The Arctic is a place where the most memorable moments are often the ones you cannot plan for: a polar bear appearing on the ice, a pod of whales surfacing alongside the yacht, or a brief break in the clouds revealing a landscape few people ever see. Over the summer, EYOS expedition leaders and guides traveled across the Arctic, from Svalbard and Greenland to the Northwest Passage, seeking out these unexpected encounters and helping guests experience the region at its best. Here, our field team shares a few of their standout moments from the season.
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Dagný, Expedition Leader
Here are a few few highlight moments from Iceland in July:
- Morning coffee with humpback whales! Having breakfast out on deck while humpback whales appear to greet us good morning as we cruised through Arnarfjörður fjord in the Westfjords.
- A day spent hiking and Zodiac cruising in Iceland’s most remote region: Hornstrandir Nature Reserve. In the morning we went ashore and watched a group of Arctic fox pups huddle together and wander around the beautiful meadow filled with wildflowers. In the afternoon we took our zodiac out and saw millions of seabirds (kittiwakes, fulmars, guillemots, puffins…) nesting on the massive cliffs at Hornvík Bay – truly magical.
- Driving one of Iceland’s most rugged and stunning coastal roads, Kharansgatan, on specially modified 4×4 jeeps. It is tide dependent so you can only complete it on low tide.
- A helicopter sightseeing excursion displaying Iceland’s full geological buffet all in one day: glaciers, volcanoes, canyons, waterfalls, rugged coastline and lush green valleys. Complemented by a wilderness BBQ picnic sampling some of Iceland’s finest hot dog combos.
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Rob McCallum, Co-Founder, EYOS
A total solar eclipse from the centre of the Path of Totality. An ‘out of this world’ experience seen from the high Arctic. Everything came together for this profoundly moving moment in time.
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Ben Haggar, Expedition Leader
My ‘Arctic Memory’ for the season was: cruising to the end of remote Ikka Fjord in West Greenland to find ~70 muskox grazing through the pristine valley ringed by steep mountain walls with threads of mist throughout our 5 hourr hike.
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Olaf Hartmann, Ice Pilot
We successfully completed the Northwest Passage aboard two non-ice-strengthened (super) yachts, without damage, despite demanding and unusually dense, locally heavy ice conditions along the northern coast of Canada and Alaska.
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Brent Stephenson, Expedition Leader
One of the best things about exploring the Arctic is doing it with people that REALLY want to be there, and just have a true sense of exploration. My highlight from an expedition in the West of Greenland this summer was really getting out and exploring. Going to places where almost no other travellers (except locals, and boy do they travel) have laid eyes on. Yes it is great to see wildlife, incredible geology, calving glaciers, and beautiful isolated fjords. But being there with people that just want to get in a tender and go explore to see what they can find is just such a wonderful way to travel. Leaving the mother-ship behind, and exploring by tender is the way to get a feeling for a place, to understand the environment, and to really experience these wild and beautiful places.
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David Reid, Expedition Leader
While navigating mirrorlike Arctic waters under a cloudless sky, out of nowhere, a pod of twenty plus curious Orcas found our fleeting presence interesting enough that our eyes met.
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Clive Shute, Expedition Leader
A perfect sunrise working through ice on the northern slopes of Alaska, just another extraordinary event that happens every day here!
Ready to start your own Arctic adventure? Contact us at [email protected] to begin your journey today.