High Arctic Expedition: Where Art Meets Land

Arrive by charter flight from Ottawa and step into Qausuittuq, set on gravel flats and moraine beneath the glow of continuous summer light. The community’s history of relocation in 1953 intertwines with its present role as a hub for Arctic research and travel. As you prepare to embark aboard the Ocean Nova, take time to orient yourself to the stories and landscapes that shape this place. 

Beechey Island holds one of the most tangible chapters in the Franklin mystery. HMS Erebus and HMS Terror spent the winter of 1845–46 here before sailing south and disappearing. The graves of three crew members, remains of the winter camp, stone cairns, and traces left by later search expeditions still mark its narrow, windswept shore.

Protected as part of Beechey Island Sites National Historic Site, these remains capture the expedition at the threshold of mystery. The island later became a base for the vast search effort that helped map much of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.

Sail through Tallurutiup Imanga, one of Canada’s largest marine protected areas, alive with whales, seals, and seabirds. Beneath towering cliffs and drifting ice, the sea glimmers with shifting light. Step ashore on Devon Island, the world’s largest uninhabited island, where glaciers meet the sea and tundra unfolds in broad, glacial valleys. Here, light and silence create their own compositions, inviting stillness, reflection, and a deep sense of the Arctic’s living beauty. 

Set between the mountains of southern Ellesmere Island and the waters of Jones Sound, Ausuittuq (Grise Fiord) is Canada’s northernmost civilian community. Its Inuktitut name means “the place that never thaws,” a reference to the enduring ice above the community.

Ausuittuq was established through the High Arctic Relocations of 1953 and 1955, when the Canadian government moved Inuit families from Inukjuak and Mittimatalik, in part to reinforce Canadian sovereignty. The hardship and injustice of that history remain part of the community’s story, commemorated by a monument overlooking the shore. Today, family, language, harvesting, and community life give this small and remarkable Inuit hamlet its enduring character. 

Explore the rugged coastline of Ellesmere, Canada’s northernmost island. Towering mountains, vast ice caps, and deep fjords define a landscape of extraordinary scale. Here, the High Arctic exceeds the images that first inspired us, revealing a world more intricate, dynamic, and alive than any single representation can capture. 

Sail into Kane Basin, where Ellesmere Island and Greenland nearly meet. Glaciers tower above drifting sea ice, and the shifting Arctic light continually transforms the passage. Long travelled by Inuit, these waters later became a route for expeditions seeking both the lost Franklin expedition and a way to the North Pole. The basin bears the name of American explorer Elisha Kent Kane, who crossed it in 1854 during his search for Franklin. 

Venture through Smith Sound, the dramatic channel connecting Baffin Bay with Kane Basin and part of the greater Pikialasorsuaq region. Pikialasorsuaq means “great upwelling” in Kalaallisut and is known in Nunavut as Sarvarjuaq.

Recurring open water within the surrounding sea ice makes this the Arctic’s largest polynya and one of the most biologically productive regions north of the Arctic Circle. Nutrient-rich waters sustain an extraordinary abundance of life, drawing whales, seals, and millions of seabirds to this vital Arctic ecosystem.

From Smith Sound, follow Greenland’s coast south through waters shaped by ice, current, and weather. Icebergs drift past in an ever-changing procession, while distant mountains, seabirds, and the possibility of marine wildlife keep attention fixed beyond the decks.

A day aboard creates time to look more closely at the region unfolding around us. Presentations, workshops, and informal conversations with educators explore the wildlife, geography, history, and living cultures of the High Arctic. Between sessions, the decks and observation spaces invite shared discoveries as the journey continues south.

Greenland’s coast breaks apart here into a vast maze of islands, narrow channels, and drifting ice. Upernavik, meaning “the springtime place,” rises from this intricate seascape in a bright sweep of colourful houses and a working harbour.

Fishing and hunting remain central to life across the archipelago, connecting Upernavik with the smaller communities scattered along the coast. Its historic quarter forms the world’s northernmost open-air museum, preserving the church, trading buildings, boats, and tools of an earlier era. Surrounded by rock, sea, and ice, Upernavik reveals the remarkable character of life along Greenland’s northern coast.

Sail among towering glaciers and drifting bergs, each one a shifting sculpture in white and blue. Fjords echo with the sound of calving ice, and mountains rise sheer above waters crowded with floes. The scale and geometry here—immense, elemental, ever-changing—recall the stark forms the Group of Seven once sought to capture in paint. 

Ilulissat means “icebergs,” a fitting name for a city beside one of the world’s great moving ice systems. At the head of the UNESCO-listed Ilulissat Icefjord, Sermeq Kujalleq ranks among the fastest and most active glaciers on Earth. Its immense icebergs travel slowly through the fjord before entering Disko Bay, continually transforming the seascape.

The icefjord has shaped human life here for more than four thousand years. That relationship continues in contemporary Ilulissat, a lively Greenlandic city where fishing boats crowd the harbour and the streets bustle with residents and travellers. Restaurants showcase Greenlandic ingredients, while cafés, shops, and the striking Ilulissat Icefjord Centre reflect the city’s growing cultural and creative energy.

Here, deep human history, vibrant city life, and constant environmental change come together at the edge of the ice. 

Cruise along the dramatic Sisimiut coast, where mountains rise sharply from the sea and small settlements cling to the shoreline. This region reflects Greenland’s seafaring traditions, with communities deeply tied to land and water. As you sail, the shifting light across jagged peaks creates endless new scenes—each one a masterpiece of Arctic colour and form. 

Overnight, the journey continues through the long reaches of Kangerlussuaq Fjord, whose Kalaallisut name means “big fjord.” Conditions permitting, portions of this dramatic passage may come into view as the waterway extends inland between rounded mountains and slopes shaped by glacial sediment.

At its head lies Kangerlussuaq, an unusual inland community established around an American airbase built during the Second World War. Its sheltered location is known for comparatively stable flying conditions, one reason the site was selected for the airbase and later became Greenland’s principal aviation gateway for decades. That same geographic advantage makes Kangerlussuaq particularly well suited to the transition between ship and charter aircraft. Beyond the runway, the landscape stretches toward the Greenland Ice Sheet through a region shaped by ancient Inuit travel and caribou-hunting routes.

Time ashore is limited to disembarkation and the transfer to the airport for the charter flight.

Kangerlussuaq marks a fitting final threshold, where a journey completed by sea gives way to the flight home.