Iceberg Watching in Saint Anthony, Newfoundland and Labrador
The morning of the 8th of June looked not too bad weather-wise. We decided to take a boat trip, and go fulfill our quest to find some Icebergs.
View Iceberg watching in Saint Anthony, Newfoundland and Labrador in a larger map
We went out with Northland Discovery Boat Tours in Saint Anthony at the tip of the Island of Newfoundland. We felt comfortable knowing that the captain of the boat, Lewis Alcock has over 40 years experience at the helm. Lewis' son Paul was our guide. He is a biology graduate and noted conservationist and has over 17 years of guiding experience. Paul explained and made us aware of all the things in and around the water as we cruised along.
Saint Anthony, Island of Newfoundland in Newfoundland and Labrador |
We headed out of the harbour through a mystic fog. We saw some porpoises playing around as we left. Then all of a sudden, a mink whale, and one more.... just swimming around the outer harbour. What a wonderful surprise for all of us. About 53 cameras were rattling away with pictures, we were all very excited.
Icebergs
We motored on, and soon, far in the distance we saw an Iceberg.... What a sight, it is just one of those natural phenomenons that one should experience if possible. I personally have been longing for this for years.We are ready to go Iceberg watching |
Silvia, Jörg and Liz |
Only 1/9 th of the Iceberg is above water level, this is due to the density of the Iceberg. An Iceberg or pure ice is 920 Kg/m³ per cubic meter and the density of seawater is 1025 Kg/m³. Therefore the Iceberg is floating, just showing one ninth above the water..
Iceberg ahead says Jörg |
In August of 2010 a Iceberg broke off a glacier off the coast of Greenland. Its size was 251 square kilometers. That's a big chunk of ice. The largest ever recorded berg was in the Anarctica in 1956 and its size was 31,000 square kilometers. That is larger than the country of Belgium.
Wow |
Massive |
The tallest Iceberg ever recorded was in 1958 at a height of 168 meters or the height of a 55 story building. Most Icebergs are between 1-75 meters high, and can weigh around 200,000 tones.
Must have shot 250 pictures |
This bright blue part in the Iceberg is from when the glacier cracked and then melting water filled the crack and froze again. |
We really enjoyed our Iceberg Cruise. The bergs we saw were about 30-40 meters high. Just wonderful all the different shapes and colours in the ice. The blue lines in the icebergs are cracks in the glacier that filled in with melting water and then froze again.
They are just so immense but yet beautiful. This iceberg is grounded in 100 feet of water. |
Jörg and Silvia |
Wonderful sight that you will only see in a small fishing village |
We found out that pristine, calm waters in Newfoundland can be quite rough, but we all enjoyed this boat tour. More pictures on our Picasa web album, or just click image below.
Iceberg Cruise in St.Anthony, NL |
Cheers, Anders and Liz
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