The Skeptics Society & Skeptic magazine

WONDERS OF THE ARCTIC
September 23 – October 10, 2024

Join JARED DIAMOND on a Voyage From Greenland to Nova Scotia Aboard the New Expedition Cruise Ship Vega

Dear Friends,

This voyage along the shores of Baffin Bay, through the Labrador Sea, and into the Gulf of St. Lawrence combines wild landscapes and seascapes of glaciers, fjords, and icebergs with villages and settlements whose recorded history dates to the arrival of Norsemen from the east in the 10^th century followed by migrating Inuit from the west in the 13^th.

Five days on Greenland’s western coast begin in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Disko Bay, with its magnificent calving glaciers and year-round population of beluga whales. Working our way south, through a world of fjords and ice floes and pausing along the way to visit Inuit communities that dot the shore, we explore a wilderness that remains largely unchanged since the time of Erik the Red, and call at the site of his settlement in Nuuk, now Greenland’s capital.

Crossing the Davis Strait, we reach the southern end of Baffin Island in Canadian Nunavut, where the town of Iqaluit invites us to experience the customs, traditions, and crafts of the Inuit who govern the province. Here in Frobisher Bay and on nearby small islands, we will be on the lookout for polar bears, whales, and walrus, as well as for the myriad seabirds who nest along the cliffs. Then, as we sail along the coast of Labrador and Newfoundland, we visit the Torngat Mountains, sacred to the Inuit, and the abandoned missionary community of Hebron, before exploring the UNESCO World Heritage Norse settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows and discovering the wonders of Gros Morne National Park.

Pulitzer-prize-winning author JARED DIAMOND

Our special guest lecturer throughout the voyage will be Pulitzer-prize-winning author JARED DIAMOND. In a series of lectures and discussions, Jared will bring his experience and expertise to bear on much that we see and do, with a particular emphasis on why Inuit communities in this part of the world were successful while Viking settlements failed—the subject of a major section of his 2005 award-winning book, Collapse. Jared Diamond is a Pulitzer-prize-winning author of six best-selling books, translated into 38 languages, about human societies and human evolution. As a professor of geography at UCLA (University of California at Los Angeles), he is known for his breadth of interests, which involves conducting research and teaching in three other fields: the biology of New Guinea birds, digestive physiology, and conservation biology. His prizes and honors include the U.S. National Medal of Science, the Pulitzer Prize for Non-fiction, the Tyler Prize for Environmental Science, and election to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He is a director of World Wildlife Fund/U.S. and of Conservation International. As a biological explorer, his most widely publicized finding was his rediscovery, at the top of New Guinea’s remote Foja Mountains, of the long-lost Golden-fronted Bowerbird, previously known only from four specimens found in a Paris feather shop in 1895.

The vessel for this cruise is the Swan Hellenic Vega, a state-of-the-art, new-generation expedition cruise ship built in Finland and launched in 2022. Accommodating only 152 guests in superb staterooms and balcony suites, Vega features elegant common areas and the most modern mechanical and environmentally conscious technology, far exceeding the standards set by international regulatory agencies. (Read more about Vega below.)

Please take a moment to look over the enclosed brochure and then begin making plans to join Professor Jared Diamond and fellow travelers next fall as we set off on an expedition to explore the Wonders of the Arctic.

Warm regards,
Dr. Michael Shermer

Executive Director, Skeptics Society

7% of your cruise fee will be a tax-deductible donation to The Skeptics Society — a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.