Breaking the Ice

Aboard a luxurious expedition ship, Paul Brady explores the frozen bays and rivers of Francophone Canada.

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FROM LEFT The author in front of the Charcot on Ha! Ha! Bay, in Quebec; the ship's sauna.

IT WAS 16 DEGREES in La Baie, Quebec, the wind was howling, and our ship was stuck in the ice. In other words, things were going exactly to plan.

On a winter cruise along the St. Lawrence River aboard Le Commandant Charcot, sailing into frigid gusts and cutting through ice floes were par for the course. By the third day of the journey, the vessel had entered the Saguenay River, a tributary of the St. Lawrence. When we came to a cove known as Ha! Ha! Bay, the Charcot broke out its party trick and plowed through the ice until it came to a rest in a shelf some two feet thick, about a mile from shore.

The crew lowered a gangway and guests were shuttled ashore in snowmobile-driven aluminum sleds built by local craftspeople, four at a time, which lent the whole enterprise a Mission Impossible feel. The ship stayed, stuck in the ice, for two days, during which each passenger chose their own adventure. One afternoon, I snowshoed the Bec-Scie nature preserve, a few miles from the ship, with naturalist and guide Monique Tremblay. Another day, a member of the expedition team led a three-mile snowshoe-and-crampon trek along the shore of the bay that ended with a march across the ice back to the ship.

The expedition cruise company Ponant is banking on travelers’ embracing the cold—with the help of the ship’s many creature comforts. The 123-cabin