Hudson’s Bay, where the spring and summer seasons were spent on the land hunting, fishing and harvesting what the land and hunters provided. Since then she has lived in different communities in Nunavut, and has worked very closely with elders and youth on cultural program development, culture camps for Inuit youth and women and Inuktitut language preservation projects producing several albums of traditional Inuit and contemporary songs, stories and legends. She has been a cultural advisor to various museum exhibits in the USA and a cultural advisor on documentary films about Inuit and arctic history. She produced and co-directed Inuit Piqutingit-What belongs to Inuit with famed Inuk film maker Zacharias Kunuk.
Carol Heppenstall
Arts and Cullture
Carol Heppenstall has been leading tours for Adventure Canada for nineteen years. She has a BA Honours from the University of PA in Art History and a Masters in Museum Education from the University of the Arts. Her passion for Inuit Art and her belief in the power of communication through the arts, has drawn her back repeatedly to the Arctic. Designing smaller tours with an art/culture focus and working as a Resource Guide on the Arctic cruises has allowed her to keep in touch with artists and update the ever- changing artistic and cultural expressions in the north. A native of Winnipeg, now living in Santa Fe, Carol combines a nursing background with her art degrees.
She has been a faculty instructor at the University of the Arts Philadelphia, the University of Toronto,The Art Gallery of Ontario and a lecturer at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. She is Director of Arts and Culture at Adventure Canada.
Carolyn Mallory
Field Botanist
Carolyn is a field botanist and writer whose book Common Insects of Nunavut was published in December 2011. It is a follow up to her popular Common Plants of Nunavut, co-written with Susan Aiken. She is working on updating and revising the plant book as a new edition will be published in the near future. She is also hard at work on a picture book for children and a novel. Carolyn can always be recognized on activities off of the ship, as she is usually looking down at the amazing Arctic world a few centimetres above the permafrost. She has three children, four dogs, five cats, one cockatiel, a lizard, and a miniature pig. Carolyn and her husband Mark have recently made the move from Iqaluit to Canada’s East Coast after living in the Arctic for the last twelve years.
Deanna Leonard
Marine Mammalist
Deanna was born and raised in the Northwest Territories where she developed a life-long love of nature. After graduating from University, Deanna moved to Boston to work as a research-intern studying whales on the coast of New England. During her years on the Eastern Seaboard, Deanna became a skilled whale-watch Naturalist and fell in love with teaching in a natural setting. As the Director, of the Center for Oceanic Research and Education, she developed education-outreach programs for both commercial whale-watch vessels and for classrooms. A true northerner at heart, Deanna made her way back home in 2007 to continue her work as a wildlife biologist in the Northern frontier, joining Fisheries and Oceans Canada in Yellowknife.
Dennis Minty
Photographer and Naturalist
Dennis Minty has been working with Adventure Canada as a naturalist and photographer for eight years in the Arctic, Newfoundland, Antarctica, New Zealand and Scotland. He has traveled extensively to many parts of the world and his professional photography path has taken him through more than 30 years of both local and international work as an award winning wildlife biologist and environmental educator; author of both educational and photographic books and CD-ROMs; multimedia developer and eco-tour guide. His work can be found in public and private collections around the world. On Newfoundland he says, "It is my home. It roots me. After half a lifetime of shooting, I am still overwhelmed by its visual richness." On photography he says, "For me, nature and photography are inseparable. I immerse myself in nature through photography. I think that outstanding photography communicates through the eye to the heart and brings new awareness, respect and awe for our amazing world. My primary and constant goal is to celebrate the Earth with images."
Visit www.thehumannaturecompany.ca for more info.
Heidi Langille
Culturalist
Heidi is an Urban Inuk with family roots in Nunatsiavut (Northern Labrador). She is one of the founders of the Ottawa Inuit Children’s Centre which empowers Inuit families in Ottawa with many programs and services. Heidi was nominated as one of the National Aboriginal Role Models in 2010-2011 which has enabled her to motivate and inspire Aboriginal youth across Canada. One of the many things that Heidi enjoys is providing interactive presentations to all walks of life about the Inuit Culture, including throat singing, history, current events, drumming and Inuit Games. Along with her husband, Heidi is currently raising six children.
Jason Edmunds
Expedition Team
Jason grew up in the communities of Nain and Makkovik in Northern Labrador. He was an active youth, participating and contributing in local and regional Inuit youth groups, language and culture preservation committees and sports teams. During the summer months he traveled the coast of Labrador extensively while hunting and assisting his father with tours and charters. Coming from a family of politicians, Jason went on to study Political Science at Memorial University, traveling between his home and the booming metropolises of Happy Valley-Goose Bay and St. John’s, NL. After his time in university he went on to study carpentry and tourism. It was at this time he became involved with Adventure Canada as a guide in training. Now living in Mississauga, he hopes to add enjoyment to your travels both from the office and onboard.
Jim Halfpenny
Author and Scientist
Jim is an author, scientist and educator whose interest in exploration has taken him to all seven continents and Greenland. Jim’s specialties include environmental ecology, animal tracking and carnivores. His greatest love, bears, led to 20 years studying polar and grizzly bears. Jim has authored over 25 books and videos including his latest, Yellowstone Bears in the Wild and Track Plates for Mammals. He is a Fellow of the Explorer’s Club and received the Antarctic Service medal. A past Research Fellow of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, Jim was Director of the Mountain Research Station and the Long-Term Ecological Research program in the Alpine. Currently he is president of A Naturalist’s World.
Kenneth Lister
Historian
Kenneth Lister is a curator of anthropology at the Royal Ontario Museum and 2013 will be his fourth trip with Adventure Canada. His areas of research include archaeological fieldwork in northern Ontario and ethnographic research among the northern Ontario Cree and the Inuit of Baffin Island. Beginning in 2006 he travelled along the fur trade canoe routes of northern Ontario searching for landscape sites sketched by Canadian artist, Paul Kane (1810-1871), during the mid 19th century. This work culminated in the discovery and subsequent excavation of the eastern end of the French Portage in Quetico Provincial Park.
Based upon his Arctic research, Kenneth curated the exhibit In the Time of the Kayak: Hunting in the Eastern Canadian Arctic (1994-1996). He curated the exhibition Tuugaaq: Ivory Sculptures from the Eastern Canadian Arctic (2002-2003) and this work is now featured in the Virtual Museum Website, Tuugaaq | Ivory | Ivoire. He has curated three exhibitions devoted to the art of Paul Kane: Wilderness to Studio: the Work of Paul Kane (1984); Wilderness to Studio: Four Views of Paul Kane (1998-99); and Paul Kane: Land Study, Studio View (2000-01). Kenneth is Curatorial Coordinator for the ROM’s Daphne Cockwell Gallery of Canada: First Peoples that opened in 2005 and his most recent exhibition and catalogue was Canada Collects: Treasures from Across the Nation (2007-2008). In 2010 he published the award-winning book, Paul Kane /the Artist/: Wilderness to Studio, that is based upon the ROM’s Paul Kane collection.
Mark Mallory
Seabird Biologist
Dr. Mark Mallory is a Canada Research Chair in Coastal Wetland Ecosystems at Acadia University, Nova Scotia, where he studies coastlines in the Canadian Maritimes and Arctic. However, from 1999-2011, he lived in Iqaluit, Nunavut, with his wife Carolyn and three children (Conor, Jessamyn and Olivia), where he was a government biologist studying seabirds, particularly the effects of climate change and pollution on their biology. Most of Mark’s northern work takes him to the High Arctic, where there are few mosquitoes, little warmth, and lots of pesky polar bears. He has written over 130 scientific papers, including co-editing a book on Hudson Bay called A Little Less Arctic – Changes to Top Predators in the World’s Largest Northern Inland Sea, and his studies led to the creation of two new national wildlife areas on eastern Baffin Island, and the uplisting of Ivory Gulls to Endangered status in 2009.
Matthew Swan
President
With an eye on the future, Matthew Swan’s parents emigrated from Scotland to Canada in 1959 and, to their son’s good fortune, they decided to bring Matthew with them. Matthew has recognized opportunities that present themselves ever since that big move.
He graduated with a degree in English from the University of St. Andrew’s, Scotland, a degree he started in Windsor, Ontario but opted for the opportunity to travel and learn simultaneously. Matthew returned to Canada and worked as a print and photojournalist in Ontario and British Columbia. He encountered the outdoor training and adventure field while undertaking an outdoor instructor’s apprenticeship program at Strathcona Park Lodge on Vancouver Island. Returning east, Matthew shifted focus and worked in the emerging white water rafting industry on the Ottawa River. Strathcona and the Ottawa were the catalysts for Adventure Canada, created in 1987 with his brother Bill and friend David Freeze.
Matthew considers himself to have one of the best jobs in Canada. Researching and delivering travel programs has taken him to some of the most beautiful parts of the country, an experience he describes as having an “elemental effect” on his view of Canada. He developed many programs in the Arctic that continue to be the company’s most successful destination. Matthew and his three children, Cedar, Alana and Matthew James and grand-daughter Leah, live in a remote, wilderness part of Mississauga, but very near the airport.
Stefan Kindberg
Expedition Leader
Stefan, born in the northern part of Sweden (and our resident Viking), began his expedition career at the age of 15, to Northern Greenland. Since then, he served onboard small expedition ships all over the world, and led numerous expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic. He is also a member of the Explorer’s Club. Stefan’s passion for the Arctic beauty, wilderness and wildlife will be shared with you at every possible opportunity.
Stefan just bought a summer restaurant, the Almagrand in the Gulf of Bothnia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Viking promises to be back in time for the Northwest Passage - and don’t worry, he’ll be taking a break from the kitchen!
Stefan looks forward to sparking your enthusiasm and curiosity for what the Arctic day will bring.
Thomas Kovacs
Musician
One word describes a musical performance by Thomas Kovacs … fun! Tom approaches his music with a great deal of seriousness and is especially proud of his vocal skills. Playing for soldiers in the Persian Gulf in 1991 for five months taught him some valuable lessons in connecting and having fun with audiences. Since then, Tom has focused on interacting with his audiences and making them a part of the show. Tom knows that people can easily listen to music in the comfort of their own home so going to see live music must offer more. And Tom does just that by providing humor, entertainment, and of course ... great music!
|
