Itinerary

Day 1: Ottawa

Travellers gather in Ottawa, where they spend the night. Anticipation grows as travellers trade stories about Khlebnikov’s exploits in the North and the South. Arrival Transfers: Arrival transfers from Ottawa international airport are not included in the voyage price. There are numerous flights a day into Ottawa, pre-arranged individual transfers are prohibitively expensive and we recommend you arrange a taxi locally. Please note there are no meals included in the voyage price on day 1.

Day 2: Embarkation Day - Kangerlussuaq

Board your charter flight to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. After the flight to Kangerlussuaq, the group is transferred to the icebreaker. A combination of nostalgia and anticipation will be on the faces of the Expedition Team as they greet the new arrivals.

Meals included: 1 breakfast 1 dinner

Day 3: Sisimiut

Kayak is an Inuit word that English has borrowed to describe a small vessel propelled by paddles that seats one or two people. When ashore in Sisimiut, travellers will watch a demonstration of traditional kayaking. There will be time to explore the town, where 18th century buildings from Greenland’s colonial period still stand!

Meals included: 1 breakfast 1 lunch 1 dinner

Day 4: Ilulissat

Ilulissat Kangerlua is Greenlandic for The Iceberg Fjord. The glacier at the head of the fjord is the most productive in the Northern Hemisphere. The icebergs it calves float down the fjord to enter Baffin Bay. As the ship approaches Ilulissat, travellers should have their cameras ready to take photos of young icebergs. The ‘bergs’ journey will end years later somewhere off the coast of Newfoundland. So significant is Ilulissat Fjord that UNESCO has designated the area a World Heritage Site. Travellers cruise the fjord in a Zodiac, hike the shoreline and explore the community of the same name located near the glacier.

Meals included: 1 breakfast 1 lunch 1 dinner

Day 5: Baffin Bay

Baffin Bay, an extension of the Arctic Ocean, is a sea not a bay. The massive body of water separates Canada from Greenland. As the ship sails from east to west, travellers are on the alert for icebergs. They watch for seabirds gliding on the wing and whales in the water.

Meals included: 1 breakfast 1 lunch 1 dinner

Day 6: Pond Inlet

Back in the Canadian Arctic, the people of Pond Inlet or Mittimatalik - as it has been called by the Inuit for thousands of years – will welcome travellers to the Artist’s Co-operative. In addition to internationally renowned art they produce, the people of “Pond” earn their living fishing for Arctic char. Travellers will have time to take photos, explore the hamlet and hike the nearby tundra, before boarding Kapitan Khlebnikov once again

Meals included: 1 breakfast 1 lunch 1 dinner

Day 7-8: Devon and Beechey Islands

Over the next two days, travellers will explore the southern shore of the largest uninhabited island in the world, Devon Island. They will go ashore to visit a deserted Royal Canadian Mounted Police station. They’ll learn about the Thule, the ancestors of the Inuit. They are alert for musk oxen as they hike or cruise in Zodiacs. Just off shore at the western end of Devon Island is Beechey Island. There, on a stony beach, stand three grave markers, grim reminders of the lives lost during Sir John Franklin’s search for the Northwest Passage. While approaching Beechey Island, special guest John Murray will deliver the first of two presentations about Franklin.

Meals included: 2 breakfast 2 lunch 2 dinner

Day 9: Prince Regent Inlet

Prince Leopold Island is a bird sanctuary with soaring cliffs where seabirds nest. It also marks the eastern end of the Northwest Passage. Khlebnikov will begin the transit of the fabled northern sea route to Asia today. Roald Amundsen is credited with the first successful full transit of the Northwest Passage. He, however, was not the first to discover the route. The Northwest Passage was discovered piece by piece over hundreds of years. As travellers head south down Prince Regent Inlet, they will be sailing through a segment that was discovered by William Parry in the early 19th century. Special guest John Murray may introduce one of his polar films during the evening as the icebreaker sails ever westward.

Meals included: 1 breakfast 1 lunch 1 dinner

Day 10: Bellot Strait

The narrow Bellot Strait has thwarted many ships as it is often ice-choked. The mighty Kapitan Khlebnikov has never failed to make the transit. Travellers will be on deck as the Captain threads the ship through the passage that separates mainland North America from Somerset Island for the last time. As the vessel approaches the stretch of the Northwest Passage explored by the Irish-Canadian Franklin Search Expedition, special guest John Murray will provide insight into the logistics and the motivations of 21st century exploration.

Meals included: 1 breakfast 1 lunch 1 dinner

Day 11: Victoria Strait

No transit of the Northwest Passage would be complete without visiting the locales synonymous with Sir John Franklin’s ill-fated search for the Northwest Passage. Franklin’s ships were beset in the ice of Victoria Strait, off King William Island, before they were abandoned. Evidence of what happened next is scanty. The longest search in maritime history was mounted in an attempt to solve the mystery. The Expedition Team will provide the details in the form of illustrated presentations as you sail through Victoria Strait.

Meals included: 1 breakfast 1 lunch 1 dinner

Day 12: Iqaluktuuttiaq

The people of Iqaluktuuttiaq, also known as Cambridge Bay, the largest community on Victoria Island will welcome the icebreaker, and introduce travellers, through dance and song, to their culture. Travellers will have time to explore the community of 1,400, a commercial hub for the region.

Meals included: 1 breakfast 1 lunch 1 dinner

Day 13: Johansen Bay

A tundra hike is no stroll in the park. Travellers will walk rough, undulating ground that has never been manicured, seeded or covered by a boardwalk. They will walk on the wild side in Johansen Bay.

Meals included: 1 breakfast 1 lunch 1 dinner

Day 14: Ulukhaktok

Ulukhaktok, known in English as Holman, is an Arctic village with an international reputation in the Fine Arts community. The prints created in the Artist’s co-op can be found hanging in art galleries and homes around the world. Travellers will have time to visit the co-operative and attend a cultural demonstration, before returning to the icebreaker.

Meals included: 1 breakfast 1 lunch 1 dinner

Day 15: Walker Bay

Throughout this expedition activities on the ship and ashore combine to create a powerful package that will engage mind and emotions. The planned visit to the wilderness of Walker Bay is no exception.

Meals included: 1 breakfast 1 lunch 1 dinner

Day 16: Mackenzie Delta

The estuary formed at the mouth of the Mackenzie River where it empties into the Beaufort Sea is classified as a delta. For 7,000 years sediment brought down river has built up to create a vast surface area where wildlife congregates. Travellers will be on the lookout for Snow and Brant Geese, Tundra Swans as well as beluga whales while in the vicinity of the Mackenzie Delta.

Meals included: 1 breakfast 1 lunch 1 dinner

Day 17: Qikiqtaruk

Kapitan Khlebnikov has navigated the Northwest Passage more than 15 times, a record that no other expedition vessel has surpassed. Today the ship’s last visit to Herschel Island – known as Qikiqtaruk in Inuvialuktun – will occur. We plan to mark the occasion with the presentation of a plaque to the Territorial Park’s administrators. On Qikiwtaruk, archeologists have found evidence of a thousand years of human habitation. The Thule people were the first to settle on the island. They were the ancestors of the Inuvialuit, the local native people. Whalers sheltered in the island’s natural harbor. The Hudson’s Bay Company built a trading post and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police assigned a detachment to the island. The park was established in 1987 to protect what remains of the island’s human history. Birding enthusiasts should carry their binoculars during the visit to the park. More than 90 species of birds have been counted on the island.

Meals included: 1 breakfast 1 lunch 1 dinner

Day 18-19: At Sea

As Kapitan Khlebnikov steams westward across the Beaufort Sea watch for marine mammals in the water and seabirds swirling about the ship. Should the vessel encounter pack ice, the onboard helicopters will take you aloft to watch as the powerful ship crushes through to open water.

Meals included: 2 breakfast 2 lunch 2 dinner

Day 20-22: Chukotka Peninsula, Russia

More presentations to commemorate the icebreaker’s farewell voyage through the Arctic will occur when the ship reach Russia’s Far East – the Chukotka Peninsula. Cultural presentations will demonstrate the similarities and the differences between the indigenous people of the Russian Arctic and those of Canada and Greenland. Travellers will visit the tiny village of Uelen, known for its talented carvers who work in walrus ivory. At Cape Dezhnev, the most easterly point of the Asian continent, the architecture of the buildings that remain is distinctively Russian. Travellers cruise in Zodiacs to Puffin Island where two species of the comical bird cohabit. On the shore of Ittygran Island the ribs of whales, planted in the tundra by people long ago, still stand on lowland known as “whalebone alley.” The final shore landing planned is a visit to Novoyo Chaplino, where the local people dressed in traditional attire will demonstrate their skills as wrestlers and ropers of reindeer.

Meals included: 3 breakfast 3 lunch 3 dinner

Day 23: Anadyr, Russia- Disembarkation

You will disembark Kapitan Khlebnikov's End of the Era voyage through the Arctic in Anadyr, Russia. A helicopter will transfer you one last time from the ship to the airport for the charter flight to Anchorage, Alaska, where you will spend the night. Crossing the International Dateline en route turns the clock back a day.

Meals included: 1 breakfast

Day 23: Anchorage, Alaska USA

Depart for home after breakfast

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