THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE – KANGERLUSSUAQ to NOME – Silver Wind

Kangaamiut (the People of the Fjords) is a settlement which clings to the shoreline of Greenland’s Arctic Circle region, backed by some of the country’s most spectacular fjords. The nearby pinnacle-shaped mountains gave the Danish-Norwegian colonial settlement its original name of Sukkertoppen (Sugarloaf) and the town recently celebrated its 250th anniversary. Here, one can experience small-town Greenlandic culture at its most authentic. The town is scattered across a small hill, displaying all the colorful buildings of the town at once; it is impossible to take a bad photo here. A system of staircases and boardwalks leads to the top of the hill, an area used to helicopter transport which offers jaw-dropping vistas of the wilderness around the settlement.

In the bustling capital city of Greenland, you could be forgiven for forgetting you are in such a vast and isolated country. Nuuk is Greenland’s economic and social hub, home to more than a third of Greenland’s population, and although it feels like a world capital, scratch the surface, and a uniquely Greenlandic character can be found underneath. Nuuk Cathedral overlooks the gorgeous old Colonial Harbor district and the Greenland National Museum, resting place of the legendary Qilakitsoq mummies, the true highlight of the museum’s archaeological collection.

Located just north of the Arctic Circle, Sisimiut is the northernmost town in Greenland where the port remains free of ice in the winter. Yet it is also the southernmost town where there is enough snow and ice to drive a dogsled in winter and spring. In Sisimiut, travelling by sled has been the primary means of winter transportation for centuries. In fact, the area has been inhabited for approximately 4,500 years. Modern Sisimiut is the largest business center in the north of Greenland, and is one of the fastest growing Greenlandic cities. Commercial fishing is the lead economy in the town‘s thriving industrial base.

Northeast of Qaqortoq and at the end of a fjord, Hvalsey is one of the best examples of South Greenland’s many scattered ruins from the Norse period. Today the area is used for sheep-grazing, but until the 15th century the settlement at Hvalsey, and specifically Hvalsey’s church, played an important part. Christianity had spread its influence throughout Europe and eventually had reached remote Greenland, where it established itself in the country in 1000 AD. Hvalsey Church was built in the 14th century and is the best preserved of the churches in Greenland from that period. Apart from the church walls, historical ruins from the time of the Norse are just a few meters away.

Days at sea are the perfect opportunity to relax, unwind and catch up with what you’ve been meaning to do. So whether that is going to the gym, visiting the spa, whale watching, catching up on your reading or simply topping up your tan, these blue sea days are the perfect balance to busy days spent exploring shore side.

Located in northern Baffin Island, Pond Inlet is a small, predominantly Inuit community, with a population of roughly 1,500 inhabitants. In 1818, the British explorer John Ross named a bay in the vicinity after the English astronomer John Pond. Today Pond Inlet is considered one of Canada’s ”jewels of the North” thanks to several picturesque glaciers and mountain ranges nearby. Many archaeological sites of ancient Dorset and Thule peoples can be found near Pond Inlet. The Inuit hunted caribou, ringed and harp seals, fish, polar bears, walrus, narwhals, geese, ptarmigans and Arctic hares, long before European and American whalers came here to harvest bowhead whales. Pond Inlet is also known as a major center of Inuit art, especially the printmaking and stone carving that are featured in the town’s art galleries.

Dundas Harbor is located in the southeast of Devon Island, Canada’s 6th largest island. It is a forlorn but starkly beautiful spot. The island was first sighted by Europeans in 1616 by the English explorers Robert Bylot and William Baffin. But it did not appear on maps until after explorer William Edward Parry’s exploration in the 1820’s. Parry named it after Devon, England. In the local Inuktitut language, the place is called Talluruti, which translates as “a woman’s chin with tattoos on it.” This refers to the deep crevasses and streaks on Devon Island, which from a distance resemble traditional facial tattoos. On land there are remains of a Thule settlement dating back to 1000 A.D., including tent rings, middens and a grave site. There are also much more recent remains a Royal Canadian Mounted Police outpost. Today, Devon Island is the largest uninhabited island in the world.

The Thule culture had already settled there many centuries before, and left behind qarmat homes, made of rocks, whale bones, rock and sod walls, and skins for roofs that tell a story of over 800 years of human habitation. Other striking finds in this area are the many fossils of corals, crinoids and nautiloids that can be seen. Just across Lancaster Sound is Prince Leopold Island, a Canadian Important Bird Area, a federally listed migratory bird sanctuary, and a Key Migratory Bird Terrestrial Habitat site with large numbers of Thick-billed Murres, Northern Fulmars and Black-legged Kittiwakes that breed there.

Beechey Island is a small island off the southwest coast of Devon Island, separated by a narrow waterway called the Barrow Strait. Captain William Edward Parry was the first European to visit the island in 1819. His lieutenant, Frederick William Beechey, named the island after his father, the artist William Beechey (1753–1839). Beechey Island played a significant role in the history of Arctic Exploration. During the winter of 1845-46, Sir John Franklin and his men camped on the island as part of their ill-fated quest to find the Northwest Passage. Mummified remains of three of Franklin’s crew were discovered, giving a better understanding of what happened before the disappearance of the expedition. In 1850 Edward Belcher used the island as a base while surveying the area. Later, in 1903, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen stopped at the island at the beginning of his successful voyage in search for the Northwest Passage.

Resolute, or Resolute Bay, is one of Canada’s northernmost communities and is second only to Grise Fiord on Ellesmere Island. It is also one of the coldest inhabited places in the world, with an average yearly temperature of −15.7 °C (3.7 °F).

Peel Sound is a 30 mile wide, 125 mile long channel separating Prince of Wales Island to the west and Somerset Island to the east. It was named in 1851 by explorer Vice Admiral Horatio Austin in honour of Sir Robert Peel, a former prime minister of Great Britain. Austin, however, was not the first person to sail through the sound. Five years earlier, in 1846, Sir John Franklin had passed through the strait, just before his ships became icebound. Peel Sound is not always open. Several explorers, including Francis Leopold McClintock in 1858 and Allen Young in 1875, were unable to pass because it was blocked by ice.

In 1903, the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen had entered the area on his ship Gjøa in an expedition intending to travel through the Northwest Passage. By October the straits through which he was travelling began to ice up. Amundsen put Gjøa into a natural harbor on the southeast coast of King William Island. He stayed there, in what Amundsen called ”the finest little harbor in the world”, for nearly two years. He and his crew spent much of that time with the local Netsilik Inuit, learning from them the skills to live off the land and travel efficiently in the Arctic environment. This knowledge proved to be vital for Amundsen’s later successful exploration to the South Pole. He explored the Boothia Peninsula, searching for the exact location of the North Magnetic Pole.

Named for the Swedish opera singer. Jenny Lind Island is a Canadian Important Bird Area, and a Key Migratory Terrestrial Bird Site. Notable bird species include Canada goose, lesser snow goose, and Ross’s goose.

Muskoxen are found in the south east section of the island.

Cambridge Bay is the largest stop for passenger and research vessels traversing the Arctic Ocean’s Northwest Passage, a disputed area which the Government of Canada claims are Canadian Internal Waters, while other nations state they are either territorial waters or international waters.

Sachs Harbour is a hamlet located in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Situated on the southwestern coast of Banks Island in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, the population according to the 2011 census count was 103 people.

The Smoking Hills are located on the east coast of Cape Bathurst in Canada’s Northwest Territories, next to the Arctic Ocean and a small group of lakes. The cliffs were named by explorer John Franklin, who was the first European to see them on his 1826 expeditions. They contain strata of hydrocarbons (oil shale), which have been burning continuously for centuries.

Named after Sir Francis Beaufort, the British naval officer whose observation of the wind and sea state resulted in the Beaufort scale, the Beaufort Sea is part of the Arctic Ocean north of Alaska and the Canadian Yukon and Northwest Territories. The Beaufort Sea is frozen for most of the year, only opening a channel near the Canadian and Alaskan shore during the months of August and September, the best time for a transit through the Northwest Passage. Beluga and bowhead whales, seals and polar bears are part of the Beaufort Sea’s wildlife.

Herschel Island is an island in the Beaufort Sea (part of the Arctic Ocean), which lies 5 km (3.1 mi) off the coast of Yukon in Canada. It is Yukon’s only offshore island

Days at sea are the perfect opportunity to relax, unwind and catch up with what you’ve been meaning to do. So whether that is going to the gym, visiting the spa, whale watching, catching up on your reading or simply topping up your tan, these blue sea days are the perfect balance to busy days spent exploring shore side.

Barrow is one of the northernmost public communities in the world and is the northernmost city in the United States. Nearby Point Barrow is the country’s northernmost point, and the northernmost point of the entire American mainland landmass that begins at the very southernmost tip of South America. To go any further north, you would either have to venture into the icy expanse of the Arctic Ocean.

You will be transferred to the airport for your flight home, or to visit more of Alaska.