Trip leads from Greenland to Yellowknife
IAN STALKER
Adventure Canada’s Dennis Minty firmly believes it’s nice to see ice.
Particularly when that ice is abundant and dramatic.
And Minty adds that Adventure Canada’s Aug. 16 to Sept. 1 Into the Northwest Passage itinerary will enable passengers to see plenty of displays of particularly dramatic ice.
“Associated with these magnificent land and seascapes is ice in the form of glaciers, icebergs and pack ice,” he told an Adventure Canada webinar.
Icebergs are iconic of the Arctic and Newfoundland and Labrador as well, with Minty — a photographer and wildlife biologist — noting that the sometimes massive ‘bergs come in different shapes and sizes.
Into the Northwest Passage begins on the west coast of Greenland, with Adventure Canada’s Ocean Endeavour calling at Ilulissat, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that Minty referred to as the “undisputed iceberg capital of the Northern Hemisphere.”
The tour then leads through Northern Canadian waters, finally ending at inland Yellowknife.
Minty reported the itinerary works its way through a part of the world that’s been home to the Inuit for thousands of years and has also seen such European explorers as John Franklin, whose final 19th-century Arctic voyage in search of the Northwest Passage ended in death for him and crew members.
Biologist Minty also noted that Ocean Endeavour passengers will also see terrain that serves as a home for the likes of polar bears, walruses, Arctic foxes, seabirds and a host of other creatures that he labelled “some of the most hardy animals on Earth.”
Minty added that passengers will also see “some of the world’s most dramatic landscapes,” citing “towering” Eastern Arctic mountains.
Also to be seen are “haunting landscapes of abandoned communities.”
Baffin Island stretches for some 1,600 kms, while Devon Island is the largest uninhabited island on the planet, he continued.
“You will see fabulous landscapes and seascapes,” he declared.
Minty said the trip will be appreciated by photography enthusiasts seeking something new. “The hues and tones of the Arctic landscape are so different than those in the South.”
Minty said the trip is particularly appropriate as this country works to come to terms with reconciliation with its Indigenous people, and is seeing rising concerns over global warming, with the Arctic believed to be particularly vulnerable to rising temperatures.
But he also added that passengers will be able to undertake such activities as safely jumping into Arctic waters.
“Fun is mandatory,” he added.
