Our Arctic trips stretch across the top of the world from Russia, Canada, Greenland and Iceland to Spitsbergen.  Many species of whales can be found here in the summer months, although we consider sighting whales in the Arctic a bonus rather than a guarantee.  Seventeen species of whales, including dolphins and porpoises, can be found in the Arctic.  There are three whale species that spend their entire lives in the Arctic, moving between summer feeding and wintering areas within the region—the narwhal, beluga and bowhead whales.  Others, such as the humpback and gray whale, migrate to warmer waters during the northern winter to give birth.

If you choose a Canadian Arctic trip with a routing past Isabella Bay, south of the Inuit village of Clyde River on Baffin Island, you might have an opportunity to see a bowhead whale.  This area is a sanctuary for the bowheads.  I have also been fortunate enough to see them in the Amundsen Gulf area on a Northwest Passage trip. Read the rest of this entry »