August 20, 2025 Today we entered the Northwest Territories in Canada by crossing the Dolphin and Union Strait. he highlight of the day was a sighting of some beluga whales. The small whales were off in the distance, but still visible. Beluga whales are sometimes also called white whales, melonheads (because of their rounded heads, and sea canary because of their high-pitched calls. We also saw a skua and a kittiwake. The sunset that night was beautiful.

August 19, 2025 We walked around the town of Cambridge Bay today. We started at the waterfront with its most well-know sculpture of the metal muskox. Made of recycled and repurposed materials, this sculpture symbolizes the resilience of the community of Cambridge Bay. A raven sculpture can be seen behind it. Nearby but closer to the beach were two metal sculptures of wolves. We next went to the Arctic Coast Visitor's Center and admired the Inuit art such as this whale bone

August 18, 2025 Today we visited Lady Franklin Point. It was named after John Franklin's wife who spent many years searching for him after his expedition disappeared in the Arctic. Years later it was the site of a radar station that was part of the North Warning System that the United States and Canada set up to help protect North America. Unfortunately, the station burned down in 2000 and is now abandoned. (Photo by ship's photographer - John Shedwick) The day began with a b

August 17, 2026 Once called Jenny Lind Island, after a famous opera singer, Qikiqtaryuaq provides many examples of Arctic plants. The photography group headed out to try our hand at some macro photography. We walked along a path with small rivulets of water and algae before coming to out destination where many examples of the arctic plants thrived. On our way we also saw the tracks of birds and musk ox that had also come this way. This miniature creeping willow seemed to take

8-16=25 Today we visited the hamlet of Gjoa Haven. This little town of about 1,500 came about because of another explorer searching for the Northwest Passage. The Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen, was destined to have move success than the Franklin Expedition. He was the first to successfully navigate the Northwest Passage in his ship, the Gjoa. Later he would be the first to reach the South Pole as well. However, before accomplishing either feat, he spent two years in Gjoa

August 15, 2025 Captain William Kennedy and his second-in-command, Joseph René Bellot, discovered this strait while searching for the lost Franklin expedition in 1852. This strait separates the northern-most part of mainland North America, Boothia Peninsula, from Somerset Island. It was my favorite day of the trip because we spotted our first of the rare bowhead whales, had our closest polar bear sighting. We also saw our first mother with cubs and our first musk ox. The bow

August 14, 2025 Beechey Island became famous as the burial site for the early deaths of 3 members of the ill-fated Franklin Expedition to discover a Northwest Passage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. In 1845 to 1846 the expedition wintered on Beechey Island when their ships were stopped by the ice. The graves and hundreds of tin cans were discovered 5 years later by people in search of the lost expedition. Some people believe they may have perished from lead pois

August 13, 2025 Today we visited Dundas Harbor on Devon Island. Devon Island is the largest uninhabited island in the world. In the past, there have been small settlements, such as the most recent Royal Canadian Mounted Police outpost. We woke up to a sea of icebergs in the morning before making our way to Devon Island. We passed the Kaparoqtalik Glacier on Bylot Island. Once we arrived at Devon Island, the ship anchored. We took the zodiacs to the shore and walked along the

August 12, 2025 We reached Canada today. Unfortunately, we were not able to go ashore. We had to clear customs and there was another ship...

August 10, 2025 The town of Sisimiut is just above the Arctic Circle. It is the second largest town in Greenland. Like other Greenland...

August 9, 2025 Ice blocked our way into Ilulissat today. The town, the third largest in Greenland, lies beside a magnificent ice fjord....

August 7, 2025 The first lag of our cruise ended in Kangerlussuaq. While the ship off-loaded passengers not continuing on with us and...

August 5, 2025 Today we took a zodiak out to the Evigheds glacier and were able to land and walk up close to it. Because we were with...

August 4 There were no landings or zodiak cruises today, but beautiful scenery as we made our way to Evighedsfjorden.

August 3, 2026 We visited Nuuk today. We took the shuttle to the church and walked to the museum to learn more about Greenland's history....

August 2, 2025 Erik the Red founded the first Viking settlement in Greenland. It was warmer back then so he could have a successful farm...

August 1, 2025 We visited our first town in Greenland today. Qaqortoc was very quaint with colorful houses and many wildflowers in bloom....

July 31, 2025 As a special surprise, our Image Masters group was able to take a zodiac ride ahead of the ship up to the tide water...

07/30/2025 In the early morning, we made our way to our landing site at Skjoldungen Fjord. We put on our boots and life jackets and...

July 29, 2025 After a day at sea, we arrived in Greenland. Our first stop was Umivik Bay where we went on our first zodiac ride. Because...