Here’s the bucket list for your day ashore: the most extraordinary thing to do at each stop, and the private, small-group, or expert-led way to make it yours — your own pace, real access, none of the crowd.
In port at Resolution Island, the bucket-list move is Zodiac Expedition into Resolution Island's Fjords & Sea Caves. Seabourn Expedition Team (direct via Seabourn) runs it — a private, expert-led experience at your own pace, not a 40-person coach. Below: all 6 bucket-list things to do on a Resolution Island port day, each with the independent way to make it yours.
1scenic
Drift through cathedral-like fjords and sea caves aboard a private Zodiac, with sheer cliff walls plunging into obsidian Arctic waters. This is raw, untouched Nunavut at its most theatrical — a landscape that has barely changed since the Norse first encountered it.
Book it withSeabourn Expedition Team (direct via Seabourn)USD 0 (complimentary expedition inclusion for Seabourn guests); private charters via specialist Arctic operators from approx. CAD 2,400 per group
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2wildlife
Resolution Island hosts one of the most densely packed seabird cliffs in the Canadian Arctic — hundreds of thousands of thick-billed murres, northern fulmars and black-legged kittiwakes in a single breathtaking panorama. A naturalist-guided small-group excursion here is a once-in-a-lifetime wildlife spectacle.
Book it withArctic Kingdom Polar ExpeditionsCAD 1,950–CAD 3,200 per person (private naturalist expedition; day rate depends on group size and vessel logistics)
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3culture
Step ashore with an Inuit guide whose family has navigated these waters for generations, and learn to 'read' the Arctic landscape the way Nunavut's people always have — ice, wind, tide and wildlife as a living map. A rare and profoundly human encounter at the edge of the world.
Book it withKivalliq Arctic Lodges & Guides (direct)CAD 2,800–CAD 4,500 per person (full-day private cultural expedition including all transfers, gear and meals)
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4adventure
Charter a private helicopter from the ship and arc out over the Strait of Belle Isle and Resolution Island's fractured coastline — glacially carved fjords, open tundra plateaus and iceberg-studded waters laid out beneath you in panoramic silence. The perspective from above is simply incomparable.
Book it withCanadian Helicopters (charter division)CAD 3,500–CAD 6,000 per flight (30–60 min private charter, 4-seat Bell 407 or equivalent; price varies by duration and departure point)
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5water
Paddle a sea kayak through the mirror-still coves and kelp-draped headlands of Resolution Island's sheltered bays — a meditative, supremely intimate way to meet the Arctic Ocean on its own terms. The silence and scale are unlike anywhere else on Earth.
Book it withArctic Kingdom Polar ExpeditionsCAD 1,600–CAD 2,400 per person (half-day guided sea-kayak excursion including all equipment, dry-suit fitting and safety briefing)
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6history
Trace five centuries of Arctic history on foot — from Martin Frobisher's 16th-century landfalls to the ghostly Cold War DEW Line installations that dot this coast. Few places in Canada compress so much geopolitical and exploration drama into such a stark, beautiful setting.
Book it withArctic Kingdom Polar ExpeditionsCAD 1,400–CAD 2,100 per person (half-day guided history and heritage walk; group size maximum eight guests)
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