North West Passage in Luxury

At the heart of Disko Bay - a UNESCO World Heritage Site - the Ilulissat Icefjord provides an extraordinary spectacle of almost surreal beauty. The sculptural icebergs continue their on timeless journey, shimmering with their eternal light. Vast pieces of ice break off from the bergs and rejoin the inexorable movement of the sea. Close by lies the town of Ilulissat, the region’s principal destination. Encircled by icebergs, it has retained a unique mix of traditional Arctic life, with multicoloured wooden houses, huskies and the leather tanners who still work today using the ancient methods of their ancestors.

Placed like a custodian on the northern edge of Baffin Island, Pond Inlet appears to guard over the entrance to the legendary North West Passage. Formerly called Tununiq by the Inuit, this region was long ago inhabited by their ancestors, the Thule, who left behind numerous archaeological artefacts, little vestiges of the past. No matter where you look, your eyes will alight upon a unique landscape of snow-capped mountain ranges, each more beautiful than the last, standing opposite ice-blue glaciers whose vertiginous flows descend into the ocean. In the summertime, when the sun doesn’t set below the horizon, the light is truly magical, a palette of opaline blues, dusky pinks and pure white. Don’t miss the opportunity to see the bird colonies of Bylot Island; our route will sail you close to this uninhabited "Garden of Eden" so that you may wonder at its natural marvels.

Beechey Island, looking across at the huge silhouette of Cape Riley, at the eastern end of Resolute Bay, will call to mind some of the most important moments of Franklin’s expedition. Sir John set off in 1845 in search of the mythical North West Passage and was forced to take shelter in Erebus Harbour for two long years, while he waited for the ice floes to recede and allow him a way through. It is a spectacular location; seeing the three wooden grave markers, bleached by the sun (indicating the burial places of at least three of Captain Franklin’s men) and visiting the memorial that has been erected in memory of Franklin and his men can only reinforce the hushed sense of reverence. If the surrounding wilderness impresses us, the ochres and yellows of the rocky desert soften the striking landscape.

The isolated and austere Diomede islands are situated in the middle of the Bering Strait, between Russia and Alaska, and between Asia and the Americas. In 1867, when Russia sold Alaska to the United States, the two islands were separated by a geographical border. They now also find themselves in different time zones, since the International Date Line runs between Little and Big Diomede, which are separated by barely 3 km of waves, fog and crosscurrents. 5th day of the cruise... As your ship crosses the Bering Strait, she will reach the International Date Line, the imaginary line that roughly follows the 170th meridian, hustling the calendar. Like sailing through a breach in the passage of time...

Located along the Bering Strait at the westernmost point of Alaska, Nome offers the rustic charm of a former gold-mining town, set in the middle of magnificent wilderness. As you weave in and out of the brightly coloured houses, you will discover the pioneering legacy that still marks local traditions. Fishing, reindeer rearing, sledge-racing - people here live from their manual labour. The surrounding plains provide stunning vantage points for observing Arctic fauna.