Destination: Canada : Arctic Summer : This is the season when the sun sets only briefly on Eclipse Sound, where magical beauty, rare narwhals and glittering icebergs reign

Pushing off from the pebble beach, I maneuvered my kayak through a maze of fantastically shaped ice chunks that glittered white and robin’s-egg blue against the indigo waters of Eclipse Sound. It was close to midnight yet the midsummer sun still shone as if it was late afternoon as I glided in the direction of a 30-story iceberg half a mile offshore. I was surrounded by silence, except for the echo of dripping water from ice melting in the warmth of days that stretch to 20 hours this time of year.

Earlier this day I had boarded a nine-hour flight from my home in Montreal, heading for the Canadian Arctic and the remote hamlet of Pond Inlet on the northern tip of Baffin Island, almost 2,000 miles due north of Montreal. En route we stopped to change planes in the eastern Arctic’s biggest town, Iqaluit, a bustling community of 3,000 people.

It was mid-August and the height of summer in Pond Inlet, Northwest Territories--a summer that lasts barely six weeks, from July through August, when the temperatures soar to a balmy 45 degrees. As our twin-engine plane circled the gravel airstrip scratched out on the hilltop, I peered out the window at a spectacular scene. The small town of Pond Inlet, a patchwork of colorfully painted wood houses, overlooked a parade of towering icebergs sailing past. Across the strait on Bylot Island--a wildlife reserve 15 miles away--half a dozen streaked glaciers snaked their way south toward the sea.

On previous trips to the far north I had heard stories of the legendary beauty of Pond Inlet. Now, looking at the scene below me, any doubts about making this long trek north evaporated; Pond Inlet’s reputation as one of the most stunning settings in the Arctic was well justified.

The Canadian Arctic is only beginning to see a modest influx of tourists. Last year, for example, there were only 80 tourists to Pond Inlet. But it is a fascinating region, undiscovered and perfect for those attracted to nature and solitude. Though far above the timberline, summer coaxes vast red and green tundra from the earth and the ankle-high brush is speckled with tiny blueberries that the Inuit--formerly, and incorrectly, known as Eskimos--whip into frothy ice cream.

Like most Arctic settlements, Pond Inlet is inhabited by the once nomadic Inuit, who were gathered together in communities as late as the 1960s so that their children could receive government-subsidized education and health care.

It is set on Eclipse Sound, one of the Arctic’s richest wildlife areas. Caribou herds are plentiful and the waters teem with seal and walrus and visitors occasionally catch a glimpse of narwhals. . Outfitters in Pond Inlet--Inuits with an intimate knowledge of the land--take visitors on wildlife expeditions or fishing for Arctic char, the famous, delicious fish that tastes similar to salmon.

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Following breakfast the next morning at the Sauniq Hotel, where I was staying, a helicopter arrived carrying biologists from Bylot Island, the summer breeding ground for white snow geese that migrate to the southern United States in winter. French Canadian Jean-Pierre Tremblay from Quebec City had just completed three months studying the snow geese, cracking their eggs and tugging out little feet, which he banded and tucked back in. Also just back from the field was geologist Jennifer Brown from Yellowknife, capital of the Northwest Territories. Brown was studying an area, including Bylot Island, that is part of a proposed national park.

Brown and I visited Dave Reid to rent a couple of fiberglass touring kayaks. Reid is a transplanted Scotsman and something of an entrepreneur in town; he not only runs the Co-op, one of Pond’s two stores, but also rents kayaks and organizes expeditions into the tundra outside of town through his company Eclipse Sound Outfitters.

Brown and I soon set off paddling in the clean Arctic air, the slight chill soon offset by our physical efforts. Not far out we met up with Tremblay and his helicopter pilot Luke (whose last name was the first of many I never learned; no one seemed particularly interested in such details in the north). We had traded cameras and were shooting photos of one another in front of a small iceberg when Luke suddenly shouted, “There’s an ice sheet drifting in fast!” We quickly paddled out of the way and watched the 50-foot raft of thick ice crunch and crack as it rammed the larger berg, reminding us that even in the calmest water, it is important to keep an eye out. It would have been most unpleasant to take a dunking in the 35-degree waters.

Wandering through the hamlet of Pond Inlet is an exercise that takes little time. Of its 1,000 inhabitants, 950 are Inuits and most still live a traditional lifestyle, hunting caribou, walrus and seal for food and clothing. Rows of small homes line the three unpaved streets that slope to the sea. Yards are littered with wooden sleds, Ski-Doos and racks with stretched seal and caribou skins that would become winter clothing. Like other far-northern communities, Pond is a working settlement with few luxuries except a huge single satellite dish that brings telephone and TV into the town’s sparsely furnished living rooms. The nearest restaurant, hairdresser, dentist and bank are four hours by air to the south in Iqaluit.

One of the things I liked best about Pond--and something true of all northern communities I have visited--is that people always have time to talk. Nothing is more important than stopping for a chat . . . for a few minutes, for an hour, for two.

One afternoon, a sailboat glided in with four Americans and an Englishman on board--adventurers attempting to sail through the Northwest Passage in a 55-foot fiberglass yacht equipped for ice sailing. The crew called it the Tupperware yacht, for the sense of vulnerability they felt bobbing in a sea of deadly ice chunks and bergs. Yet they were crestfallen with the news from the Ice Bureau in Halifax, Nova Scotia, that the Alaska end of the passage was impassable, meaning they would have to head back to England without having made the dangerous but exciting journey.

The view from the Sauniq dining room was mesmerizing, with the ice moving past and the changing light on the glaciers and bare brown mountains of Bylot Island. Sipping a cup of tea, I scoured the waters for narwhal--the almost mythical Arctic whales whose males sport a single long, straight ivory tusk--the unicorns of the underwater world. My new friend Brown had told me she had spotted a pod just a few days earlier.

The Sauniq is a simple 15-room affair with two beds in each. Those traveling alone may find themselves sharing a room with a stranger, should things get busy. That’s what happened when I returned from kayaking. My new roommate, Clara, whose last name I never caught, was a member of a European cinematography team that had been out at Milne Inlet, about 30 miles to the west, filming a movie on the 25 most beautiful places on Earth.

“They are only devoting three minutes to the Great Barrier Reef,” Clara told me, “but Pond Inlet is getting seven minutes.” Pond, with its plunging fiord sand glaciers, is known as one of the most beautiful settings in the eastern Arctic. That and its rich concentration of wildlife persuaded the Canadian government to create a national park here. April and May, when the weather begins to warm, is the time for cross-country skiing. When the ice breaks up about June, Pond attracts wildlife lovers who hire outfitters to take them to the floe edge to see walrus, seals and narwhal.

The next morning Luke and I paddled about a mile west of town toward the Northwest Territorial Campsite, a tranquil spot of sheltered picnic tables and tent platforms. On the opposite side of a small river we spotted were the remains of three ancient Thule sod houses: raised circular mounds with an entrance facing west. The roof would have been of bone and hide.

On the fifth day of my 10-day visit, I awoke to see an oil tanker silhouetted against a horizon of leaden skies and a forecast of rain. Of course this would be the time I had booked the kayak for the entire day. After an hour and a half heading east toward the pyramid peak of Mt. Herodier, I spotted another kayak coming toward me. It was Lyn Gautier, the resident government biologist. She had camped overnight across the bay, gone hiking and was heading back to town. As we held our kayaks together in the midst of a patch of ice chunks, Gautier told me she’s been in Pond Inlet for four years as assistant to the biologist for the Canadian government’s Renewable Resources department. They are studying the caribou that for the past few years have been staying within a few miles of town. Gautier is tough and independent and enjoys the freedom of the outdoors that these rugged surroundings proffer. We watched as a seal swam off in the distance. Snow geese honked loudly as they flew overhead in V-formation. “At least you always know which way is south,” Gautier remarked.

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Back in town, everyone was abuzz with last night’s arrival of the Sealift, a container ship that once a year brings everything from pickup trucks to prefabricated houses and bulk groceries. Today, it is offloading an entire mini-mall that will give Pond a sporting goods store and cafe. These last weeks of summer are the busiest time of year as Pond lays in supplies for winter. The entire town was on the beach at some time during the day, sort of like a community picnic with everyone trying to find their pallets or crates of supplies. Home delivery this day meant that the town forklift operator dropped 1,000 pounds of groceries in your front yard.

The beginning of the night’s bright red sunset was at 11 and lasted more than an hour and a half. Everyone in the hotel stood silently and watched. Four hundred miles north of the Arctic Circle such moments are appreciated. Winter, which begins in September (though it may snow any month of the year), sweeps in temperatures of 50 degrees below zero. Pond Inlet watches the sun set on Nov. 11, then must wait for the next sunrise on Feb. 2--three months of total darkness.

Morning. The 30-story iceberg has disappeared! A couple living near the beach said they heard a crack and a splash about midnight and watched the iceberg keel over and break up. By morning, the pieces had all drifted away to the east. After three years grounded offshore, it had become a much loved landmark. Locals liked to go out in the winter with their snowmobiles to take their kids to slide down its slippery slopes.

On the last day I rose with the sun at 5 to take one more trip in my kayak. The water was as still as a millpond, reflecting the dawning sky. I stopped and listened to the silence broken only by the faint dripping of water from my paddle tips. Then I heard them, the distinctive sound of air being cleared from half a dozen lungs. Ahead, 150 feet, a pod of narwhal moved effortlessly through the water. They milled briefly, then a single male raised its gleaming white tusk skyward like a sword. I turned and paddled for shore, elated. I had glimpsed what I had come to see.

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GUIDEBOOK: Arctic Bound

Getting there: From LAX, fly nonstop to Toronto on Air Canada, then on to Ottawa or Montreal. Or fly from LAX direct to Montreal on American. From either Ottawa or Montreal take First Air to Pond Inlet, with a change of planes in Iqaluit, Canada. Lowest round-trip, advance-purchase fares are $1,640.

Where to stay: The Sauniq Hotel, c/o General Delivery, Pond Inlet, Northwest Territories X0A 0S0, Canada; rates are $85 per person, per night; $60 additional for three meals. Rooms have private baths. Laundry facilities are available; telephone (819) 899-8928, fax (819) 899-8770.

Outfitters: Both Toonoonik Sahoonik Outfitters (the Inuit cooperative that also operates the Sauniq Hotel) and Eclipse Sound Outfitters have a variety of guided tours out of Pond Inlet.

Toonoonik Sahoonik’s 16 Inuit guides offer half-day boating excursions that can include fishing, $130 per person; full day and overnight rates are $260 per person including all meals, tents and full outfitting equipment. Contact Josh Idlout, tel. (819) 899-8912 or fax (819) 899-8770.

Eclipse Sound Outfitters rents fiberglass kayaks for $35 a day. They offer four-day camping, fishing and hiking trips among the area’s many fiords for $200 per day, per person. Other adventure packages are available and the company will create custom tours; tel. (819) 899-8870.

For more information: Canadian Consulate, Tourist Information, 300 S. Grand Ave., Suite 1000, Los Angeles 90071; tel. (213) 346-2700.

--M.P.