September 26 – October 24
Posted: 10/13/25:
All,
YES….we did it….completed the Northwest Passage…..ok, I’ll be transparent….we had CREW:)))))
We went on a 26-day Northwest Passage transit on MV Sylvia Earle (total trip was 30 days). This is the same ship we went on for the Antarctica trip in 2023. The Antarctica/South Georgia trip and the 4 African Safaris continue to be our best of best, trips of a lifetime….this NWP trip was a good one….Wow, Wow, Wow, Wow….but not quite a best of best trip.
So gee John, why would you even consider a trip like this, isn’t it pretty barren and cold in the artic??….yes, Kathy did ask that a few times….well, when we came into Sitka in 2018 we met a couple who had done the NWP and we were impressed and intrigued. We started to track various recreational boats doing the NWP as well as doing some research. Well, it was a huge commitment as we would end up on the East Coast and would then need to passage all the way back to Alaska via our 3rd trip through the Panama Canal….basically we never figured it out. But, we learned that the Sylvia Earle started to do this Passage in 2023 so we immediately signed up for this year.
The reason we rate this trip slightly lower is the scarcity of wildlife. Obviously, we had much lower expectations than Africa and Antarctica, but the lack of wildlife was unexpected and disappointing. We think the sightings were lower than expected due to 1) winter was a bit early and the wildlife had already migrated south and 2) Aurora, the Australian parent company, scheduled this transit maybe 2-3 weeks later than normal. There were a total of 10 ships (6 passenger and 4 cargo) that made the transit in 2025 and we were the last ship by one week and 2-3 weeks for most. In fact part of the transit has already closed due to ice, ~10-12 days after we went through!!
There have now been ~450 commercial ships that have transited the NWP in Total….yes, so few….it’s just not economical for commercial ships with the Panama Canal and well, the season is just too short! There are also maybe 8-12 recreational yachts that do this transit each year that are not part of the official count. Below is a link of a blog and that tracks many of the recreational yachts for 2025…..a fascinating read and a blog I have been following for the past few years:
But, there were many highlights and we are very happy we did this trip….bucket list item checked!!! The Expedition crew included 2 historians, a marine scientist, an archeologist, 2 geologists, a musician and several all-around guides. In Antarctica many of the Expedition Crew had 10-30 years of experience so in comparison this crew was somewhat inexperienced in the Artic, several maybe 1 or 2 times and the rest their first time. But they all did their research and had many enjoyable and educational presentations and Arctic stories to tell.
https://www.aurora-expeditions.com/expedition/traversing-the-northwest-passage
We first followed many of the NWP explorers and the challenges of traveling in the Arctic and the pack ice. Europe, especially England, spent millions (in todays dollar) funding various explorations over ~150+ years, all failed. We mainly followed Roald Amundsen, the first explorer to transit the NWP by boat in 1903-1906, Knud Rasmussen, first explorer to complete the NWP by dog sled and probably the most famous story we followed was the story of John Franklin the British Navy Commander with 3 ships who left in April 1845 never to be heard from again….all 129 souls lost. It is not a pretty story:
https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2020/october/lost-franklin-expedition
https://nzaht.org/the-expeditions-of-roald-amundsen/https://nzaht.org/the-expeditions-of-roald-amundsen/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knud_Rasmussen
Besides learning about the NWP Explorers we learned the history of the indigenous people, called Inuits. The Inuits migrated from Siberia Russia starting 4000 years ago and did this in several waves. They made it as far as Greenland. It’s a fascinating history of how these people learned to live in the harsh Artic climate and also a horrible story of European colonialism attitudes. The story is about the same as the Indians in USA, Māori’s in New Zealand, and Aboriginals in Australia. The worst incident was forced relocation: “Inuit families in Canada were forcibly and deceptively relocated by the government for sovereignty and Cold War interests between the 1930s and 1950s, moving them to harsh, unfamiliar Arctic lands with little to no support, leading to starvation, loss of culture, and widespread hardship. Two key relocations were the 1934 Dundas Harbor relocation from Baffin Island and the High Arctic relocation of 1953-1955, where Inuit from northern Quebec were moved to Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord. Canada issued apologies for the Dundas Harbor relocations in 2025 and the High Arctic relocations in 2010, acknowledging the profound harm and injustices inflicted.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Arctic_relocation
In fact, the Canadian citizens were so outraged that their Government secretly did this, that in 1999 a new Province was formed….Nunavut, which comprises all of Artic Canada and is governed by the Inuits. And, in 2024 Nunavut was granted the rights to all oil, gas, and mining rights.
The trip started in Toronto. We were blessed with Jim & Caz coming south from their compound in Wahwashkesh Lake about 175 miles north of Toronto. We met them at the Westin Airport hotel for opening ceremonies then went to a local steak house….ODG, what an opening ceremony….did they have fun or what. The next day we took a charter flight to Nuuk Greenland and boarded the Sylvia Earle. We spent 6 days cruising the western side of Greenland before heading to Canada to start the NWP.
The cruise was 4700nm long, took 26-days, we did 36 different activities on land and in Zodiacs, and went from Nuuk Greenland to Nome Alaska!!
I will go ahead and post this introduction to the NWP cruise. I will follow hopefully in the next few weeks with more specifics for the Greenland portion and the Canada NWP.
Hope all is well!
Overall trip pictures at:
https://mysticmoonvoyages.com/photo-gallery/nggallery/album/northwest-passage-2