High Arctic Explorer

Morning flight from Edmonton on charter flight to Resolute (return flights at cost of US$1995 or equivalent).

Transfer to ship by Zodiac and set sail in the early evening.

Plan to Zodiac cruise and hike in the Maxwell Bay area. We will be on the lookout for musk oxen, caribou, polar bears and marine mammals.

Continue through the Lancaster Sound area to Croker Bay where the Croker Glacier flows into the sea. Spectacular deep blue icebergs and wildlife, especially musk oxen to be seen today. Afternoon visit to an abandoned RCMP station at Dundas Harbour.

This area is home to upwards of 400,000 seabirds, including thick-billed murres (Brunnich's guillemots) and northern fulmars. Look out for marine mammals too, including beluga whales.

Here, we will visit one of the most northerly communities in the world, where just 100 or so Inuit live. Walking today, we will look out for the abundant wildlife and also visit the site of a RCMP station at Craig Harbour.

In Sirmilik National Park and on the cliffs of Cape Hay, we will see thousands of birds, including Brunnich's and black guillemots and black-legged kittiwakes, and stunning tundra and mountain scenery. 

Zodiac cruise in the breathtaking fjord and go walking around Cape Charles Yorke. look out for lots of polar bears today.

This is an important migratory bird sanctuary and, as we sail around the ice, we expect to see ringed seals and, hopefully too, their predator, the polar bear. Beluga whales come here to moult in the summer too. Nearby Port Leopold is where the explorer James Clark Ross wintered in 1848, whilst searching for the lost Franklin expedition.

This island has extensive historical associations connected to the searches for the northwest passage. Franklin's ship, the Erebus was eventually found in Victoria Sound in 2014. We go ashore to visit grave markers on a remote, windswept beach.

Arrive and, after breakfast, transfer by Zodiac to shore. Charter flight back to Edmonton.