Into the Northwest Passage – Circumnavigating Baffin Island

Northern horizons begin here

Your voyage begins with an overnight stay in the Danish capital of Copenhagen.

Explore the charming city, packed with architectural gems, coffee shops, and parks. The colourful canal district of Nyhavn is the perfect place to people watch and grab a Danish pastry. Also, no visit to Copenhagen is complete without a visit to the Little Mermaid, the iconic bronze sculpture on the Langelinie promenade.

You’ll also have time to meet fellow travellers and the Expedition Team before your charter flight north to Greenland. This is the calm before the Arctic, where logistics will soon give way to ice, weather, and the polar unknown.

Gateway to the Greenlandic Arctic

Arrive in Nuuk, Greenland’s compact capital, set along a deep fjord system framed by rugged mountains. Despite its small scale, the city is a vibrant centre of modern Greenlandic life.

If time allows we’ll explore this fascinating city. Nuuk is also where you start to feel the essence of the Arctic: ice, sea, and the mountainous peaks of Quassussuaq and Ukkusissat.

Once on board, meet the Expedition Team, settle into your cabin, and we’ll begin the voyage north and west towards Baffin Island.

A day at sea

As Nuuk fades into the distance, we begin our first sea passage into the waters of Baffin Bay. Look out for seabirds following the ship and watch as the landscape begins to shift.

This is a time of orientation; both practical and environmental. With onboard lectures, you’ll get an introduction to ice navigation, wildlife patterns, and Arctic history, while the landscape slowly transforms from coastal Greenland into open polar seascape.

Ice-carved coasts and living Arctic communities

The eastern edge of Baffin Island reveals some of the most dramatic scenery in the Arctic: steep mountains, deep fjords, and glaciers descending directly into the sea. Sea ice often lingers here, shaping access and movement throughout the region.

In settlements such as Qikiqtarjuaq, life is in close connection with land and sea, where hunting, fishing, and travel remain guided by environmental conditions. Zodiac cruising and shore landings, where possible, offer encounters with this immense coastal landscape and its wildlife-rich waters.

Science at sea

Time at sea allows the scale of the region to settle in. Baffin Island’s vast coastline stretches behind while new regions approach ahead. Sea conditions can shift rapidly, from open water to scattered ice, requiring constant observation and adaptation.

Onboard life continues with lectures and sessions that bring the Arctic environment into focus: how ice forms, how ecosystems function, and how navigation in these waters is shaped by nature rather than fixed routes.

Gateway to the Northwest Passage

Lancaster Sound is one of the most important waterways in the Arctic. It’s a historic entry point into the Northwest Passage. We’ll pass towering cliffs and deep channels along the coast of Devon Island, which is the largest uninhabited island on Earth. Conditions permitting, we may visit Beechey Island, an important historical site associated with early Arctic exploration, including Sir John Franklin’s 1845 expedition.

Into the shifting ice

Sailing deeper into the Canadian High Arctic, the environment becomes more enclosed and remote. Prince Regent Inlet and the Gulf of Boothia are defined by long, quiet waterways, low-lying tundra, and the first patches of sea ice forming in the late Arctic autumn. With a little luck and patience, wildlife such as ringed or bearded seals may make an appearance along the ice edges.

Then we cross Fury and Hecla Strait, a narrow passage where navigation is constantly shaped by seasonal ice. Surrounded by stark, low coastlines, the water shifts between open leads and drifting pack ice as the autumn freeze begins to take hold. The surface is never uniform; cracked floes, dark channels of water, and occasional pressure ridges sliding past with the current and wind.

Our route is dictated entirely by prevailing conditions. Where openings allow, we may cruise on Zodiacs into sheltered bays, landing on remote, stony shores to explore the tundra on foot.

Wide seas and Inuit homelands

Foxe Basin opens into a vast, shallow sea bordered by low tundra and distant, broken coastline. It feels open and exposed: water and sky blending at the horizon, with few landmarks to hold onto.

Over these few days, you move through a landscape shaped by long Thule and Inuit presence. Over 100 stone cairns called ‘inuksuit’ line the tundra at Enukso Point, some dating back 2,000 years. In Igloolik, a small hamlet literally translating as 'there is a house here', it’s easy to see how life remains closely tied to sea ice, hunting, and the seasonal rhythm of the land.

Where Arctic meets Atlantic influence

At the gateway between the Canadian Arctic and North Atlantic, Hudson Strait separates Baffin Island from northern Quebec. It’s known for strong tides, powerful currents, and fast-changing weather as wind funnels through the channel.

September and October are when the Arctic starts to shift; you begin to see drifting fragments of sea ice reappearing: sometimes remnants of older ice carried in on currents and in sheltered areas, the first thin new ice forming at the surface. It’s not winter yet, but you’re watching it arrive in real time.

We aim to call at Kinngait (Cape Dorset), one of Nunavut’s most important cultural communities, internationally known for Inuit printmaking and sculpture. Zodiac cruising and shore visits bring you close to a working Arctic coastline.

The long return through open waters

As the circumnavigation nears completion, time at sea becomes reflective. The Arctic landscapes of Baffin Island gradually recede as we move back toward Greenland. Ice becomes less dominant, replaced by longer stretches of open water and broader ocean conditions.

This is the perfect time to relax on board, perhaps chat with new friends in the Explorer Lounge & Bar, and catch up on any lectures you may have missed. If you haven’t tried the hot tubs yet, now’s your moment.

Return to Greenland’s capital

Our voyage concludes in Nuuk, marking the completion of our circumnavigation around Baffin Island. Say a fond farewell to the ship, Expedition Team, crew, and fellow travellers as you step ashore for the final time.

Nuuk feels like a metropolis after the remote Arctic communities you’ve visited, yet it remains closely tied to its fjord setting. Colourful houses line the water’s edge, where fishing boats, modern infrastructure, and cultural institutions sit side by side, reflecting a city balancing tradition with contemporary Greenlandic life.

Take time to explore the harbour, museums, or nearby historic areas before you fly to Copenhagen, which brings your full Arctic journey to a close.