- AC News

Questions? Call us toll free from the UK - 0-808-101-0935

nospam@example.com (Clayton Anderson) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:55:29 -0400

If you're in the UK and have questions about our Adventures, you can call us toll free at 0-808-101-0935 from 1pm to 9pm! Talk to you soon!

Professor John Houston and the U of O join to further Arctic Research

nospam@example.com (Clayton Anderson) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:06:36 -0400

Long-time Adventure Canada resource staffer John Houston recently received news of his appointment as Adjunct Professor [Department of Communications, Faculty of the Arts] at the University of Ottawa. Adventure Canada is a key partner in Professor Houston's 'ARCTICA - a virtual learning environment' project, along with Adventure Canada resource team members Ree Brennin, Marc St. Onge, Senator Charlie Watt and Mike Beedell (with help at the get go from Aaju Peter). Other team members include educator David Serkoak of Nunavut Sivuniksavut and Evan Potter of the University of Ottawa.

The whole idea for 'ARCTICA - a virtual learning environment' was hatched on board our 'little red ship' the Explorer, in response to a query from passenger Lesley Strutt, PhD, at the University of Ottawa, Office of the Vice Dean Research, at University of Ottawa's Faculty of Arts. After seeing John present his most recent film; 'Kiviuq,' Lesley asked John if there was anything she and the University of Ottawa could do to help with his ongoing work...

Watch for more news of this exciting, multi-year, multi-part project in future issues of our newsletter.

For more information on John Houston please visit our staff page.

Rosemary Clewes Releases New Book

nospam@example.com (Clayton Anderson) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 16:49:01 -0400

Adventure Canada traveller Rosemary Clewes, who fell in love with the Arctic starting on our 1994 Project Arctic Coast, still treasures memories of a full moon over Disco Bay's icebergs, Mike Beedell, preparing to fly off the top of an erratic over the river canyon at Pangnurtung. The 'family' feel she had after ten days on the Alla Tarasova (now the Clipper Adventurer) brought me back on another trip on the 'Little Red Ship' for "Explorers and Adventurers" in 2005.

As poet and a writer of non-fiction, she has just published a book entitled, Thule Explorer: Kayaking North of 77 Degrees.

She believes this book's message is an important one, written after a two week kayaking/camping trip, beginning and ending in Qaanaaq on the northwest coast of Greenland in 2002. The Arctic, as the northern frontier of Canada and beyond, is little known or understood, but is receiving considerable attention now due to global warming and rumbles about sovereignty.

The book is written in prose and poetry, encompassing history, (Canadian and Greenlandic), Inuit stories and her fleeting but significant contact with local hunters in their summer camps. The reader will join this 'outsider' in hiking and paddling in a landscape, stripped to the essentials of sky, water, rock and ice. He or she will travel with her on the cusp of her personal frontiers where she seek to understand her place in the larger order.

Click here to visit our store

Featured Staff - Tim Rast: Archaeologist

nospam@example.com (Clayton Anderson) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 16:47:19 -0400

Tim Rast is an archaeologist who has surveyed, excavated and published on
archaeological sites in Nunavut, Labrador, Newfoundland and Alberta. Tim is an accomplished flintknapper with 12 years experience in making and using stone tools. He handcrafts museum quality artifact reproductions and archeology-themed jewelry through his business, Elfshot. His reproductions from Northeastern and Arctic cultures are sought by museums, universities, and collectors from across North America. Tim lives in St. John's and is the current Chair of the Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador (2007/08).

This September Tim will help us understand the cultural and historical sites we visit on our High Arctic Adventure. His onsite and animated interpretation will help us understand the lifeways of the varying groups that have inhabited the Northern Landscape. Onboard the Akademic Ioffe Tim will share his knowledge as a flintknapper with demonstrations and by running hands on workshops!

For more information on the Akademic Ioffe please click here

For more information on our High Arctic Adventure, please click here

Featured Staff: Shannon Fowler - Biologist, Baffin Expedition

nospam@example.com (Clayton Anderson) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 16:45:52 -0400

Shannon Fowler: Biologist, Baffin Expedition
Growing up in a small inland town in northern California, Shannon easily became fascinated by the ocean. She spent summers in San Diego with her grandfather, who was an oceanographer. Together, they watched migrating grey whales, explored tidepools, and shuffled their feet in the sand to avoid stingrays. She to studied biology at the University of California at San Diego. After graduating, Shannon wanted to explore the world outside California. She was a SCUBA instructor in Ireland, Panama, Galapagos, and the Caribbean. She taught marine ecology to teenagers in the Bahamas and Ecuador. And in between, Shannon travelled—singing songs with Berbers in the Zagora Desert, eating lemon ants in the Amazon, making a wish at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, and hiking among proboscis monkeys in Borneo. Eventually, Shannon returned to the world of academia and completed a Ph.D. in Biology at the University of California at Santa Cruz. For her thesis research, she examined the development of diving in the threatened Australian sea lion.

Since completing her Ph.D., Shannon has worked as the Marine Mammal Biologist in Antarctica, as a science writer at National Public Radio in Washington D.C., and has taught killer whale biology to college students in the San Juan Islands. She spends the rest of her time based in London writing scientific manuscripts and nonfiction.

Shannon joins the Adventure Canada team on our Baffin Expedition Sept 2-12, 2008. When she is not out on deck helping spot and identify marine mammals or driving a zodiac we can expect to hear lectures on the adaptations of warm-blooded animals that allow them to live in Polar seas and the inside line on diving physiology & behaviour at the edge.

Click here for more info on this adventure

Exclusive Sierra Designs Clothing Offer

nospam@example.com (Clayton Anderson) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 16:43:21 -0400

Adventure Canada is pleased to announce our partnership with Sierra Designs, renowned as one of the world's leading outdoor brands; a company that is filled with authenticity, experience and passion for the outdoors. Many of Sierra Designs products are made in Canada and they are industry leaders in going green. A few key implementations made are the use of PVC-free tape on waterproof jackets and the Polartech recycled fleece is made from recycled pop and water bottles.

We are offering two quality packages to Adventure Canada clients to gear you up for your upcoming adventure. Each package includes a base layer, waterproof breathable pants and jacket as well as polartec fleece at a savings of more than 25% off retail prices. Explore this year in style and comfort with your new Adventure Canada outdoor gear.

Download a PDF of the offer here

Now Booking Canada and the North!

nospam@example.com (Clayton Anderson) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 14:12:00 -0500

Our 2008 brochure will arrive at a mailbox near you within the next week. Keep a look out for it! If you would like a sneak peek, please visit our web site for details on our programming in Canada and the North. Online users will have a head start and the opportunity to book their first choice cabin selection for their 2008 dream trip.

For more information, click below on our Arctic Series:
Baffin Expedition
Walrus Expedition
High Arctic

For more information on our East Coast Series:

Wild Labrador
Newfoundland Circumnavigation

Or Download the whole brochure

Last Minute Special on New Zealand

nospam@example.com (Clayton Anderson) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 12:00:43 -0500

Our inaugural voyage to New Zealand is almost here. We have two spaces left on this wildlife-rich itinerary. For any last minute travellers we have a special for you! Sign up by February 25 and receive complimentary accommodations prior to your voyage and six dozen fresh kiwis – that's seventy-two kiwis folks! What a deal!

Please contact Judy Harper for more information on our last minute special.

Email Judy or call 1-800-363-7566 ext 32.

Click here for more info

A Report from Africa

nospam@example.com (Clayton Anderson) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:59:29 -0500

Adventure Canada has just completed it's first voyage to Africa, and what a journey it was! Aboard our 12-passenger Cessna Caravan, we left Jo-Berg and in the first few days we saw the "Big 5" - the rhino, leopard, lion, buffalo and elephant at our first camp, Mala Mala. The sightings would continue with everything from cheetahs, wildebeest, hyenas, hippos and baboons making an appearance.

Highlights included: a flight over Victoria Falls and the Okavango Delta in helicopters; showering outside, overlooking herds of zebra; sundowners in the Land Rovers; sitting among a herd of cape buffalo; elephants joining us for lunch... too much to list!

There will be an evolving photo library available on our site, make sure to check it out!

We're thinking "Same time next year?" Let us know if you're interested!

Click here to see the photos

News Watch, Ken McGoogan in the Beaver

nospam@example.com (Clayton Anderson) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:55:28 -0500

Keep an eye out for the April/ May issue of The Beaver: Canada's History Magazine. The cover story, written by historian and Adventure Canada leader Ken McGoogan, is an article about sailing the fabled Northwest Passage.

Ken McGoogan is a thoughtful and well-informed historian whose passion and energy for his subject is infectious. Join Ken this year in the Arctic on Adventure Canada's High Arctic Adventure: September 18-30th, 2008. As we head north towards Kane Basin he will share with us the many interesting and, at times, obscure facts about Kane and exploration that he has picked up during his extensive research on Northern History.

Harper Serves 10-Years, Banished to Tuscany

nospam@example.com (Clayton Anderson) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:54:40 -0500

February marks ten years of Judy Harper's loyal and dedicated service to Adventure Canada. Re-joining the work force after raising two (usually) wonderful children, Judy joined the AC team to assist with client services and reservations.

Over the past decade Judy has not only become a favourite with AC clients but our very own office mom, making sure that the driveway has been shoveled, we all have eaten our lunch and brushed our teeth before we go out in public. If we had beds here she probably would have tucked us in! Her enthusiasm for AC and genuine love of her clients is infectious and she leads through example in providing top care for our travellers. We congratulate Judy for putting up with all of us for as long as she has.

To celebrate her anniversary, Judy will be joined by her husband David in Tuscany this April. Judy many thanks for all of your contributions and hard work over the past ten years, we hope to see you for another ten!

Adventure Canada and the MS Explorer

nospam@example.com (Clayton Anderson) — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 11:05:31 -0500

Regarding the recent news of the MS Explorer and it's troubles in the Antarctic region:

Please be advised that this voyage is in no way associated with Adventure Canada. We have been a charterer of the vessel in the past, primarily in the Canadian Arctic, Newfoundland and Western Europe. Adventure Canada does not staff the MS Explorer outside of it’s charter period, primarily in the months of August and September.

We are immensely relieved that all passengers and crew are safe. We are saddened by this situation befalling such a capable and historic vessel and offer our condolences to GAP Adventures.

We are currently making arrangements to secure alternate vessels for our 2008 Season and do not, at this time, believe that there will be a major interruption in our intended programming.

An agreement is already in place for Adventure Canada to move the majority of its shipboard programming to the Clipper Adventurer for the 2009 season.

More information will be provided as it becomes available. Please check our website for updates.

Front Page Globe and Mail Travel Article by Ken McGoogan

nospam@example.com (Clayton Anderson) — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 14:19:27 -0400

This past Saturday, if you picked up the travel section in the Globe, this is what you would have seen. Read the article on Ken's journey to the Arctic with Adventure Canada this summer.

For more info on Ken McGoogan and his latest book, Lady Franklin's Revenge, visit his website at: www.kenmcgoogan.com

Catch the Nunatsiavut Fiord Study on CBC Tonight

nospam@example.com (Clayton Anderson) — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 15:20:47 -0400

Tonight, Tuesday - September 25 on CBC's The National @ 10:00 p.m., (10:30 p.m. NT),

The Nunatsiavut Fiord Study will be featured on television tonight. It is part of a special series on the impact of climate change on Canada's North, entitled "The Big Melt", The series will feature some images and interviews taken onboard the CCGS Amundsen when it sailed the north coast of Labrador this summer.

If you miss it, you can see it on the internet starting at around 11pm.

Thursday, Sept 27: Nature of Things at 10pm ET; Torngat Mountains National Park Reserve (Canada’s newest national park)

Tuesday, October 16 on the Outdoor Living Network (OLN)’s Survivor man: visit to the Valley’s Bight area.

We have just finished up our visit along the spectacular coast of Labrador! Watch for another chance to visit with us in 2009!

Catch the Nunatsiavut Fiord Study on CBC Tonight

nospam@example.com (Clayton Anderson) — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 15:20:47 -0400

Tonight, Tuesday - September 25 on CBC's The National @ 10:00 p.m., (10:30 p.m. NT),

The Nunatsiavut Fiord Study will be featured on television tonight. It is part of a special series on the impact of climate change on Canada's North, entitled "The Big Melt", The series will feature some images and interviews taken onboard the CCGS Amundsen when it sailed the north coast of Labrador this summer.

If you miss it, you can see it on the internet starting at around 11pm.

Thursday, Sept 27: Nature of Things at 10pm ET; Torngat Mountains National Park Reserve (Canada’s newest national park)

Tuesday, October 16 on the Outdoor Living Network (OLN)'s Survivor man: visit to the Valley’s Bight area.

We have just finished up our visit along the spectacular coast of Labrador! Watch for another chance to visit with us in 2009!