Arctic Complete – M/V Greg Mortimer

Over View

This voyage combines the best of Spitsbergen and Greenland, with a taste of Iceland. Spitsbergen’s rugged northwest coast comprises mountains, tundra and fjords. While crossing the icy waters of the Greenland Sea, our onboard experts share their knowledge of the region’s plants, animals and history. Greenland’s remote east coast shows off the immensity of the icecap, fantastic icebergs and a fairytale landscape of granite spires rising 1000 m above exquisite fjords! The local Inuits welcome us and share their unique culture.

Experience complete wilderness – in remote Northeast Greenland
Arctic highlights – experience three Arctic regions in one voyage
Sail to the Land of Ice and Fire – Iceland

Itinerary

Day 1 Reykjavik

Make your own way to the pier in the late afternoon to board your ship and home for the next three weeks, the MV Greg Mortimer. After being warmly welcomed aboard, you will have time to settle into your cabin as the ship commences it’s journey across the Denmark Strait.

Day 2 Sail across the Denmark Strait

Sail across the Denmark Strait, enjoying the flying antics of northern fulmars and black-backed gulls, with the opportunity to spot dolphins, orcas and other whales, as we enter their feeding ground.

Day 3 Eastern Greenland

Keep watch for musk ox and narwhals as we sail along the breathtaking mountains of the Blosseville Coast, before we attempt to cruise through Romer Fjord.

Day 4 Explore Scoresbysund

We reach Scoresbysund, the World’s largest fjord. Here, the vast Greenland icecap sweeps down in massive glaciers and calve explosively, creating giant icebergs.

Day 5 Explore Scoresbysund

Near Sydkap, our Zodiacs weave through a maze of grounded icebergs, some more than 30-metres high, sculpted with deep green tunnels and aquamarine lakes.

Day 6 Explore Scoresbysund and visit Ittoqqortoormiit

Our Zodiacs take us through an incredible maze of icebergs, as we head to the shores for some exciting tundra hikes and a visit to Ittoqqortoormiit, one of the rare villages of the East Greenland coast. Enjoy a warm Ittoqqortoormiit welcome from Inuit happy to share their culture and explain the challenges of Arctic life.

Day 7 Eastern Greenland

Ice is often the overwhelming first impression of Greenland. An ice cap covers 81 per cent of the island and pack ice, even in summer, may fill northern bays. The final itinerary and landing points will be decided based on ice and weather conditions. However, there is plenty to explore and your experienced captain and expedition crew will ensure that opportunities for wildlife viewing and landings are maximised.

Day 8 Eastern Greenland

Over the next few days, we will aim to visit Kaiser Franz Josef Fjord, the hanging gardens of Kap Humboldt and the Kong Oskar Fjord. At Kaiser Franz Josef Fjord, we hope to make some landings. Ashore, cosy trappers’ huts beckon from across the tundra, where musk ox, Arctic fox and eider ducks roam.

Day 9 Eastern Greenland

Lively cascades at Kap Humboldt provide a microclimate for spectacular hanging gardens. Kong Oskar Fjord offers spectacular views with glacier-carved mountains, forming the backdrop.

Day 10 Cross the Greenland Sea

Crossing the Greenland Sea, we sail through the Polar Basin’s nutrient-rich waters, searching for fin and beluga whales, encroaching pack ice and seabirds. Our expert naturalists and guides entertain us with fascinating, illustrated talks on European Arctic plants and animals and recount epic tales of early Arctic explorers such as Nansen, Andre and Scoresby.

Day 11 Cross the Greenland Sea

These are relaxed days, wonderful for getting to know fellow expeditioners and prepare for the next chapter of your trip, as we sail towards Spitsbergen.

Day 12 Spitsbergen’s northwest coast

Spitsbergen’s northwest coast features calving icebergs, historic whaling stations and trappers’ camps. Brunnich’s guillemots, little auks and kittiwakes nest in their thousands and reindeer roam the tundra. The flora is also abundant during this part of the season and you will be able to photograph wildflowers such as saxifrage, moss campion, bell-heather and hairy lousewort.

Day 13 Spitsbergen’s northwest coast

From our Zodiacs, gain fantastic views of ice cliffs, including Monacobreen, one of Spitsbergen’s largest glaciers. In the north, there’s a good chance of seeing walrus – and possibly even polar bears on the pack ice.

Day 14 Longyearbyen

A midnight cruise of Isfjorden returns us to Longyearbyen, where you’ll enjoy a day dog sledding around Spitsbergen’s interior, before setting off again this afternoon on the next leg of your Arctic adventure.

Day 15 Northern coast of Spitsbergen

Ice conditions and weather changes dictate our expedition plans. We’ll start to cruis enorthwards along the west coast of Spitsbergen. There will be ample time ashore for hiking on the lush tundra and observing the remarkable bird cliffs near the 14th July Glacier, where even a few puffins nest between the cracks in the cliffs. We keep watch for polar bears and Arctic fox and feel a sense of history at the 350-year-old remains of a Dutch whaling settlement, Smeerenberg, on Amsterdamya.

Day 16 Northern flanks of Spitsbergen

Spectacular calving glaciers of Magdalenefjorden; historic whaling sites; walking on the wildflower-filled tundra and seeing walrus haulout on Moffen Island, are all possibilities over the next few days and our captain and crew will ensure that we are experiencing the best of what’s on offer.

Day 17 Northern flanks of Spitsbergen

As we work our way along the north coast we explore rarely-visited places such as Woodfjorden and Leifdefjorden in search of the mighty polar bear. From Zodiacs we enjoy magnificent views of sweeping glaciers winding their way into the sea. We may walk on smooth raised beach terraces to a superb viewpoint or hike in the mountains on the tundra where pretty coloured wildflowers and lichen grow and where reindeer graze.

Day 18 Northern flanks of Spitsbergen

We may visit trapper huts of yesteryear, where Russians and Pomors would hunt and survive the cold harsh winters, all the while remaining alert for wandering polar bears and their cubs. We might come face-to-face with the formidable pack ice of the Arctic Ocean, keeping our eyes peeled for walrus feeding on clams or hauled out on the beach in wallows. We will listen to the cacophony of sea birds and see them feeding in a big frenzy.

Day 19 East Coast of Spitsbergen

Along the northeast coast of Spitsbergen we enter a different world – a polar desert. If ice conditions allow we will pass south through the narrow Hinlopen Strait. The strait is flanked by creamy coloured slabs of rock that are rich in fossils, as we will discover for ourselves when we go ashore. We may visit Alkefjellet in the Strait, where a series of one-hundred-metre-high dolerite towers are home to millions of Brnnich’s guillemots – the penguins of the north – that occupy every available nook and cranny. Elsewhere, we seek out eider ducks and geese and hope to spot Arctic fox and beautiful ivory gulls.

Day 20 East Coast of Spitsbergen

As the Greg Mortimer passes between Spitsbergen and the smaller islands of Barentsya and Edgeya, we cross the main polar bear migration route and the beautiful fertile plains of Sundeneset. The spongy ground is richly covered with bright green mosses, a variety of delicate and colourful flowers – such as the yellow marsh saxifrage – various mushrooms, fungi, clear bubbling streams and small tarns. Tiny flowers such as Mouse Ears grow in Spitsbergen, creating mossy rock gardens. We explore this beautiful terrain on foot, marvelling at the contrast between the colourful soft ground and the barren, rocky, terrain from further north.

Day 21 East Coast of Spitsbergen

We round South Cape, Spitsbergen’s most southerly point, before continuing northwards along the west coast of Spitsbergen.

Day 22 Southern fjords of Spitsbergen

We enter the spectacular Hornsund Fjord, where we may take an early morning Zodiac cruise to admire the beautiful ice walls of the Samarin Glacier, or take a stroll beneath the towering seabird cliffs at Sofiebogen. In Bellsund Fjord, we are always on the lookout for beluga whales. Bellsund is a fjord that splits into two branches and was named after a nearby bell-shaped mountain, by William Barentsz in 1596. If time and conditions allow, we may visit the remnants of a Norwegian beluga whaling station, dating back to the 1930s.

Day 23 Disembark in Longyearbyen

We arrive into Longyearbyen during the early hours of the morning and will disembark after breakfast. A transfer is included into town, where there is free time, before an onward transfer to the airport in the afternoon.