Traversing the Northwest Passage
1 - 27 September 2025

8 September 2025: Day 8

Cruise Day 1: Calgary to Cambridge Bay and embarking on the Greg Mortimer

Introduction

Today we flew from Calgary to Cambridge Bay on a charter flight, stopping at Yellowknife to refuel as there are no fuel facilities at Cambridge Bay. It was not lear from the itinerary whether we would have time to see more of Cambridge Bay, but as it happened we had over two hours there. Then we transferred out to our expedition ship by Zodiac. Once on board we found our cabin and our luggage.

Flight from Calgary to Yellowknife and on to Cambridge Bay

Our coach to Calgary Airport was due to depart the hotel at 8.30am so after breakfast we took our luggage out and saw it loaded on the coach. The coach took us to the Sunwest Aviation terminal, some distance from the main airport and here we waited for our flight. The aircraft was an AVRO RJ85, a four-engine jet that seats 90 passengers and is able to operate from unpaved runways (as at Cambridge Bay). The boarding process was very casual when compared to usual flights, we were not even allocated seats as there were plenty to go around. The flight to Yellowknife was about 3 hours - we landed here just to refuel before taking off again bound for Cambridge Bay. We were served two meals on the flights - a breakfast of scrambled eggs and turkey sausage, and lunch of filled roll and other bits. The weather was indifferent with cloud obscuring a lot of the view, but we had a good view of the Arctic tundra as we landed at Cambridge Bay. We were now at 69° north and inside the Arctic Circle.

Loading the coach

Checking in at Sunwest, although we were flying Summit.

Summit Air - the AVRO RJ85

Calgary cloverleaf

Breakfast..

Approaching Yellowknife

Yellowknife airport

Airborne again bound for Cambridge Bay

More food...

lunch this time.

The Arctic tundra as we approached Cambridge Bay

Cambridge Bay, unsealed runway

They have a grand terminal building for such a small town

Satellite comms - suggests we are a bit remote.

Cambridge Bay

Cambridge Bay is a small settlement on Victoria Island in the Canadian Arctic. The land is part of the Nunavut Territory, now owned and governed by the Nunavut (Inuit). The town is a long way north, inside the Arctic Circle at 69.1°N. The town is frequently visited by cruise ships and vessels traversing the Northwest Passsage. It is also the site of the new Canadian High Arctic Research Station (CHARS), maintained with federal funding. Our visit was hosted by local school pupils, who wree raising funds for their basketball team. They play teams from other small towns, some being 3 days travel by snowmobile. We walked around the town, visiting CHARS, then back to the jetty for our transfer to the ship.

That's encouraging - our ship is in port

Bus transfer from airport to jetty

The welome at Cambridge Bay

Bison..

wolves..

and mermaids.

Our luggage piled up for transfer

Boats and quad bikes abound

Houses on our walk through the town

The Visitor's Centre

The Elders Palace

Glad Tidings Church

Anglican Church

Satellite dihes abounded; all pointed low towards the horixon.

CHARS - Canadian High Arctic Research Station

The central space - designed to resemble an igloo

Art - the Northern Lights

There was food inside for us to sample - reindeer, whale, bison (Hmm...)

Time to go..

Boarding our ship

After visiting CHARS we wandered back to the jetty where the ship's crew were ready to transfer us using the Zodiac RHIBS. We would become very familiar with these small vessels in a few days. Once on board we headed for our cabins, unpacked and then prepared for the safety demonstration. With lifejackets in hand we headed for the upper deck, ready to abandon the ship, but as soon as we were all lined up we headed inside into the warmth and the welcoming cocktaiol party, and of course our first dinner. As the sun set we stopped in the water. Looking out we found an identical ship nearby, the Sylvia Earle.

Our ship