Epic High Arctic on Ultramarine
As we all are enjoying the last week of summer, I am ready on a speed dial for something colder (much colder actually), in the north. I am now at Calgary on Aug 28 2023, and ready to visit Canadian Arctic & Greenland on Ultramarine :-)
The plan is to take a charter flight out tomorrow morning to Resolute, and embark the 199 passenger luxury expedition ship Ultramarine. In case you are wondering the proposal itinerary, please see below. Expedition trips are always subject to weather conditions. So I am ready for any change, and surprises :-)
Aug 26-28 2023: Calgary / Banff
I arrived in Calgary late night on Aug 25. I spent the past three days in Banff National Park. It was a very nice pre voyage weekend. The beauty of the nature here can only be appreciated when you witness with your own eyes.
My vote for the best bird view goes to Norquay. When the sun started to set, the top of the Cascade shined. I sat on the big meadow near the entrance to the Norquay gondola, and enjoyed the scene. And forgot to mention, it is free :-)
My favorite hike has to be Moraine Lake. Compared to famous Lake Louise, it was much less crowded. The trail along the lake offered many spots for just sitting down and relaxing. Canoes passed by now and then. Kids were playing in the water. People were taking photos in turn. Someone was casting a bit far away. And the sound of streams pouring into the lake was in the background. On top of all these, the warmth of the late afternoon sun was all around me.
The most pleasant surprising was the drive on the Icefields Parkway. Due to the time constraints, I was only able to drive north until Saskatchewan River Crossing. However that already gave me enough reason to plan for the next time (along with Jasper National Park). I cannot have enough of the seeming countless soaring mountains & lakes in blue/green.
To be continued ...
Your description of the eclipse cruise sparked a vivid memory of my own October road trip along the coast a few years back. I was driving from Savannah to Key West, chasing the same celestial event, and the way the light filtered through the clouds over the water felt almost otherworldly. I remember pulling over at a quiet beach in the Everglades, the sky turning a deep indigo while the sun’s corona flickered like a distant lantern. The salty air mixed with the faint scent of mangroves, and for a moment everything seemed suspended in time https://www.deakin.edu.au/ Watching the eclipse from a boat, as you described, would have added that gentle rocking motion that makes the experience feel even more…
Reading about the Epic High Arctic on Ultramarine instantly took me back to a June trip I took three years ago, when I boarded a small charter plane from Reykjavik to the remote settlement of Qaanaaq. The sky was a deep, almost indigo shade that seemed to swallow the horizon, and the endless white landscape stretched out like a living watercolor. I remember stepping out of the aircraft and feeling the crisp, salty air bite my cheeks, the same kind of sharp clarity described in the post https://adstandards.com.au/codes-and-cases/codes The silence out there was profound—only the distant crack of ice and the occasional call of a gull broke it. As we trekked across the frozen tundra, the sun hovered low, casting…