Northwest Passage - Franklin's High Arctic

Your Arctic expedition begins in Ottawa. Explore Canada’s capital city on your own before spending the night at your hotel.

This morning, board your charter flight to Resolute. Upon arrival, you’ll have a chance to walk around this small Arctic town before enjoying your first of many Zodiac cruises as you’re transferred to your ship.

Named after explorer Frederick William Beechey, of the Royal Navy, Beechey Island is a Canadian National Historic Site. It’s an important stop on our voyage, as this is the final resting place of three members of Sir John Franklin’s ill-fated 1845–46 expedition to find the Northwest Passage. We also visit Radstock Bay, looking for polar bears and an ancient Thule archaeological site. On the north of Baffin Island is the ancient Inuit settlement of Arctic Bay, and across the Lancaster Sound, Devon Island and Dundas Harbour, where there is a former RCMP post. We will land and walk in these areas and take coastal Zodiac cruises close to glaciers and looking for wildlife, including musk oxen and myriad birds. Canada's northernmost settlement is Grise Fjord, home to about 150 Inuit.

Subject to ice conditions, we plan to cruise as far north as possible along the remote Smith Sound, which separates Canada's Ellesmere Island from Greenland.

Originally known as Thule, this is Greenland's most northerly major town, home to an Inuit community and an interesting local museum

Watch for wildlife from deck and enjoy the continuing programme of expert and informative lectures.

Sailing south down Greenland's coast, we encounter spectacular glaciers, deep fjords and colourful, local communities, such as Nuussuaq and Uummannaq. The latter is overlooked by a spectacular red heart-shaped mountain. The jagged, blue-tinged glacier at Eqip Sermia is one of the most beautiful sights in Greenland, which we visit on the way to the World Heritage Site of Ilulisaat. Here, at the mouth of the fjord, sit and watch as glacial ice flows into the sea, a truly memorable experience.

At Sisimiut, we watch a traditional kayak demonstartion as well as spending time in the town with its surviving 18th century buildings, which include the oldest surviving church in Greenland. Our last excursion may be a walk around the Itilleq Fjord

Disembark by Zodiac and transfer to airport for flight to Ottawa for overnight stay.

After breakfast, spend time in the city or head off to the airport for onward or return travel.