Small-Ship Expedition Cruise

High Arctic Expedition: Where Art Meets Land

Map

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Highlights

Craig Minielly A1 2018 Tagged 132

© Craig Minielly

Journey into the High Arctic

Follow Greenland’s glacier-carved coast into Kane Basin, pressing north as far as ice and weather allow. With Ellesmere Island to the west and Greenland to the east, the route leads toward some of the highest latitudes Adventure Canada has ever explored. Sea ice determines the passage, and every mile north is earned. This is expedition travel in its truest form, shaped by changing conditions, careful decisions, and the exhilarating question of just how far north the journey can reach.

Grise fiord

© Scott Forsyth

Experience Inuit homelands

Travel through Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) and Nunavut in the company of Inuit guides, whose knowledge brings the coast, ice, wildlife, and communities into view as parts of living homelands. Generations of travel, hunting, observation, and story remain present in the names and meanings held across these places. In Ausuittuq (Grise Fiord), Canada’s northernmost civilian community, life unfolds beneath the mountains of Ellesmere Island. Time shared in these homelands is a privilege and an opportunity to get to know the North through those who call it home. 

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© Dennis Minty

Step beyond the frame

For many, the Arctic is first known through paintings, photographs, and stories. In partnership with the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, this voyage brings those representations into conversation with the place itself. Experience the scale, movement, and life of the Arctic firsthand while exploring what art can reveal and how direct experience can deepen understanding. 

Narwhal

© Michelle Valberg

Discover the living waters of the North

Enter Sarvarjuaq, the newly protected Canadian waters of Pikialasorsuaq, the North Water Polynya shared by Canada and Greenland. Recurring open water and nutrient-rich currents sustain one of the Arctic’s greatest concentrations of life, including millions of seabirds and important habitat for narwhal, bowhead and beluga whales, walrus, seals, and polar bears. For Inuit, these waters have long been hunting grounds, travel routes, and a connection between communities. Their protection recognizes both extraordinary ecological abundance and generations of Inuit knowledge and stewardship. 

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© Jacquie Matechuk

Step into the Franklin mystery

Set foot on windswept Beechey Island, one of the most storied places in Arctic exploration. Here, Franklin’s expedition spent the winter of 1845–46 before sailing south and disappearing. Three graves, stone cairns, and remains of the camp still mark the stark shoreline, offering a tangible connection to a mystery that has drawn searchers and travellers north for nearly two centuries.