Great trip to Western Arctic: Canada and Greenland First two days due to strong winds we were exploring unexpectedly fjord near Kangerlussuaq airport in Greenland. This affected the planned itinerary and expedition team worked hard to resolve various issues. It was a very memorable experience with 18 nights on board of Ultramarine. We have visited places where no other expedition ships have been or only visited on rare occasions. We were lucky with clear skies on the first 6 nights and the Aurora Borealis was better and better on each night. Glaciers, icebergs were nice backdrops on many photos and experiences were enhanced with helicopter flights over magnificent landscapes of Baffin island (Sam Ford fjord especially) and Greenland. Wonderful autumn colours of tundra and rock formations were explored on many hikes in addition to the visits to archeological sites. Introduction to Inuit culture and history was during visits to Itileq, Ilulissat, Uummannaaq, Nipisat island and Pond Inlet. It was enhanced by performances of local artists and visits to Inuit colourful homes. Although the wildlife of Arctic is not so plentiful as in Antarctica, we managed to have wonderful observations of numerous polar bears (12 in one day!), seals and birds. We also followed somewhat the footsteps of Franklin's expedition and reached the Beechey island where the expedition has spent the winter in 1845/46 and where are some graves of the sailors. Expedition team members presented many interesting lectures on history, geology, birds and bears. It was also a nice culinary experience of Greenlandic cuisine: Tundra to Table.
from start till end this trip was amazing! Everything went smoothly, from the pre-tour info, to information at the hotel and the logistics of the domestic flights and checking in on the boat. It felt very safe, especially for a woman travelling alone. The crew on board was excellent! I loved the way every guide had his own field of expertise which covered everything you wanted to know (and things you didnt know you wanted to know ;-)). The Staff was extremely helpful, happy, smiling and overall serviceminded. It was a pleasure! Overall the program on board made sure that you almost didnt have an idle moment, which for me was amazing! And the logistics of getting nearly 200 passengers into zodiacs 10 at the time, went so incredible easy, they crew are really professional and know how to make your experience the best possible. I can highly recommend this trip to anyone who wants to explore the magic of Antarctica.
Had a wonderful memorable time , has been on my bucket list as long as I can remember, as I love vast open ruggered Nature made landscape. Really didn't know much about what I was going to see or explore , was totally blown away ,it totally exceeded my expectations. Thankyou to the tour company.
