Beginning in Ottawa, Canada and ending in Anchorage, Alaska, this 23-day cruise takes you through the long-sought "Northwest Passage" - a distant and mysterious world of stormy seas and glittering icebergs, 90% of which remains uncharted to this day. This exciting itinerary forms part of our "End of an Era" circumnavigation of the Arctic, your last chance to tour the Arctic seas aboard the celebrated Russian icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov. Along the way, you’ll enjoy the company of two distinguished guests: award-winning documentary filmmaker John Murray, and world-renowned navigation expert David Burch from Starpath School of Navigation.

Your adventure begins with an overnight stay in Ottawa, stately capital of Canada.

From Ottawa, board our charter flight to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, where you'll join Khlebnikov.

On your first Greenland shore visit, tour the island's second-largest town and watch a demonstration of traditional kayaking. Eighteenth-century buildings still stand here, evidence of Greenland's colonial past.

Today you'll tour an "ice fjord' so significant it's been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The enormous glacier at the head of this fjord spawns icebergs that may travel as far south as Newfoundland during their lifetimes. Cruise this spectacular inlet in Khlebnikov's Zodiacs, hike the shoreline and explore the community of the same name.

As we cross the massive body of water separating Greenland from Canada, we enter the Canadian Arctic. The ghosts of many a Northwest Passage explorer haunt these waters. We've invited documentary filmmaker John Murray to join us for this portion of your trip. John is an expert in all things Arctic, and has a particular passion for the ill-fated Franklin Expedition. John will entertain and inform you with illustrated presentations about his award-winning work, and his many adventures working and filming in the wildest places on Earth.

On your first stop in the Canadian Arctic the people of Pond Inlet will welcome you to their Artist's Co-op. This thoroughly modern Inuit community prides itself on its balance of cultural traditions and modern amenities. You'll have time to explore the hamlet and hike the nearby tundra before returning to the ship.

Explore the southern shore of the largest uninhabited island in the world - Devon Island. Visit a deserted Royal Canadian Mounted Police station, and learn about the Thule - ancient ancestors of today's Inuit people. Just off the western tip of Devon Island lies Beechey Island. There you'll find three small grave markers, poignant reminders of Sir John Franklin's doomed search for the Northwest Passage.

Although Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen is credited with the first successful full transit of the Passage, he was not the first to discover the route. The Passage was "discovered" piece by piece, over a hundred years. Sailing south down Prince Regent Inlet, you sail through a segment charted by British rear-admiral Sir William Parry in the early 19th century.

Sail through on of the narrowest straits in the Arctic (just 2 kilometers or 1.24 miles wide), passing by Boothia Peninsula, the northernmost point on the mainland of North America. The Strait was named for Lt. Joseph Rene Bellot, second-in-command of one of the expeditions sent to rescue Franklin and his vanished crew.

Here, in Victorai Strait, Franklin's ships were trapped in ice, and finally abandoned by their crews. Afterwards, the ships seem to have vanished, and what happened to them is one of the great unsolved mysteries of Arctic exploration. Our special guest, filmmaker John Murray, may be able to shed some light on this puzzle, having been intimately involved in a recent Irish-Canadian Franklin Search Expedition.

The people of Iqaluktuuttiaq, the largest community on Victoria Island, will make you welcome, introducing you to their culture through song and dance. You'll have time to explore this fascinating community a commercial hub for the region.

You'll have another chance to hike the tundra, photographing vibrant Arctic wildflowers and keeping your eyes peeled for caribou, musk oxen, Arctic wolves and foxes, as well as birds of prey such as Snowy Owls, Rough-legged Hawks and Peregrine Falcons.

This small Arctic village has gained an international reputation for the exquisite artwork produced here by the Holman Eskimo Co-op, an artist's collective formed by local residents. The area is also home to the world's most northerly golf course, although we can't guarantee you a tee-off time! (You will, however, have time to visit the co-op and attend a cultural demonstration.)

Cruise through beautiful Walker Bay, ancestral home of the Copper Inuit. Scan the coastal waters for ringed and bearded seals, as well as beluga whales and polar bears.

For 7,000 years silt and sediment collected by the Mackenzie River has been deposited at the mouth of the Beaufort Sea. This spot is known today as the Mackenzie Delta, and it is an important feeding spot for migrating wildlife. You'll likely spot Snow and Brant Geese, Tundra Swans and beluga whales.

The island known as Qikiqtaruk was designated Yukon's first territorial park in July 1987. It has a unique heritage, in terms of both biodiversity and human history. Host to an unusual combination of arctic plants, mammals, birds and sea life, it also boass buildings from the island's 19th century whaling past, as well as fascinating archaeological evidence of earlier cultures. If you are a birder, be sure to bring your binoculars, for over 90 avian species have been counted on the island.

Steaming westward across the Beaufort Sea, watch for whales, seals and walrus in the water, and curious seabirds swirling about the ship. Enjoy an opportunity to fly aloft aboard Khlebnikov's helicopters, catching a spectacular view of the ship crushing through pack-ice laden Arctic waters.

As you journey through the Arctic Passage nears an end, you steam south through the Bering Strait - the body of water separaring Russia's Chukotka Peninsula from the far west coast of Alaska. You'll make several visits ashore, where you'll learn about the cultural traditions of Russia's indigenous people, and how they may differ from those of Canada and Greenland. You'll also Zodiac-cruise to Puffin and Ittygran Islands, finding on the latter an eerie archway of enormous whalebones, erected by the tundra peole of long ago. At your final shore landing, Novoye Chaplino, local people demonstrate the traditional skills of wrestling and reindeer roping.

Your adventure ends with an overnight stay in Anchorage, Alaska. You'll get there by leaving Khlebnikov in Anadyr, Russia, and catching a charter flight to Anchorage. Crossing the International Dateline the clock turns back. Amazingly you arrive the day before you left!

From here you are free to leave for home or stay a little longer to explore the rich natural beauty of Anchorage and its surrounding areas.