Canadian Arctic Expedition Cruises

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Quick Facts about Canadian Arctic

The Canadian High Arctic lies north of mainland Canada, which consists of 94 major islands and 36,469 minor islands with a total of 1.4 million square kilometre. The largest islands are Baffin, Victoria, Ellesmere, Banks and Devon. These islands are separated by large channels from less than 100 meter to about 600 meter deep.

The average annual temperature are as low as −20°C in the north and −6°C in southern Baffin Island. For couple months during the summer, it may rise above freezing. The sea ice cover is complete in winter throughout the archipelago with an average thickness of 1.5 to 2 meter. With recent years' thinner ice cover, passenger ships are now common in late summer to sail through the Northwest Passage.

These High Arctic islands are home to Peary caribou, muskox, Arctic fox, Arctic wolf, lemming and Arctic hare along with 60 species of birds. The surrounding seas are home to the polar bear, the walrus, seal and whale including narwhal and the beluga.

The Inuit and their predecessors have lived in the Canadian High Arctic for the past 4,000 years. The majority of Inuit people continue live in the north including scattered settlements throughout these High Arctic islands.

Top 5 Reasons to Visit Canadian Arctic

Immerse yourself in the total wildness of over 36,000 islands with polar climate
Get up close to Arctic's wildlife including polar bears, narwhal, beluga, muskox and more!
Sail through the famous Northwest Passage following Franklin's footsteps
Visit Inuit communities and celebrate their culture
Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, is one of the best places in the world to see the Northern Lights from October to April

Points of Interest in Canadian Arctic

Pond Inlet

Pond Inlet (Mittimatalik - Place where Mitima is buried) is situated on the northern tip of Baffin Island. It is renowned for its scenery. Mountain ranges are viewable in all directions and icebergs often dot the ocean.

Iqaluit

The Nunavat capital is located on Baffin Island with a population around 7,500. It is a modern Inuit community. There are four territorial parks in and around Iqaluit. Historical buildings, such as the original Hudson’s Bay Post on the shore in Apex are also within easy reach.

Resolute Bay

Resolute Bay is one of Canada's most northern settlements. Because of the long winter night in the extreme north of Nunavut, its Inuktitut name is Qausuittuq meaning ‘place with no dawn.’

Prince Leopold Island

Prince Leopold Island is located in Lancaster Sound at the junction of Prince Regent Inlet and Barrow Strait. Somerset Island is situated 13 km (8.1 mi) to the southwest. It is named a migratory bird sanctuary with more than 500,000 pairs including thick-billed murres, black guillemots and northern fulmars.

Gjoa Haven

Gjoa Haven is an Inuit hamlet in Nunavut and the only settlement on King William Island at the heart of the Northwest Passage. It was named by early 20th-century polar explorer Roald Amundsen after his ship Gjøa. This is where Amundsen spent two years from 1903.

Grise Fiord

Grise Fiord, translated as 'place that never thaws', is an Inuit hamlet in the territory of Nunavut. It is the largest and the only public community on Ellesmere Island, which makes it the northernmost public community in Canada. It is also one of the coldest inhabited places in the world, with an average yearly temperature of −16.5 °C (2.3 °F).

Fort Ross

Fort Ross is situated on the Bellot Strait at the southeastern end of Somerset Island. Founded in 1937 as the last trading post to be established by the Hudson's Bay Company, it was operational for only eleven years as the severe ice conditions rendered it uneconomical and difficult to reach.

Beechey Island

Beechey Island is the burial site for three members of the Franklin expedition: John Torrington, John Harnell and William Braine. There are memorials to Franklin and other polar explorers and sailors on the island, including Joseph René Bellot. In 1903, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen stopped at the island at the beginning of his successful voyage in search of the Northwest Passage, paying respect to Franklin.

Dundas Harbour

Dundas Harbour is located on Devon Island (the largest uninhabited island on Earth). It is an abandoned settlement of a Royal Canadian Mounted Police Post, established in 1924. You can see the ruins of a few buildings as well as the resting place of two of the last men to be posted here.

Cambridge Bay

Cambridge Bay is located on Victoria Island in Nunavut, Canada. It is the largest stop for vessels traversing the Arctic Ocean's Northwest Passage with a population of 1,766. Cambridge Bay, in Inuktitut ‘Ikalutuuttiaq’, means ‘good fishing place’, which has been a gathering place for Inuit for over 4000 years.

Cambridge Bay

Cape Dorset

Cape Dorset is located in Hudson Strait, where remains of Dorset culture were discovered, dating back to 1000 BCE. The Dorset people became extinct by 1500 AD but their traces are still visible when hiking nearby Mallikjuaq Territorial Park or Dorset Island.

Pond Inlet

Iqaluit

Resolute Bay

Resolute Bay is one of Canada's most northern settlements. Because of the long winter night in the extreme north of Nunavut, its Inuktitut name is Qausuittuq meaning ‘place with no dawn.’