Cartwright NL Newfoundland-Labrador Canada
Canada

In the Saga of Erik the Red, Norse sailors coasting along this shoreline around the year 1000 described beaches so long that they named them Furðustrandir, the "wonder strands." A thousand years later, the Wonderstrands still stretch some fifty kilometres north of Cartwright, backed by the Mealy Mountains. This small Labrador village guarding the entrance to Sandwich Bay has become one of the favoured stops for expedition ships heading toward the Far North.

A Village on the Edge of Vastness

Cartwright has a few hundred residents, a dock, a school, houses scattered facing the sea, and a warmth of welcome that more than makes up for the lack of tourist infrastructure. The village takes its name from Captain George Cartwright, an English merchant and chronicler who settled in the region in 1775, whose journals describe eighteenth-century Labrador life with rare precision. Métis, Inuit, and Innu traditions have intertwined here for generations, and visitors who take the time to talk with residents get a real sense of a hospitality that isolation has never worn down.

On Flagstaff Hill

A short walk leads to Flagstaff Hill, the rise overlooking the hamlet. The view takes in Sandwich Bay, the offshore islands, and, on a clear day, the pale line of the strands to the north. It's the ideal spot to take the measure of this land: water, forest, and hills as far as the eye can see, with almost no trace of human presence. In season, icebergs drift offshore, remnants of Greenland's glaciers carried south by the Labrador Current.

The Wonder Strands

The highlight of this stop often unfolds outside the village itself. Inflatable boats carry passengers to the Wonderstrands, where landings sometimes happen directly onto the sand. Walking this beach changes something: kilometres of ruler-straight coastline, the crashing surf, the wind, and behind the dunes, the boreal forest climbing toward the Mealy Mountains. It's easy to understand the astonishment of the Norse crews faced with a shore that seemed never to end. Tracks here are usually limited to those of caribou, foxes, and black bears, and the ship's naturalists are happy to stop and decode them alongside passengers. Taking in this empty expanse with your eyes, then turning back toward the sea where the ship waits, brings on a kind of vertigo few beaches in the world can match.

A Very Young National Park Reserve

Since 2015, the backcountry has belonged to the Akami-Uapishkᵁ–KakKasuak–Mealy Mountains National Park Reserve, one of the largest protected areas in eastern Canada. Its rounded summits, peat bogs, and salmon rivers remain practically free of infrastructure: the park is best taken in from the coast or approached with guides, and this near-inaccessibility is part of its character. Onboard naturalists help interpret this landscape shaped by glaciation, where every esker and erratic boulder tells the story of the retreating ice.

A Living Sea

Around the ship, staying alert pays off. Humpback whales and minke whales frequent these waters rich in capelin, seals haul out onto the rocks, and puffins skim low over the waves. On some evenings, Labrador's clear air produces sunsets that set the whole bay ablaze, and the outer decks fill up without any announcement needed.

What Stays With You

Cartwright wins over its visitors in a way that has nothing to do with monuments. The memory that lingers is older than that: of a coastline left much as the Vikings once saw it, and of a community living at its own pace on the edge of this vastness. Long after the stop, closing your eyes is enough to picture the endless beach again and hear the wind of the Furðustrandir.

Frequently Asked Questions

At the village wharf for expedition ships, or by inflatable boat depending on conditions. Cartwright guards the entrance to Sandwich Bay on the Labrador coast.
A few hundred residents, a wharf, a school and houses scattered facing the sea. There is almost no tourist infrastructure, and the welcome from residents more than makes up for it.
The short climb up Flagstaff Hill gives the panorama over Sandwich Bay and the offshore islands. The high point, though, happens outside the village: inflatables run out to the Wonderstrands, where you sometimes land directly on the sand.
Some fifty kilometres of straight beach north of Cartwright, backed by the Mealy Mountains. In the Saga of Erik the Red, Norse navigators around the year 1000 named them Furðustrandir, the 'wonder strands'.
From Captain George Cartwright, an English merchant and diarist who settled in the region in 1775, whose journals describe 18th-century Labrador life with rare precision.
In season, yes: icebergs drift offshore, remnants of Greenland glaciers carried south by the Labrador Current. From Flagstaff Hill you can sometimes spot them with the naked eye.
Humpback and minke whales in these capelin-rich waters, seals hauled out on rocks, puffins skimming the waves. On the Wonderstrands the tracks are usually those of caribou, foxes and black bears.
The Akami-Uapishkᵁ–KakKasuak–Mealy Mountains reserve, created in 2015, one of the largest protected areas in eastern Canada. Rounded summits, peat bogs and salmon rivers, with virtually no facilities: the park is viewed from the coast or entered with guides.
In layers, with a waterproof windbreaker and waterproof boots: beach landings get wet and the sea wind rarely eases. Labrador stays cool even at the height of summer.
Metis, Inuit and Innu traditions have mingled here for generations. Visitors who take time to talk with residents encounter a hospitality that isolation has never dimmed.