IT'S all business on the bridge of the Sea Adventurer.
The pack ice of the Franklin Strait is far behind us, and the water ahead looks smooth and obstacle free, but the second officer and helmsman are concentrating on getting this expedition ship safely away from the remote Canadian settlement of Taloyoak and across Spence Bay.
There isn't much talk - a brief question about today's soccer match that saw the ship's passengers and crew taking on a team of local juniors, and a quick chat about a flock of low-flying birds - with most of the talk focused on the ship's performance.
The Sea Adventurer is part of the Adventure Canada fleet, a Canadian company that takes travellers on expeditions inside the Arctic Circle during the warmer months of the northern summer, and my 117 travelling companions and I are nearing the end of an epic voyage around the famed Northwest Passage.
The journey started in Kangerlussuaq, on the rugged south-west coast of Greenland, and now we're deep inside Canada's wild north sailing through straits and inlets named after the explorers that opened this infamous crossing between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
This ship was built in 1975, to ferry scientists between research stations in the Russian Arctic, and with an ice-strengthened hull and comfortable accommodations, it's the perfect vessel to carry tourists through a hostile and unforgiving region.
But one of the best things about travelling on the Sea Adventurer is that visitors are welcome on the bridge, with the ship's experienced captain Kenth Grankvist leaving the door open on smooth sections so passengers can stand behind the crew to watch the computers and listen to commands.
From my perch at the back of the bridge I can see four computer screens - two radars showing surface obstacles, another pointing to the ship's position, and a fourth plotting the evening's path using red lines and way points - as well as a GPS and another instrument indicating how much water is below the hull.
It's almost 11pm but the sun has only just disappeared below the horizon, leaving the western sky blazing with the fiery tones of a northern sunset, and a small pink ball is rising in the east dropping a carpet of sequins on the still water of this strait named after resolute explorer John Rae.
The second officer, a sailor from the Philippines who has been on the Sea Adventurer for almost 14 years, checks the red lines on the computer screen against the paper chart on his table and asks the helmsman to adjust the course by a single degree to port.
The junior officer presses a button on a console to turn the bow slightly to the left, rather than reaching for something resembling a steering wheel, and then lifts his binoculars to scan the horizon for the whales or seals he knows the guests on board are itching to see.
During this two-week cruise from Greenland to Canada's northern Nunavut province the cautious crew has guided the ship through an ocean of ice - everything from nuggets of frozen water to icebergs the size of apartment buildings - and taken us to the haunts of the explorers that unlocked the secrets of this remote region.
We've seen the Ilulissat Glacier that produces most of the Atlantic's icebergs, inspected the abandoned Royal Canadian Mounted Police post at Dundas Harbour and Hudson Bay Company station at Fort Ross, observed polar bears feast on a beluga carcass, visited Inuit communities, explored in zodiacs, and roamed the tundra.
Visiting the bridge is a rare treat for cruise passengers, but it is something Adventure Canada is keen on offering because it lets travellers become engaged in the journey rather than simply being taxied from one sightseeing location to another.
Adventure Canada expedition leader Brad Rees, the man directing this 5000km voyage called Into the Northwest Passage, says "stepping on to the bridge of the Sea Adventurer is like stepping into the cockpit of a 747". "You see the interaction between the captain and the crew, watch the GPS and radar work, see the officer of the watch and the sailor on the bridge working together to manoeuvre the ship so she stays on course, and look at the charts," the American adventurer says.
"By looking at the charts, both the electronic and paper charts, passengers take notice of the landmarks they see along the way and know what they are looking at right then as well as what is coming and what has passed.
"It's a rare thing to spend time on a bridge when a ship is underway, but that's the beauty of expedition cruising and you can do things with us you wouldn't be able to do on other ships."
The writer was a guest of Adventure Canada.
* Adventure Canada's expedition ship was renamed the Sea Adventurer in 2013, in 2012 it sailed as the Clipper Adventurer.
Go2 - ARCTIC CIRCLE
Adventure Canada has been taking travellers into the wilds of northern Canada for 25 years, and in 2013 and 2014 is offering voyages to the Arctic Circle to explore the region.
In 2013 the Into the Northwest Passage expedition - the 15-day itinerary that starts in Kangerlussuaq and finishes at Kugluktuk to retrace the steps of the Arctic explorers - departs Toronto on August 6 and arrives in Edmonton on August 20. The trip costs from $7195.
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