Must-dos - Northwest Passage
Reaching the North Pole: a dream for many travellers passionate about exploration. But what can you see during a cruise through the Northwest Passage, the entry point into the Great North, that is still so rarely visited?
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All about the the Northwest Passage
Today, the Northwest Passage is within reach for certain modern, privileged explorers, who adventure in higher latitudes. Here is a summary of this iconic place, which has always been the subject of fantasies and was only discovered fairly recently.
Read more
Must-dos - Northwest Passage
Reaching the North Pole: a dream for many travellers passionate about exploration. But what can you see during a cruise through the Northwest Passage, the entry point into the Great North, that is still so rarely visited?
Meet the Inuit populations
Whether in the south of Greenland or in the entrance to the Fury and Hecla Strait, the Inuits have preserved their centuries old traditions. Skilled sled dog handlers, outstanding hunters and meticulous craftspeople, they have managed to embrace the modern world while still preserving their culture. Visiting the village of Igloolik, in the Nunavut, discovered in 1822, or that of Kullorsuaq, in the west of Greenland, provides precious encounters with the inhabitants who are happy to share their history and their skills.
Experience the iconic route taken by the great explorers
Sir John Franklin, William Edward Parry, Roald Amundsen… There were many explorers who, from the 16th century, tried to discover the iconic Northwest Passage. Many failed, many concluded that the route did not exist. It was finally the Norwegian, Roald Amundsen who first crossed this region, completely unexplored to that point, during his 1903-1906 expedition. Sailing through the Northwest Passage today is to go beyond your wildest exploration dreams, experiencing the continually-moving ice floe and snowy landscapes as far as the eye can see.
Admire the fauna in the Aulavik National Park
Created in the north of Banks Island, the Aulavik National Park is considered to be a polar desert. However, its tundra plains and various water points have encouraged a very rich fauna to develop. The park is best known for being home to three-quarters of the world's population of Muskox, approximately 70,000 of them. Caribou, arctic hares and arctic foxes, wolves and lemmings also are found in the region. No fewer than 43 species of birds traverse the park through the seasons.
Experience the Savissivik iceberg cemetery
In the Northwest Passage, Savissivik is an unmissable stopping point. It is the largest iceberg cemetery in the world. With an average depth of 40 metres, in reality the bay has trapped a great number of these ice giants. Of varying sizes, with changing colours, the icebergs float like spectres abandoned to their fate. The scene is hypnotic.
Make a pilgrimage to Beechey Island
Snow everywhere and in the middle a memorial, and three wooden commemorations. And then, it snows again. It is a surrealist scene that awaits travellers on Beechey Island. The silence that reigns there is appropriate to contemplation and emotion. It is here that Sir John Franklin found refuge for two years while waiting for the ice floe to melt so he could go searching for the Northwest Passage. Several men, including Franklin, lost their lives. The wrecks of his two boats, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror were only discovered in 2014 and 2016 in Canada.
All about the the Northwest Passage
Today, the Northwest Passage is within reach for certain modern, privileged explorers, who adventure in higher latitudes. Here is a summary of this iconic place, which has always been the subject of fantasies and was only discovered fairly recently.
An historic and international epic
1497 : a Venetian sailor under the English flag, Jean Cabot first put forward the hypothesis of a route to the East via the far north of Europe. King Henry VII charged him with discovering it. 1539 : Hernán Cortés, a prominent figure in the Spanish Conquest of Central and Latin America, sent the explorer Francisco de Ullua to the western coast of the US. De Ullua concluded that there was a 'California island', which marked the beginning of a waterway that would go even further north. 1576-1747 : several sailors, including Martin Frobisher, Jacques Cartier, Henry Hudson and Henry Hellis tried different ways to discover the route. Going up Saint Lawrence River to confirm that it didn't cut the American continent in two and searching for the Greenland coast didn't help these adventurers find the destination they sought. 1775 : the merchant ship Octavius was found adrift near Greenland, with bodies of the crew frozen on the bridge. They had disappeared 13 years earlier, near to the Arctic ice. It was the first vessel to have crossed the infamous passage. 1776 : It was British explorer James Cook's turn to try the expedition, but beyond 70°N, finding only icebergs, he abandoned the trip. 1845-1846 : John Franklin and Robert McClure's expeditions launched by the British ended in failure, due to forced wintering and numerous human losses. Traces of these expeditions were found on King William Island especially, in the middle of the Passage. 1903-1906 : It was finally the Norwegian Roald Amundsen who traversed the Passage first, from east to west, during his expedition in the Arctic.
The North-West Passage Facts and Figures
According to the International Hydrographic Organisation, the Northwest Passage is located between latitudes 60 and 74°N, between Cape Chidley in Ellesmere Island, passing Baffin Island, Coburg Island or Banks Island. The length of the shortest maritime route in the Passage, from east to west, is 1,400 kilometres. The Northwest Passage shortens the current maritime route between Europe and the Far East via the Suez Canal by 4,000 kilometres. The Northwest Passage is located around 800 kilometres to the north of the Arctic Circle and at least 1,900 kilometres from the North Pole.
