Foxe Basin, lying to the west of Baffin Island and to the north of Hudson Bay, is the home of the largest concentration of Atlantic walrus in the eastern Arctic. Three thousand of these animals can be seen by taking daily boat trips from Igloolik where they are found basking on ice floes or rocks. The time is spring in the Arctic and the newborn walrus can be seen with their mothers in large groups. Foxe Basin is also the summer location of 300 bowhead whales which congregate at the floe edge waiting for the ice to clear so they can pass through Fury and Heckla Straits.
We travel for 4 days by boat to view the walrus and whales. Walrus weighing up to 900 kg. (2000 lbs) in large numbers on a piece of ice is a sight to behold. Bowhead whales are gigantic weighing up to 90,000 kg (almost 200,000 lbs.) and are 50 feet long. On small islands in Foxe Basin there are nesting Brant, Snow Geese, Red Phalarope, Arctic Tern, Sabine’s Gulls and more.
If weather prevents us from getting out on the water, we will spend time exploring the community of Igloolik and the island. On the island there are numerous ponds and some archaeological sites worth exploring.
Price includes: 1 night hotel in Ottawa on Day 1; return airfare Ottawa - Igloolik; meals as indicated; 6 nights at hotel in Igloolik; naturalist leader with Inuit guides