The beauty and scale of this Canadian region is home to a variety of animals and indigenous people who do it proud. Daniel Scott was captivated by a spectacular Arctic experience.

It is dusk on the third evening of this extraordinary Arctic odyssey when I see my first wild polar bear. He is prowling high on a rock ledge on Walrus Island, in the northern reaches of Hudson Bay, his fur rendered golden by the dying sun.

He is about 300m away but the young adult male still looks huge, with an imperious ursine head, powerful haunches and paws the size of dinner plates. No wonder this magnificent creature, which can weigh up to 800kg, is regarded as the King of the Arctic and is sacred to the Inuit, this icy region’s indigenous people.

Yet, stranded here, as he is, for the remainder of the Arctic summer, this bear also seems vulnerable. For him, it will be a long time between meals. It’s late July now and it won’t be until the seasonal ice sheet returns to Hudson Bay in early November that he will again be able to use it as a platform to hunt for seals. Until then he’ll be reliant on his fat stores and his ability to almost shut down his metabolism, conserving 80 per cent of his energy to survive.

From the very beginning of this nine-day expedition, when we boarded the ice-strengthened Russian ship, MV Lyubov Orlova, at Churchill, on the western edge of Hudson Bay, we have been consistently treated to memorable scenes like this one, many involving Arctic creatures.

On the first day, we were barely installed in our comfortable cabins before we were out on inflatable zodiacs on the Churchill River and surrounded by tens of small snow-white beluga whales. I’ve never been closer to a whale than when one beluga surfaced a metre behind me, snorting a personal welcome to the Arctic through its blowhole.

On the second evening, at Marble Island, it was the isolated beauty and scale of the Arctic landscape that captivated me. As a flock of geese flew overhead and disappeared into the horizon, it felt as if I was one of the few humans ever to set foot there.

After seeing the polar bear on the third evening, we discover that Walrus Island is also appropriately home to around 250 lardy walruses, splayed on flat rocks beside the sea. As we approach in inflatables, several, including a mother with baby in close attendance, cautiously plop into the water.

As the trip draws on, the wildlife becomes more abundant. At Cape Wolstenholme, at the northern tip of Quebec, where the cliffs rise up 300m, there are around a million puffin-like thick-billed murres nesting. Further on, at the fjord-like Douglas Harbour, thousands of caribou roam the shore.

Then – the penultimate day of the trip – on deserted Opingivik Island, we see one of the Arctic’s oldest surviving species, present on earth a million years ago, the Musk Ox. Although related to the goat, this animal stands 1.5m tall and is as thickset as a buffalo, with a huge shaggy coat exaggerating its size.

When not on daily shore excursions, we attend interpretive lectures, by Arctic plant expert Susan Aiken and ornithologist Elizabeth Gow, aboard the Orlova. We also explore Inuit culture with indigenous guides Mae Ningirivik and Jenna Anderson. They demonstrate throat singing, performed face to face by two women and producing deep animal-like sounds, and Arctic games, tests of strength and agility designed to wile away long winters.

Inuit owned and managed, Cruise North is committed to training young Inuits and the presence of several, including expedition leader Jason Annahatak, helps give real insight into their way of life.

That understanding grows as we visit several small Inuit communities around Hudson Bay. At Ivujivik, Quebec’s most northern settlement, we meet talented artist Mattiusi Iyaituk, who shows us his ornate soapstone carvings. Later, in Kangiqsujuaq, at the edge of Hudson Strait, we listen to 82-year-old elder Maata Inuk recall her nomadic childhood, living in tents and igloos while her father hunted.

By the time we arrive at Kuujjuaq, our final destination, having encountered our first icebergs in Hudson Strait, all 74 passengers feel we have experienced the journey of a lifetime. The expedition has been a perfect introduction to the Canadian Arctic’s magnificent landscapes and remarkable creatures. But, above all, it has opened our eyes to a proud, resilient people who have survived in its harsh environment for more than a thousand years. •

Getting there: Air Canada has flights ex Sydney to Montreal from $2499 and ex Melbourne from $2618.
Visit: www.aircanada.com.

Arctic Expeditions: Cruise North has seven Arctic trips in 2010.
Visit: www.cruisenorthexpeditions.com

For more information visit: www.canada.travel