Out of the Northwest Passage
September 11 – 27, 2026
As summer’s endless daylight loosens its grip, the Northwest Passage changes character. Out of the Northwest Passage pairs historic waters with living Inuit culture, guided by Inuit educators and community hosts who share language, humour, and contemporary northern life. The sea still offers whales and ice, but the nights are often their own kind of wonder. With luck, the aurora borealis unfurls above the deck, green- and-violet ribbons that make even quiet moments feel ceremonial.
Highlights
- Watch for polar bears, walrus, seabirds, and other wildlife along the ice-scoured Arctic coast
- Hope for the dazzling dance of the Northern Lights
- Explore Tallurutiup Imanga (Lancaster Sound), a vital marine ecosystem and travel corridor
- Seek your ‘furthest north’ in Smith Sound
- Visit Ausuittuq (Grise Fiord), Canada’s northernmost community
- Cruise among icebergs at Ilulissat Icefjord, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Itinerary
- Day 1: Kugluktuk (Coppermine), NU, Canada
- Day 2–5: Kitikmeot Region
- Day 6: Ikirahaq (Bellot Strait)
- Day 7: Beechey Island
- Day 8: Tallurutiup Imanga (Lancaster Sound)
- Day 9: Ausuittuq (Grise Fiord), NU
- Day 10: Smith Sound
- Day 11: At Sea
- Day 12–13: Northwest Greenland
- Day 14: Ilulissat
- Day 15–16: Sisimiut Coast
- Day 17: Kangerlussuaq, Greenland
Meet your RCGS Travel Ambassador
Marc St.-Onge
Marc is an experienced field geologist and petrologist interested in documenting the origin of continents and the plate tectonic evolution of the Arctic. Marc was appointed a fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society in 2010. The Society recognized Marc as one of Canada’s Top 100 Modern-Day Explorers in 2015 and named him one of Canada’s 90 Greatest Explorers of All Time in 2020.
For forty-five years, Marc has been an officer and project leader at the Geological Survey of Canada, leading field science expeditions to study unknown or little-known destinations and phenomena in remote parts of the world, from the Coppermine River area in the Canadian Arctic (where he and colleagues discovered the oldest rocks in the world) to Banks Island, the Keewatin, northern Quebec, southeastern, southwestern, central and northern Baffin Island, western Greenland, northwest Scotland, the Himalaya of Pakistan, India and Nepal, and the Tibetan Plateau in China.
Associated with Adventure Canada since 2004, he has transited the Northwest Passage several times and explored the east coast of Baffin Island, the west coast of Greenland, the north coast of Arctic Quebec and circumnavigated Ireland as geologist on board.
His passion and knowledge of Arctic geology served as inspiration for a short story by Margaret Atwood (Stone Mattress), and his innovative work led to the publication of the circumpolar Geological Map of the Arctic in 2011, the Tectonic Map of Arctic Canada in 2015, the Geological Survey of Canada’s first-ever geological maps in Inuktitut in 2015 and 2016, the Tectonic Map of the Arctic in 2019, the Canada-3D website in 2022, and the forthcoming World Map of Orogens, and the new Geological Map of the Himalaya in 2026.
Marc lives in Ottawa, Ontario, with his wife Dr. Janet King and is presently senior emeritus scientist at the Geological Survey of Canada.