CHURCHILL TO KANGERLUSSUAQ 

Ship Offering This Itinerary

Silver Endeavour

Days 1 & 2 Churchill (Manitoba), Canada

Overview:

Arrive into the town of Churchill to begin your incredible voyage. Situated on Hudson Bay in the far north of Manitoba, it is a haven for wildlife. Well known for its residents of polar bears in the Autumn, beluga whales in the summer and a chance to witness the Northern Lights in the winter time. Spend the night here before embarking on your luxury vessel on Day 2.

Day 3 At Sea

Relax and enjoy the scenery as you sail from Churchill to explore more of Canada. Keep an eye out for bird life and sea life from the deck.

Day 4 Cape Dorset (Dorset Island), Canada

Cape Dorset is a small Inuit hamlet located on Dorset Island, off the southern shore of Baffin Island. The traditional name for Cape Dorset is Kinngait (meaning “high mountain”), describing the ‘Cape’, which is actually a 243 metre mountain. This is a nature-lovers paradise with breath-taking landscapes and an amazing abundance of arctic wildlife, such as migratory caribou, seabirds, whales, seals and walruses. Ancient native Thule (Dorset Culture) peoples lived in this area for three thousand years, and it is here where the first archaeological remains were found. Captain Luke Foxe, during his attempt to find the Northwest Passage in 1631, was the first European to land here. He named the Cape in honour of his sponsor Edward Sackville, the Earl of Dorset. In 1913, the Hudson’s Bay Company started a trading post, exchanging furs and skins for supplies like tobacco, ammunition, flour, gas, tea and sugar.

Day 5 Lower Savage Islands, Canada

The Lower Savage Islands are a small group of islands off of the southeastern tip of Baffin Island, and a common location for polar bears to be found during the summer months. With plenty of land to roam while giving each other a wide berth, plus opportunities to feed, it seems perhaps bears can be found here as the ice vanishes with the summer season’s warming temperatures.

Day 6 Monumental Island & Lady Franklin Island, Canada

Monumental Island in Davis Strait was named by Arctic explorer Charles Francis Hall as a tribute to the memory of Sir John Franklin who died in his quest to find the Northwest Passage. The island is offshore of Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago of the territory of Nunavut. Around the shoreline scores of Black Guillemots dive and fish for little Arctic cods and capelins. Successful birds fly off with a minnow grasped tightly in their beaks. On a far larger scale, it is possible to find groups of walruses with their impressive tusks along the shores of the island. However, the coup de grâce is to spot a polar bear’s white silhouette against the dark background of the bedrock on Monumental Island.

Named in honour of Sir John Franklin’s widow, the lonely and uninhabited Lady Franklin Island lies off of Baffin Island’s Hall Peninsula at the entrance to Cumberland Sound. The island is named for the wife of Sir John Franklin, the Arctic explorer who died trying to discover the Northwest Passage. The geology of the island is striking with vertical cliffs of Archean rocks, likely to be some of the oldest stone in Canada. The waters around Lady Franklin Island offer an abundance seabirds, ducks, seals, and walrus. With a bit of luck it is possible to see Atlantic Puffins here and perhaps even a rare Sabine’s Gull.

Day 7 At Sea

Days at sea are the perfect opportunity to relax, unwind and catch up with what you’ve been meaning to do. So whether that is whale watching from the Observatory Lounge, writing home to your loved ones or simply relaxing. These blue sea days are the perfect balance to busy days spent exploring shore side.

Day 8 Isabella Bay (Nunavat), Canada

The shoreline and islands of Isabella Bay, as well as the adjacent ocean out to 12 nautical miles from shore, was folded into Canada’s Ninginganiq National Wildlife Area in 2010. Located on the northeast coast of Baffin Island, Nunavut, Isabella Bay provides important marine habitat for bowhead whales, other marine mammals, and a plethora of seabirds. As a result of the formation of the Ninginganiq National Wildlife Area the eastern bowhead population may now be over 10,000 individuals.

Day 9 Sam Ford Fjord (Nunavut), Canada

The starkly beautiful Sam Ford Fjord area of Baffin Island has one of the most impressive concentrations of vertical rock walls to be found anywhere in the world. It is a 110-kilometre waterway lined with sheer cliffs that have attracted some of the world’s best (and most extreme) rock climbers to the region. The steep stone walls were formed by ancient glaciers that carved the landscape through the ages. However, the feature that makes the shoreline truly special is the way that many of these walls rise straight up from the dark waters of the deep fjord. Swimming these waters are marine mammals including narwhals and seals that once attracted Inuit hunters to this coast.

Day 10 Gibbs Fjord (Nuvanut), Canada

There are few places on earth where the simple grandeur of the landscape can dwarf a ship with giant peaks, steep cliffs, and glacial rivers of ice. In Gibbs Fjord it is possible to see only towering cliffs and the seemingly impenetrable fortress of 1200 metre walls and buttresses that make up Sillem Island, eventually dividing the dark, deep waters of Gibbs and Clark Fjords. The geological formations here make for excellent photo opportunities and it is astounding to realise that very little of this spectacular terrain has ever been explored.

Day 11 At Sea

Days at sea are the perfect opportunity to relax, unwind and catch up with what you’ve been meaning to do. So whether that is whale watching from the Observatory Lounge, writing home to your loved ones or simply relaxing. These blue sea days are the perfect balance to busy days spent exploring shore side.

Day 12 Qeqertarsuaq, Greenland

During the morning Silver Cloud will ply the Disko Bay en route to your destination along Disko Island’s east coast. The exploration of the Disko Bay area will head to an area north of the village of Qeqertarsuaq, which is named after Disko Island’s local name –meaning “large island”. Disko Island is Greenland’s second-largest island.

Day 13 Ilulissat, Greenland

Known as the birthplace of icebergs, the Ilulissat Icefjord produces nearly 20 million tons of ice each day. In fact, the word Ilulissat means “icebergs” in the Kalaallisut language. The town of Ilulissat is known for its long periods of calm and settled weather, but the climate tends to be cold due to its proximity to the fjord. Approximately 4,500 people live in Ilulissat, the third-largest town in Greenland after Nuuk and Sisimiut. Some people here estimate that there are nearly as many sled dogs as human beings living in the town that also boasts a local history museum located in the former home of Greenlandic folk hero and famed polar explorer Knud Rasmussen.

Day 14 Sisimiut, Greenland

Located just north of the Arctic Circle, Sisimiut is the northernmost town in Greenland where the port remains free of ice in the winter. Yet it is also the southernmost town where there is enough snow and ice to drive a dogsled in winter and spring. In Sisimiut, travelling by sled has been the primary means of winter transportation for centuries. In fact, the area has been inhabited for approximately 4,500 years. Modern Sisimiut is the largest business centre in the north of Greenland, and is one of the fastest growing Greenlandic cities. Commercial fishing is the lead economy in the town‘s thriving industrial base.

Day 15 Nuuk (Godthab), Greenland

Image Credit: Daniela Plaza

Nuuk, meaning “the cape”, was Greenland’s first town (1728). Started as a fort and later a mission and trading post some 240 kilometers south of the Arctic Circle, it is the current capital. Almost 30% of Greenland’s population lives in the town. Not only does Nuuk have great natural beauty in its vicinity, but there are Inuit ruins, Hans Egede’s home, the parliament, and the Church of our Saviour as well. The Greenlandic National Museum has an outstanding collection of Greenlandic traditional dresses, as well as the famous Qilakitsoq mummies. The Katuaq Cultural Center’s building was inspired by the undulating Northern Lights and can house 10% of Nuuk’s inhabitants.

Day 16 Evighedsfjord & Kangaamiut (Qeqqata), Greenland

Within roughly an hour of steaming south from Kangerlussuaq Fjord is Evighedsfjord Fjord. The fjords in this area can reach close to a kilometer (over half a mile) of depth and are lined with tidewater glaciers from the Maniitsoq ice sheet located high up in the interior of Greenland. Some of the cliffs along the fjords of this region can exceed 2,000 metres in height.

Only 350 people live in the small Greenlandic community of Kangaamiut. Located on the south coast of Timerdlit Island and facing the Davis Strait, Kangaamiut is situated between the mouths of two long fjords: the Kangerlussuatsiaq Fjord (or Evighedsfjorden in Danish) to its south and to its north Kangaamiut Kangerluarsuat Fjord. Founded in 1755, it was called “Sugarloaf” (Sukkertoppen) because of the appearance of three nearby hills.

Day 17 Kangerlussuaq, Greenland

Image Credit: Bruno Cazarini

Kangerlussuaq is a settlement in western Greenland in the Qeqqata municipality located at the head of the fjord of the same name (Danish: Søndre Strømfjord). It is Greenland’s main air transport hub and the site of Greenland’s largest commercial airport. The airport dates from American settlement during and after World War II, when the site was known as Bluie West-8 and Sondrestrom Air Base. The Kangerlussuaq area is also home to Greenland’s most diverse terrestrial fauna, including muskoxen, caribou, and gyrfalcons. The settlement’s economy and population of 512 is almost entirely reliant on the airport and tourist industry. This is where you will end your incredible voyage.