Icebergs Dead Ahead

St. Anthony, NL (42 degrees, cloudy, chilly, occasional fog and rain)

After a brief stay in Cow Head and a quick glimpse of the stunning Gros Morne National Park (we will return here later) we are now at the top of Newfoundland in the small town of St. Anthony. We are here for the Iceberg Festival and within a few minutes after dropping off our rigs have seen ICEBERGS - lots of them - in the bay near the downtown area. We are over the moon in excitement and thrilled to see them so close to the shore.

Our campground for the next seven days is Pistolet, a provincial campground about 20 minutes from the downtown. It's a primitive campground without any type of hookups. There is WYFI but only at the ranger station. It's very pretty and our site is surrounded by fir trees and very private.  It's also very reasonable at $95 for a seven night stay.

We explored the town after setting up and found out where our boat tour will depart in the morning for an up close view of the icebergs.

 

The next morning we were up early to arrive at the dock for our Discovery Boat Tour. Our guide was very funny and did a great job of telling us all about 1) how the icebergs arrive here in St. Anthony - it's a two year journey after breaking off of glaciers in Greenland, 2) the ice is over 10,000 years old, 3) the blue color is caused by the snow melting and then running down into crevasses and refreezing. There is less oxygen in this ice and the light refraction makes it look blue, 4) they melt in less than two months, 5) only 1/8 of the iceberg is visible on the top of the water, 6) the little icebergs are called bergie bits, 7) they travel about 1/2 mile an hour unless they get stuck along the shoreline.

Barry and me in our Iceberg Watching Hats

One of the crew members caught a bergie bit in a net and broke it up for all of us to see and taste. Wow!  I hope 10,000 year old bacteria isn't a problem with my system. LOL! He also advised against consuming any yellow iceberg ice. It could be dinosaur pee. We are enjoying the Newfoundlanders sense of humor. Many of the restaurants use it for ice in your drinks. There is a beer, rum, and vodka made with the melted ice and a manufacturer also bottles it as a drinking water. We saw a boat hunting for icebergs while on the tour. What an interesting job to have on your resume - "what is your occupation?"..."I'm an iceberg hunter"

Iceberg Hunters

Most of our time was spent viewing the icebergs. He did attempt to find a whale but was not successful. It was a spectacular trip and seemed to go by so quickly.

In the evening we went to the Grenfell Center for a Kitchens Party which was part of the Iceberg Festival. They offered samplings of some of the Newfoundland dishes such as toutons (fried bread dough), codfish cakes, fish and brewis (cod and hard bread), and scallops wrapped in bacon. They had a larger crowd than expected and the meal was a bit chaotic. Afterwards, however, the entertainment was excellent. The band consisted of three members who were very funny and played well together. Our friends played an ugly stick and there was lots of dancing mostly done by women which was fun to watch. Many of the songs included crowd participation and we all really enjoyed the evening. Our first day at the festival is off to a great start. So stay with us and see what adventures await.

Viking Dinner Sod Hut

Our first Moose