Thursday, January 5. 2012
4th Annual Rabbie Burns Polar Plunge!
 Join us on Sunday, January 22, 2012 for the 4th annual Rabbie Burns Polar Dip in balmy Port Credit. Held in honour of the famed Scottish poet's 252nd birthday, Adventure Canada's polar dip will see some of the GTA's finest authors, musicians and personalities take the plunge for a good cause.We ask that swimmers gather pledges for participation. All funds raised will go directly to the Ottawa Inuit Children's Centre. The Ottawa Inuit Children's Centre serves Inuit children and youth from birth to 13 years of age and their families to provide Inuit children and youth with a learning environment that will enhance their overall development; to foster positive parenting through support and education; and to promote the retention of the Inuit culture and language. AC will provide a loot bag to the person that collects the greatest amount in pledges.
RSVP - Required for swimmers and the party afterwards at the Harp. sheryl@adventurecanada.com or 905-271-4000
Where: Lake Front Promenade Park, 800 Lakefront Promenade in Mississauga.
Directions: From QEW drive south on Cawthra to Lakeshore Rd. Turn east and drive to Lakefront Promenade Park (look out for park sign). Turn right on Lakefront Promenade and follow to the end, and park in the A.E. Crookes Headland lot (next to the Mississauga Sailing Club and the Port Credit Yacht Club.
When: Sunday, Jan 22, 2012 1:00 pm
Following: Addressing the Haggis, Poetry and Music with Tom Barlow & friends at the Harp, 55 Lakeshore Rd. East, Mississauga.
Love all things Celtic? Join us on our inaugural Circumnavigation of Ireland, May 4-14, 2012. To reserve your space, please email Sheryl. |
Ottawa Info Session and Events!
Join Adventure Canada Vice-President, Cedar Swan, for an information session on award winning tours to Newfoundland and Labrador. Adventure Canada specializes in soft adventure and offers an array of experiences from the northern tip of Labrador, to the bustling metropolis of St. John's. Our presentation will emphasis two 2012 shipboard expeditions: the Newfoundland Circumnavigation and Greenland and Wild Labrador both aboard the comfortable 120 passenger - Adventurer. Are you a landlubber? Consider one of Adventure Canada's small group excursions throughout the province, hiking and camping in Labrador, photography adventures in Eastern and Western Newfoundland, fall colours, a study of arts and culture in St. John's or participate in the centenary seminar on the Titanic tragedy. Join us and learn more about what adventures await. RSVP necessary. Please indicate which adventure you are most interested in.
When: Jan 31
Time: 7 pm
Where: Valberg Imaging
RSVP: rsvp@adventurecanada.com
Join one of Canada's most celebrated Arctic photographers, Michelle Valberg, for a visual exploration of Canada's north. Share in Michelle's many journeys, learn the stories behind the weathered faces, magnificent creatures and light that shapes the land of the midnight sun. Tempt yourself to visit the far reaches of our nation. Michelle will discuss her northern adventures, her recent exhibit at the Museum of Nature and her human outreach endeavour, Project North.
When: Feb 4, 2012
Time: 3 pm
Where: Northern Lights Showcase, Ottawa Convention Centre
RSVP: rsvp@adventurecanada.com
Wednesday, October 19. 2011
Save the Date! AC Mini-Expedition and Reunion - November 13
 In Adventure Canada's first annual Mini-Expedition and Reunion, we will be taking to the waters of the Toronto Harbour. Join us on Sunday afternoon, November 13, 2011 aboard the fabulous Captain Matthew Flinders (Swan). This Mini-Expedition is open to everyone, please feel free to bring your friends! Boarding time is 2pm, sailing at 2:30, retuning to the dock at Queen's Quay for 6:30pm - disembark for 7pm. Tickets are just $20 for Cabin Category 10 (there are no other categories... nor are there cabins) making this the most affordable Adventure Canada Expedition of all time! The 5-hour expedition will include:
For more info on the ship, please click here. Space is limited to 200 guests, is on a first-come basis, and this is going to be a serious amount of fun! Please confirm your attendance by calling our office at 1-800-363-7566, 905-271-4000 or email us at rsvp@adventurecanada.com |
New 2012 International Brochure in the mail featuring New Zealand!
Our new brochure has been released and is in the mail right now, hopefully en route to you! If we don't have you mailing address and you'd like to receive the new 2012 International Brochure, please do send us an email or give us a call, we'd be happy to get one in the mail to you!
Inside you'll find our new offerings, including our New Zealand voyage aboard the Oceanic Discoverer, and a new instalment of our Celtic Quest, our Circumnavigation of Ireland aboard the Clipper Adventurer.
Can't wait? You can get a look at the brochure right now by clicking here! |
Mission: Arctic Clean-Up
 Adventurers on Greenland & Wild Labrador got a first hand look at Adventure Canada's Arctic Clean-Up Mission along the Torngat Mountains National Park in Northern Labrador. This project, in partnership with Parks Canada, involved identifying over 80 sites within the Torngat Mountains National Park that contained garbage, including hundreds of old fuel drums. Due to the materials found on these sites, extensive testing was conducted for possible contamination and removing the contamination and garbage from the park.
The coast of Labrador is a favourite destination among the Adventure Canada staff, and Adventure Canada jumped at the opportunity to help clean up the park. On September 23, Adventure Canada removed over 150 fuel drums onto the Clipper Adventurer, bringing them south so that they could be responsibly disposed of. The clean-up mission will continue next year. In total over 40,000 lbs of garbage and fuel drums was removed from the park and surrounding Nunatsiavut through a partnership with Cruise North in 2010 and Adventure Canada in 2011.
Missed out this year? We're booking our 2012 Greenland and Wild Labrador program now. Click here for more info! |
Tom Barlow Releases New Album
 AC Canada staff member Tom Barlow (know in the industry as "Barlow") has just released his new album "Burning Days". The first single 'Steal Like A Billionaire' is a satiric look at the global financial crisis and features a music video shot, in part, on the Clipper Adventurer during the recent AC trip to Greenland and Labrador. The video features several of the trip's staff and passengers. To have a listen to the album or to purchase it click on this link.
You can check out the video on YouTube by clicking here. |
Doug Gibson's Book Hits Stores and his Show Goes on the Road!
The book, STORIES ABOUT STORYTELLERS: Publishing Alice Munro, Robertson Davies, Alistair MacLeod, Pierre Trudeau, and Others, is now available everywhere, published by ECW Press (ISBN : 978-1-77041-068-8 ), and aided by fine reviews in the National Post ("He has a fine authorial voice, conversational in tone, like the best storytellers") and the Winnipeg Free Press ("Delightful.")
Meanwhile his travelling one-man show, with precisely the same title, is hitting the road in October with the following dates:
Vancouver Writers' Festival, October 18 Victoria, October 19 Toronto Harbourfront I.F.O.A., October 22 Ottawa Writers' Festival, October Sunday 23.
Precise details of these performances are give at his website, www.douglasgibsonbooks.com. along with details of his November visits.
More to come!
All members of the Adventure Canada clan are very welcome at all of these events, when the author's hand-shaking and book-signing hand will be in fine shape. |
Virtual Exhibition Part Two: Realm of the Polar Bear
 Houston North Gallery's second virtual exhibition presents a selection of 30 recent sculptures from Nunavut inspired by the magnificence of the polar bear. Do come in and have a look around! Also visit (or revisit) our first virtual exhibition, "The Spirit World," which will continue through October.
Please click here to visit the Realm of the Polar Bear Exhibition.
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Ian Tamblyn Produces CD from Out of the Northwest Passage and Greenland Labrador Voyages
 Ian Tamblyn is busy working on the CD from Out the NWP and the Greenland and Wild Labrador Voyages. In total there will be 17 songs - includes all requests by signed up passengers. For those still wishing to purchase this "gem" email Ian here and include your mailing address and a cd will come to you. For those who have already ordered, it should be in the mail next week!
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Bowhead Whales United by Climate Change
Adventure Canada travellers are now familiar with the fact that climate change is taking place at a rapid pace in Canadian Arctic waters. For the past decade, and particularly this year, summer ice cover has been at an all time low in Parry Channel, the northern route of the famed Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic archipelago.
Up till now, the Beaufort Sea bowhead whale population was thought to be separated by heavy Central Arctic summer ice from the other North American bowhead whale population, which summers around Baffin Island. Well, the heavy summer ice cover no longer exists and last summer Greenland and Alaskan biologists, using satellite-linked tracking devices, watched in amazement the tracks of two whales, one from the Beaufort Sea, the other from Baffin Island waters, track into Viscount Melville Sound and share that passage for a period of ten days.
Add to that this summer's observation of narwhals near Cambridge Bay, a rare occurrence for a species normally summering at least 400 kilometres east of that community. Both events are unusual and they raise a broader question: are these exceptional or are entire populations of Arctic whales changing their distribution in response to receding summer ice. Continued research is required to establish that.
Experience the Arctic fr yourself next summer, there is still plenty of selection on ourEpic High Arctic program. Click here for more info! |
Inuit Art Auction is a First!
Walker's Fine Art & Estate Auctioneers mounts its first Inuit art auction in Ottawa on November 13th. The auction includes 300 Inuit works from important estates and collections including the estate of John and Mary Robertson, pioneer dealers of Inuit art, and the collection of Norman Hallendy, ethnogeographer and author of two fascinating books on inuksuit. Mr. Hallendy will present an illustrated talk at each of the previews. The auction also presents 100 First Nations, Oceanic and African art works.
The Inuit art includes important sculptures from the 1950s, 1960s and beyond, a fine group of prints and drawings, and a stunning collection of early ivories. All works were researched and catalogued by Ingo Hessel, author of Inuit Art: An Introduction and co-curator of Inuit Modern: Art from the Samuel and Esther Collection at the AGO.
Toronto preview: November 5-6
Ottawa preview: November 12-13
Live auction: Ottawa, Sunday, November 13 at noon (Absentee, telephone and Internet bidding available)
Hallendy lectures: Toronto, November 5 and Ottawa, November 12
Catalogue: On-line, or printed copy on request
More information: www.walkersauctions.com 1-866-224-5814 (Walker's); 613-818-2100 (Ingo Hessel) |
Monday, March 28. 2011
Reminder: The Pig Roast is April 3! Don't Miss Your Chance to RSVP
Low and behold we are holding a Pig Roast and Kitchen Party to celebrate the return of Spring and yet another successful trip around the Sun by our Rear Admiral - Matthew Swan.
When: Sunday April 3, 2011
Time: Begins at 1:00 pm
Special presentations
at 3:00pm & 4:00pm
Where: Hedgerow Farm, 45 minutes north east of Toronto
What's Special:
- Roast Pig on a spit, looks a lot like Matthew
- Vegetarian Pig, that also looks a lot like Matthew
- Lots of other great food offerings on the Potluck Tab
- Music, all afternoon from the AC musical family
- Property Tours (See below)
- 32 two storey sauna, largest in the neighbourhood
- Snooker Room
- An afternoon of music headed up by Tyler Yarema's Red Hot Players, Tom Kovacs, Washboard Hank, Dave Marshak and Rebecca Burgum the Karaoke master
- You :-)
RSVP Now!
RSVP is essential, please call us at (905) 271-4000, toll-free at 1-800-363-7566 or email us at rsvp@adventurecanada.com. Please include in your RSVP if you intend to join one of our travel sessions.
We will supply a map with your confirmation.
Contributions for salads, dessert and wine pot-luck table welcome, but not required.
Admission is, of course, free.
Only Two Spots Left on our Haida Gwaii Adventure!
Haida Gwaii is an amazing area with over 100 islands, beautiful forested creek walks, rugged exposed headlands, and protected passageways between towering mountains. Theories suggest that parts of Haida Gwaii escaped the last ice age, forming a glacier refuge for certain forms of plant and animal life. How else to explain the presence of plant species found nowhere else in the world, and noticeably different sub-species of bird, fish and mammal? The Queen Charlottes provide a remarkable evolutionary showcase - thus, their description as the "Canadian Galapagos". Guided by Haida Watchmen, we will journey through history as we visit ancient Haida Villages lining the BC Coast. Small ship travel through this unforgettable landscape allows us to voyage to places not reachable by land. We wind our way through the archipelago to enjoy all this beauty...All aboard!
July 15-24, 2011 aboard the 14-passenger sailboat, the Island Roamer.
For more information, please click here or email Judy, judy.harper@adventurecanada.com
Explore Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula this Summer!
The Avalon Peninsula has been rated by National Geographic Traveler magazine as the world's number one coastal destination. Come experience it first hand with photographer and naturalist Dennis Minty and his partner Antje Springmann. On this small group tour, they will take you to the heart of the most easterly corner of North America, still largely undiscovered by the vast majority of travellers. It is a tour for photographers of all levels, their companions and the artistically-minded. Book soon, their Gros Morne National Park and western Newfoundland tour is already sold out!
July 17-23, 2011
For more information, please click here or email Judy, judy.harper@adventurecanada.com
You can also join Dennis in the Arctic this year on our Greenland & Wild Labrador Expedition. Check out his tribute to Polar Bears by clicking below.
| Polar Bear Tribute |
Upcoming Arctic Nuts & Bolts Sessions!
Have you been thinking about enjoying the splendours of the Arctic? Join us for an information session on the nuts and bolts of Arctic travel. How to get there? What to expect? What to wear? Join us at one of our upcoming events to meet our team, learn about outstanding travel opportunities in Canada and have some fun!
April 18 @ Canmore Public Library, Canmore (with AC staffer Jerry Kobalenko)- 5:30 pm
April 20 @ University of Calgary, Calgary (with AC staffer Jerry Kobalenko)- 7:00 pm
May 4 @ Atwater Library, Montreal - 6:30 pm
May 5 @ Valberg Imaging, Ottawa - 7:00 pm
May 10 @ Fort Garry Hotel, Edmonton - 7:00 pm
May 12 @ Vancouver Public Library, Vancouver - 7:00 pm
May 14 @ Victoria Central Library, Victoria - 2:00pm
May 24 @ Prince George Hotel, Halifax - 7:00 pm
June 13 @ The Horticultural Society, New York - 7:00 pm
RSVP for each event is necessary. Please send an email to rsvp@adventurecanada.com (Please put the location in the subject line) or phone 1-800-363-7566.