2012-13 Canada and the North Eagle-Eye Tours Eagle-Eye 4711 Galena St., Windermere, British Columbia, Canada V0B 2L2 1-800-373-5678 | www.Eagle-Eye.com | [email protected] ToursTravel with Vision Cover photo © Michelle Valberg Dear Adventurers, As the summer season approaches our excitement is palpable – Arctic travel is upon us. For the past seven years we have known the delights of the northern landscape by ship: wide open spaces, magnificent vistas, northern lights, warm smiles, towering peaks, abundant birds, wild and powerful animals and the many blues of an iceberg. With a renowned commitment to education, conservation and cultural immersion, these voyages have a well deserved reputation as exceptional travel experiences – a reputation that we are proud of and continue to build on. TheDiscovery Voyage Series has revolutionized the travel experience to Canada’s distant coastlines, home to some of Canada’s best scenery and hiking. Many small and inviting communities have only remote access. We offer fully escorted, all-inclusive, thoughtful, high quality experiences for a congenial group of travellers. Whether travelling by ship or on land we aim to create a capacity for understanding and dialog and the many joys derived from new truths and shared experiences. We do this by visiting extraordinary places and working with a resource team of outstanding experts, locals and academics that bring to the table a breadth of knowledge, experience, humour and passion. Our vessel, the Clipper Adventurer, allows us to explore these remote areas in style and comfort. With sixty well appointed outside cabins, two lounges, a library, state of the art stabilizers, clinical and massage services, a fleet of Zodiacs and ample deck space she is the perfect platform for expeditionary travel. Our dining room has large picture windows, allowing for superb viewing while savouring delicious meals and fine wine. Enjoy the luxury of unpacking just once, yet covering large tracts of land and sea. Sailing aboard Clipper Adventurer guests and resource staff mingle casually and develop a sense of camaraderie and intimacy widely associated with our experience. In 2012, we have an outstanding line up of ship and land based adventures. Our shipboard series explores the diverse landscapes and people of Nunavut, Nunatsiavut, Nunavik, Newfoundland and Labrador, the Northwest Territories and Greenland. Looking ahead to 2013, we have included East Greenland, Iceland, the Faroes, Scotland and the North Pole! Through our thematic small group programs you can enjoy exceptional birding, hone your photography skills, experience wildlife in their natural setting, participate in festivals and conferences and meet with authors, performers and visual artists. We invite you to peruse our ship based offerings as well as a selection of our land based programs. Visit us online to see more of our land based birding programs. We look forward to joining you on your next great adventure. Yours in adventure, Eagle-Eye ToursTravel with Vision Cam Gillies and Richard Knapton Directors, Eagle-Eye Tours Special thanks to our partners: Cover photo © Michelle Valberg ©Michelle Valberg www.houston-north-gallery.ns.ca Aboriginal Aairs and Aaires autochtones et Northern Development Canada Développement du Nord Canada Inuit Relations Secretariat Secrétariat des relations avec les Inuit Arctic Safari Epic High Arctic Into the Northwest Passage Out of the Northwest Passage Greenland & Wild Labrador Newfoundland Circumnavigation My Arctic - Eh! 7 The Clipper Adventurer 50 Torngat Safari 74 Arctic Safari 8 More than a Ship 51 Alianait Arts Festival 76 Siqiniup Qilauta 13 Scotland & Greenland 52 Great Bear Rain Forest 78 TableEpic High Arctic of Contents14 Heart of the Arctic 56 Haida Gwaii: The Queen Charlotte Islands 79 Magic Happens 19 Arctic Explorer 60 Bears of Churchill 80 Into the Northwest Passage 20 Newfoundland Close-Up 64 Caribou Migration 81 A Bird’s Life 25 Gros Morne and the Northern Peninsula 65 Scotland Slowly 82 Out of the Northwest Passage 26 Explore Eastern Newfoundland 66 Ecuador & the Galapagos Islands 83 Mammals Loom Large in the Arctic 31 Western Newfoundland: Fall Colours 67 2012 Rates 84 Greenland & Wild Labrador 32 Narwhal and Polar Bear Safari 68 2013 Rates 85 The owerP of Music 39 Walrus and Bowhead Safari 69 About our Discovery Fund 86 Newfoundland Circumnavigation 40 Birding the Canadian Rockies 70 Registration Form 87 Storytellers 47 Birding the High Arctic & Northwest Territories 71 Terms & Conditions 88 Art on the Rock with Kevin Major 48 Quebec Birds & Whales 72 Why Adventure Canada? 49 Santa Fe Style 73 Adventure Canada specializes in soft adventure programs, where you can experience the best of the natural world while enjoying the comforts our friendly floating hotel. AboutOur program Small features outdoorShip activities Cruising such as walking, wildlife viewing and Zodiac cruising in addition to a full lecture and entertainment schedule onboard our ship. Every day we offer a combination of lively shipboard activities and interesting shore excursions. Our guests choose what elements of the program they want to participate in, with nothing compulsory — we always provide several options. It’s up to you! Our excursions onshore will involve a relatively low level of exertion, but you will need a reasonable level of mobility. For example, you will need to be able to get up and down the gangway (floating staircase) and climb into and out of Zodiacs (assistance is provided) for excursions onshore, and some of our landings will be ‘wet’, requiring waterproof boots. Once you have left the Zodiac, you’ll find that we have designed our shore excursions to accommodate both those who wish to enjoy gentle strolls and those who prefer more active hikes. A few of the excursions may involve rough terrain, with rocky beaches leading to steep or rocky or marshy ground; we will brief you about the terrain prior to arriving at shore. In the seasons we travel, temperatures will vary, according to our altitude on land, or our ship’s position at sea. Itineraries are subject to change, and landings may depend on tides or weather, so, as with all outdoor activities, a flexible approach works best. When you register we will provide you with a complete list of recommended clothing, essentials to bring, and a suggested reading list. You will also receive a detailed booklet to help prepare you for your adventure. It includes information on the ship and a brief history of your destination, along with news about its people, landscape, wildlife, and distinctive culture. Meals in the ship’s dining room are a great opportunity to meet new friends and to plan or recount the day’s adventures. Special diets, including gluten-free, can be accommodated with advance notice. Many of our guests form life-long friendships (and even some marriages), and we are delighted to find that reunion events often involve people travelling great distances to renew these important ties. We know, of course, that everyone travels for different reasons. Over the years, however, we have found one common element among the guests who choose to travel with us — a thirst for knowledge and authentic experience. Knowing this drives us to ensure the highest quality learning experience on our trips, by taking the time to design in careful detail each trip we offer. © Michelle Valberg © Michelle Valberg “The most memorable part of this journey was how breathless I felt when we were hiking and discovering by yourself. Walking around the communities. I wanted to see, smell, touch everything!” – Mary Lou, Arctic Safari 2011 6 © Dennis Minty © Michelle Valberg © Michelle Valberg ©Michelle Valberg ©Michelle My mother says that the reason Mywhy I spent Arctic three years in - Eh! Ushuaia, Argentina, was because it was the furthest that I could get from home. Well, half of that is true; it was the furthest that I could get - but the goal was Shoshanah Jacobs never to distance myself from Expedition Leader home, specifically. Adventure, Shoshanah became a sailor when she exploration, these are things was 6 years old and her parents bought that have become synonymous a 12 metre motor yacht. Until that time, with our species and it was very her first dive, though technically in a difficult for me as a child to swimming pool at the age of 4, was by contend with the fact that I could far the most exciting moment of her life. That experience created a path towards not just pick up and go off on my becoming a marine biologist from which own. For several years now, home she would never divert. Originally from has been my big black canvas Ottawa, Shoshanah moved to the east bag that can, miraculously and coast of Canada, where she earned a BSc without explanation, contract and expand between 18 and 23 kg depending upon weight restrictions. I am a in Marine Biology. Her MSc dissertation focussed on the acoustic ecology of seals wanderer, a person without a fixed address. and the effects of aquaculture on their population distribution. She returned to Every destination I am lucky enough to visit inspires me to continue to explore and the list of unseen Ottawa in 2001 to complete her Doctoral destinations seem endless. Though this lifestyle gives me the freedom to wander aimlessly, there is one part of dissertation on the energy dynamics this tiny planet that keeps me coming back as though it was home: The Canadian Arctic - My Arctic, Eh! of Arctic seabirds. Her fieldwork led her to some of the most isolated areas of Canada, sparking a passion for 2001 marked the first time that I ventured up North to work on a scientific expedition on a remote bird colony expeditions and travel. In 2005, she began near Resolute Bay and since then I have returned North every summer.