Icebergs

On Thursday, we drove over to St. Anthony, which was only about 40 minutes away as we had decided to do a boat tour for icebergs and whales.  We booked the tour, then went for a drive out to the lighthouse at Fisher’s Point.

There’s also a cafe there where we had some lunch as well.  And...we got to see this from the lighthouse road!  A fair size iceberg, which we learned had broken in half a couple of days ago.  So it was much bigger.  And when a chunk breaks off, more of the underside is exposed as it rolls.

While we were in the cafe, this bird was sitting on Gerard’s shoulder, watching him eat.

So this was our boat.

And here we all are, heading out for the cruise.

There were other “berger bits” and “growlers” all over the place, not to mention pack ice which flowed into the harbour in droves, catching the current down from Labrador.

But this was the granddaddy we saw, about 5-6 miles away from the harbour.



They estimated it was about 70 feet high.  I was a little concerned being too close to it.  Some had broken off just that morning, and it had turned.  The smooth parts are where it was under water.  The blue lines are where water was running through the ice while it was still part of the glacier.

These come from west Greenland and get caught in the Labrador current.  The area is aptly named “iceberg alley”.

It was an impressive berg, we must say.

Back in the harbour, I thought this looked rather hilarious.  Is he digging for cod?

Unfortunately, no whales were to be seen.  It’s a tad early, and the spring/summer is so late, they’re not quite here yet.  There have been a few, but not many.  Humpbacks are what they normally see at this time of year.

However, what they did see in this town in the morning was a polar bear!  They said the bears migrate south while the seals migrate south on ice floes.  And this bear is probably heading back north again.  They walk a long way, and swim a long way as well.  They would swim across the strait to get back to Labrador and other parts north.  You wouldn’t want to get in its way.

Heading back south on Friday.