Itinerary visits area famed for its icebergs
IAN STALKER
Adventure Canada believes it’s nice to see ice. Particularly large quantities of it in a far north setting.
The company is offering its Into the Northwest Passage sailing — which features Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and Greenland — from Aug. 27 to Sept. 12, and Adventure Canada’s Dennis Minty said during a webinar passengers will view different forms of ice, much of it dramatic.
The itinerary includes parts of the west coast of Greenland, including the community of Ilulissat, found by the Ilulissat Icefjord, which has UNESCO World Heritage Site status and is known for massive icebergs that calve from glacial ice.
“Iulissat is the undisputed iceberg capital of the Northern Hemisphere,” Minty said of a community whose name translates as Icebergs.
Many of those icebergs — which Minty labelled Arctic “icons” — end up drifting past Newfoundland.
Adventure Canada takes people on Zodiac excursions off the shore of Ilulissat that navigate among floating ice.
Minty — a biologist and photographer — also noted that passengers will spot pack ice while sailing the Arctic Ocean that may be used by the likes of polar bears and walruses.
“It’s not Disneyland,” Minty said, adding seeing a wild polar bear is “beyond exciting.”
Other wildlife that can be seen on the Into the Northwest Passage itinerary includes different types of whales, seals and birds.
Passengers will see Baffin and Devon Islands while in Nunavut, with Devon being the largest uninhabited island in the world. Much of the itinerary terrain is mountainous, with Minty telling webinar viewers passengers will see “some of the world’s most dramatic landscapes.”
Minty said the itinerary will enable passengers to meet Inuit — people who have “thrived for millenia ” in the North — and learn of their lifestyle, and also hear of such Arctic explorers as Martin Frobisher and John Franklin.
They will also see reminders of a long Hudson Bay Company presence in the North.
While on Adventure Canada’s Ocean Endeavor passengers will hear lectures on the North and its people, and musical entertainment. Yoga is available as well.
Minty said the sailing is particularly timely given heightened interest in reconciliation and climate change.
At one point passengers will be invited to jump into the Arctic Ocean from a ramp on a still Ocean Endeavor while Adventure Canada staff watch to ensure all is well.
“Fun is mandatory,” Minty said of the sailing.
Another Into the Northwest Passage sailing is planned for 2025.
