Page 69 - DreamScapes Magazine | Spring/Summer 2024

EXPEDITION CRUISES
CANADA’S
Footsteps NORTHIn the
of Franklin
HOW WRITER LUCAS AYKROYD RODE OUT A STORM IN THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE ON BOARD A QUARK EXPEDITIONS SHIP JUST IN TIME TO CELEBRATE THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY DISCOVERY OF ONE OF THE WORLD’S LEGENDARY SUNKEN SHIPS AND BIGGEST MARINER MYSTERIES.
INSIDER TIP
Sample delicacies like cured reindeer with mushrooms in Quark’s Tundra to Table dining experience, with proceeds benefiting food-related charities in Greenland and Nunavut.
On an August morning, my Quark Expeditions luxury expedition cruise liner, Ultramarine, was thrust into a steady tempest of whitewater waves thrashing breakfast diners to and fro like wobbling high- wire acrobats in Nunavut’s Lancaster Sound. As we repositioned in tranquil Maxwell Bay on Devon Island’s south coast, I gazed in awe at the world’s largest uninhab- ited island at 55,247 square kilometres. The barren, rocky landscape evoked Mars with a touch of Mordor.
The almost-unnerving Arctic serenity was soon broken. Minutes after I boarded a Zodiac cruise, my guide spotted an impervious polar bear bobbing in the frigid water, his ominous black snout aimed toward us. As I watched the world’s largest land predator power across the bay, I knew I was in for more shock and awe on my epic cruise.
This bear encounter was only one of many experiences on what originally was a 17-day cruise aboard Ultramarine. But thanks to inclement weather, the adventure cruise fittingly dubbed “In the Footsteps of Franklin” ballooned to 25 days. Our goal was to commemorate the ill-fated 1845–48 expedition of Sir John Franklin, the British admiral who perished along with his crew, never to be found again.
SPRING/SUMMER 2024 DREAMSCAPES 69