This is the world's most ideal spot for chasing icebergs

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Diana Lambdin Meyer

The big yellow highway signs cautioned us to be on the lookout for moose on the roadway. While it would be exciting to see a moose up close, that's not what my husband and I were looking for this Saturday in June as we drove along Highway 230 on Newfoundland's Bonavista Peninsula.

We were in search of bigger prey.

As we topped a small rise in the highway, I was the first to scream. "There it is! I see one, I see one."

It was an iceberg, a big one, a few hundred feet from shore. The closer we got, the bigger it got. We felt like the captain of the Titanic, yet our encounter did not end so tragically.

May, June and July are prime iceberg spotting months in Newfoundland. Along with its neighboring province of Labrador, the Atlantic Coast of Newfoundland is known as Iceberg Alley, the place where ocean currents deposit icebergs that have broken off in Greenland and floated for two or three years before eventually arriving on the North American continent. Something about the ocean currents and other forces of nature bring them closer to shore in early summer than any other time of the year.

It's impossible to know where an iceberg will appear on any given day, so this is certainly a trip that will take you along the back roads and into the little coastal towns of Newfoundland, an adventure in itself any time of year.

Chasing icebergs in the North Atlantic

Sitting in a little rubber Zodiac bobbing up and down in the water where Trinity Bay becomes the North Atlantic, it's difficult to determine the size of this iceberg floating just a few feet away. We guess that it's about four stories high above the water, so it has to be at least the size of a city block underwater.

Smaller chunks, called bergy bits, have broken off and float nearby, some small enough that we can pick up with our hands. It's heavier than you would expect and more compact than your average ice cube.

It's like granite, only it's ice.

Each iceberg has its own shape and color, custom-made by Mother Nature. Some have dark blue stripes or spots. The individual designs are caused by years of wave action below the water's surface and wind action above.

Younger icebergs are predominantly white. As snow accumulates, air is trapped between each flake. The white color comes from sunlight bouncing off of those trapped air particles. Blue appears in old ice  formed from deep within the glacier. Over the centuries, the compressed snow has thawed and frozen again, each time with more pressure from accumulating snow on top, squeezing out any air particles and reflective qualities

Don't worry if the day is overcast when you're watching icebergs. A cloudy sky minimizes the reflection, thus allowing any bits of blue to shine through. Each day can be a different experience watching the same iceberg.

The Titanic's legacy

It's impossible to talk about icebergs in the North Atlantic without thinking about the Titanic. The unsinkable ship sank 360 miles off of the coast of Newfoundland in 1912, but most of the bodies recovered are buried farther south at a cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

However, SOS calls from the Titanic were picked up and transmitted via the Marconi Station on Cape Race, just south of St. John's on the Avalon Peninsula. It's a great place to look for icebergs and learn about the wireless transmission that brought news of the Titanic to the world.

Equally interesting is Signal Hill in St. John's, a Canadian National Historic Site. This is where in 1901, just 11 years before the Titanic, the first transatlantic wireless radio signal was received, launching this world today of mobile communication.

Just down the hill is Johnson Geo Centre, an iceberg-shaped building with most of its mass underground, just like an iceberg. Here you can stick your hands into water as cold as the Titanic passengers were plunged into that night in April 1912 and have all of your questions answered about how icebergs form and how, even today, they are a worrisome presence for ocean transportation in many parts of the world.

The Quidi Vidi Brewery makes a very popular Iceberg Beer using only the melted water from icebergs. The cobalt blue bottles are a popular souvenir.&nbsp;(<p><span style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.364; background-color: transparent;">Bruce N. Meyer</span></p>)

Bruce N. Meyer


Iceberg beer and other icy treats

Iceberg ice melts much less slowly than man-made ice and keeps drinks colder longer. As a result, an entire cottage industry has emerged in Newfoundland to collect the bergy bits to sell to restaurants and other businesses. Bacalao, a restaurant on Lemarchant Road in St. John's, specializes in local cuisine and uses iceberg ice in drinks during the season.

The biggest consumer of bergy bits is Quidi Vidi Brewery that launched Iceberg Beer in 2009. Bottled in beautiful cobalt blue bottles, the beer's clean, fresh taste because of melted iceberg water used in the brewing process is immediately noticeable. The bottles themselves, the only cobalt blue beer bottles in North America, have become a collector's item and a great souvenir for anyone who comes to Newfoundland in search of icebergs.

If you go

To know where to find icebergs, visit on a daily basis beginning in May. Even though it's summer, be sure to pack warm clothes, including gloves and hats, if you plan to go out on the ocean. Additional information on iceberg tours can be found at and