Whales and Icebergs

Sooo…

By the way, we’re in Newfoundland. One six hour ferry ride, same day as the disastrous short one, and we arrived at Channel- Port Aux Basque at 1:30 in the morning. Not the greatest time to arrive in an unfamiliar place, but we made it work by sleeping the rest of the night away in the Visitor Info Center parking lot. (Later) in the morning, we gathered information and what little brain cells we had about us, and headed North, towards the Viking Trail.

….. (time passing)….

Traveling northern Newfoundland feels much like heading north up the Alaska Highway; except for the ocean (ah, the ocean – amazing, beautiful, and slightly scary all at the same time). Right near the ocean is windswept and relatively treeless, but just a bit inland here are lots of evergreens, rolling, rocky hills, bogs (muskeg), and bugs. Cell service is spotty, and the land is wild.  But, there’s more evidence of people (than northern BC or the Yukon), in the plentiful wood piles, and the small garden plots that dot the roadsides. Small fishing villages frequented the shallow coves. The Viking Highway follows the coastline for most of its 500+ kilometers, and so spectacular vistas were always available. The highway goes all the way up to the tip of the island, where icebergs and whales play.

We wanted to get a closer look at these, so we went on a boat tour with Northern Discovery tours in St. Anthony. 

St. Anthony, is a bustling fishing community at the end of the highway, way up on the northern end of Newfoundland. It boasts the longest whale and iceberg watching season in all of Newfoundland, simply due to its location on Iceberg Alley. 

 

Iceberg Alley is a stretch of the North Atlantic where the icebergs from the Greenland (90%) and northern Canadian (10%) glaciers, head south with the Labrador Current. It takes these icebergs up to three years to reach this area, slowly breaking up and melting along the way. The entire northern coast, down past St. John’s, is a good place to see icebergs in season, and with this past winter being one of the harshest in a long time, we were practically guaranteed to see icebergs, even though it’s July.

It didn't take much looking to find an iceberg; a big one had grounded not too far off the coast. (Incidentally, you don’t need a boat to see them, but they are pretty darned impressive close up!) 

After circling the iceberg twice, the crew then caught a bergy bit for all of us passengers to taste. Lily and Morgan were super excited. They both got some of the first chunks taken from the bit, and grinned happily while munching on the ice. Iceberg ice is super pure, and very dense, which means that even though the iceberg is floating in the ocean, no salt permeates it, and the water is very clear and fresh tasting. Very cool. Literally and figuratively! Now we can all say, we've drank 10,000 year old water.

St. Anthony’s harbour is deep, and the coastline near it drops off quickly, which means whales come right close to shore. Minke, Humpback and Orca whales are regular visitors to the area. We didn't have to go far to see Minke whales (16-20 feet long). 

We even found one in the harbour! Sadly, the humpbacks which had been playing earlier in the day had disappeared by the time our tour was out on the water. They would have been really neat to see. (I wanna see some big whales!!!)

Even without the big fellas, it was a great tour. Whales, icebergs, seabirds, and best of all – I didn't get seasick!

After our tour, we drove up the road to the lighthouse, and gazed out at the ocean, watching the fishing boats head out to the shrimping grounds and more Minke feed right near shore. The scenery was breathtaking.

I asked one of the locals if she noticed her beautiful surroundings and the whales any more, and she replied that she didn't really pay attention, except occasionally when the whales came close. It made me think of Alberta’s Rocky Mountains and scenery that I mostly took for granted, except for the odd moment.  I wonder how I’ll view them now. Will I view them with fresh eyes and marvel anew at nature’s splendor, or will they still be “same old, same old”? (I hope not.)