CANADIAN ARCTIC & GREENLAND 2008:

• Northwest Passage - 12 Night 25 Aug & 06 Sep 08
• Baffin Island Explorer - Iqaluit to Resolute - 12 Nights 22 July 08
• High Arctic Explorer - 11 Nights 03 Aug 08

Click here for details about our ships

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Northwest Passage (12 Nights)

We celebrate Roald Amundson’s 1905 successful voyage through the Northwest Passage by attempting to repeat the journey 100 years later.
Aboard the Akademik Ioffe, we believe our expedition will be the first travelling from east to west through the Passage, and it promises to be as much a journey of discovery as was Amundsen’s exploration.

We’ll travel the northern coast of mainland Canada, challenging the vast expanses of sea ice. As we sail through the Arctic Archipelago we’re always on the lookout for wildlife, from birds to bears to whales. We’ll find evidence of the European legends of discovery, including the most notorious of all, the ill-fated Franklin expedition of 1845.

The journey begins in the small community of Resolute and from there, our route takes us south to Bellot Strait, where Point Zenith on Boothia Peninsula marks the most northerly point of Canada’s mainland. We continue through Franklin Strait, and then sail west through Coronation Gulf attempting to touch the waters of the Beaufort Sea to complete the full extent of the Northwest Passage. Then we turn back making our eastward voyage back to Resolute. At the conclusion of our expedition, we’ll hope to travel further east and explore the last known winter camp of the Franklin expedition at Beechey Island. Here, we end our journey paying tribute to all of the Arctic explorers that shared the spirit of adventure before us.

Note: Weather, ice, or other conditions may necessitate changes to our itinerary and alteration to certain shore excursions.

Itinerary (v.v. on 06 Sep departure)

Day 1 Charter flight to Resolute and board ship by Zodiac
Day 2 Beechey Island and Prince Leopold Island
Day 3 Fort Ross and Bellot Strait
Day 4 Victory Point, King William Island
Day 5 Gjoa Haven and Simpson Strait
Day 6 Jenny Lind Island
Day 7 Johansen Bay, Victoria Island
Day 8 Holman
Day 9 Smoking Hills
Day 10 Pearce Point
Day 11 Bernard Harbour
Day 12 Byron Bay/Lachlan River, Victoria Island
Day 13 Cambridge Bay – disembark ship by Zodiac and charter flight out.

Departure Date	Main Deck Triple	Main Deck Twin	Upper Deck Twin	Superior Twin	Superior Plus Twin	Peregrine Suite Twin	Cook Suite Twin
06 SEP 2008	4200	5600	5950	6400	6800	request	request
25 AUG 2008	on request	6200	6500	6950	7450	7900	request
Air Charter	1650	1650	1650	1650	1650	1650	1650
* All prices in USD.

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Baffin Island Explorer - Iqaluit to Resolute (12 Nights)

We begin in Iqaluit, exploring the southeast coast of spectacular Baffin Island. As we turn and cross Baffin Bay towards Greenland, we’ll be watching for whales, polar bears, seabirds and icebergs. The next days are spent exploring the spectacular coast of Greenland to Illulissat, to cruise among the gigantic icebergs along the ice front created by Jakobshavn Glacier, the fastest-moving glacier on earth – about 15 to 25 metres a day! We'll also stop on the Greenland coast at Uummannaq, a picturesque village set in the shadow of a red gneiss mountain, some of the oldest rock in the world.

Heading west, back to Canada we visit Milne Inlet, the breeding ground for the rare narwhal and we may have them surfacing around us as we cruise in the Zodiacs. Another stop is Pond Inlet, famous for its soapstone carvings. From here, we can hike to the ancient site at Salmon River to see the remains of Thule houses built in deep pits with rafters of whalebone. We cross Lancaster Sound – the ‘wildlife highway’ – and hike in the solitude of beautiful Navy Board Inlet on the north coast of Baffin Island.

We'll visit Beechey Island, which gives us an historical perspective on the centuries-long quest to find the Northwest Passage and a new trade route across the top of the world. We hike to the graves marking the winter camp of the ill-fated 1845 Franklin expedition. In search of the Northwest Passage, all 132 men died after their ships were crushed by the ice. At Prince Leopold Island, we cruise in the Zodiacs beneath cliffs teeming with birdlife, including thick-billed murres, northern fulmars, black-legged kittiwakes, and black guillemots.

Note: Weather, ice, or other conditions may necessitate changes to our itinerary and alteration to certain shore excursions.

Itinerary

Day 1 Charter flight from Ottawa to Iqaluit and Zodiac embarkation to ship
Day 2 Monumental Island, off the southeast coast of Baffin Island
Day 3 Pangnirtung, in stunning Cumberland Sound
Days 4 - 5 Davis Strait – at sea
Day 6 Sisimiut, Greenland
Day 7 Ilulissat and Jacobshaven Ice Fjord
Day 8 Uummannaq
Day 9 Baffin Bay – at sea
Day 10 Lancaster Sound and Cape Hay bird cliffs
Day 11 Dundas Harbour, Devon Island
Day 12 Prince Leopold Island and Beechey Island
Day 13 Resolute – disembark ship by Zodiac and charter flight to Ottawa.

Departure Date	Main Deck Triple	Main Deck Twin	Upper Deck Twin	Superior Twin	Superior Plus Twin	Peregrine Suite Twin	Cook Suite Twin
22 JUL 2008	4500	5900	6500	6900	7500	7900	8500
Air Charter	1350	1350	1350	1350	1350	1350	1350
Kayaking Option	395	395	395	395	395	395	395
* All prices in USD.

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High Arctic Explorer (11 Nights)