Our Cruise Ship – Alaska, Canada Northwest Passage to Greenland – Click for Notes

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Vessel through the ice at Smoking Island, Northwest Passage Canada.

We booked our expedition with Nobel Caledonia of the UK but we joined the German vessel the Hanseatic Inspiration with a total of 180 passengers. This 30 day tour from Anchorage, around the Aleutian Islands then Alaska into the Arctic Circle where the vessel negotiated Canada’s Northwest Passage to Greenland. We visited many islands, some inhabited with Inuits, some barren or deserted and hiked in a protected area with armed crew as Polar Bears were always a threat. On board ship and just sailing days we had lectures covering geology, marine and avian life to history of the often fatal attempts to find a route through the Northwest Passage. It was an expedition of a lifetime.

My intention was to photograph all birds seen at sea and on the several islands we visited.  After entering the Arctic Circle the bird population diminished considerably.  Shore birds were few and far between at this time of the year and also there were very few areas for waders.