 |
| Twillingate, Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) |
Thousands of icebergs calve off of Greenland into the Baffin and Labrador seas every year, riding the Labrador current, some make it to the shores of Newfoundland; the culmination of a journey which would have spanned thousands of years. The average age of an iceberg is thought to be approximately 5000 years with many, much older. The town of Twillingate, Newfoundland and Labrador is a fishing community located in Notre Dane Bay along side "Iceberg Alley"; an area from Baffin Bay down along the east coast of Newfoundland and Labrador where icebergs occur frequently. Twillingate originally known as “Toulinquet”, was named by the the French after a group of islands off the coast of Brest, France. In the early 1700′s, Toulinquet soon became Twillingate to the English Settlers, many of whom were unable speak or read the French language.
 |
| Twillingate, NL |
Twillingate is approximately 450 km (280 miles) from St. John's, the capital and business centre of Newfoundland and Labrador. The distance between the places would add approximately one month's travel to an iceberg's journey. A month that can make a big difference to the size of those majestic towers and slabs of ice that have been moulded by the sea into shapes of all description. This summer while visiting family in Musgrave Harbour (NL), we travelled to Twillingate (a 2 hour drive) in the midst of iceberg season. To our delight; there were icebergs all along the horizon, attesting to the fact that 2014 was the best iceberg season in a decade. Approximately 40,000 medium to large sized icebergs calve (break off) annually in Greenland and approximately 2% (~800) may make it as far south as 48° north latitude (St.John's). The numbers will vary greatly from year to year but on this one day, there were over a hundred of these beautiful ice castles on the horizon, attesting to why Twillingate is referred to as the “Iceberg Capital Of The World”.
 |
| Ocean Quest Zodiak Tour |
The Zodiak, a rigid-hulled inflatable boat is the best type of vessel (in my opinion), for the serious photographer to photograph icebergs, whales, birds and the coastline in general. Due to their high degree of manoeuvrability, size and speed they are able to circle icebergs with ease. One of the main advantages they offer is that you are closer to water level than other vessel types, as well as, providing an unobstructed view of your environment. Zodiak tours are limited to 8-12 people, depending on zodiak size. All the following iceberg pictures were taken during a zodiak tour offered by Ocean Quest Tours out of Twillingate, Newfoundland and Labrador.
Enjoy the photographs of nature's floating giants as they approach the end of their thousand(s) year journey. An update will be made to this post as soon as production of a video from this tour has been completed. Additional photographs can be seen on my flickr site:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/21108304@N02/.
 |
| What's in your backyard? |
 |
| Contemplation. |
 |
| Dinner with a view! |
 |
| Dry-Dock Iceberg |
 |
Old House Cove Iceberg
Dirt in the iceberg, most likely from ancient volcanic activity. |
 |
Melting Berg!
It was over 30ºC (86°F), no surprise that the icebergs were melting. |
 |
| There's large and than there's OMG Large! |
This photograph shows the very large (OMG) iceberg in its entirety. The red square is the area that is see in the above photograph with the tour vessel. The iceberg involved with the sinking of the titanic was a small iceberg, smaller than the one in the "Heading Home" picture and probably closer to the size of the one pictured in "What's in Your Backyard". The winds were up and that is indeed melted water being blown up and over the iceberg.
This photograph demonstrates the perspective distortion that can occur when taking a picture with a telephoto lens. The viewer cannot discern relative distances between objects – distances are compressed. So, yes there really is a safe distance between the iceberg and the vessel as well as the vessel and the shore; though it does not seem to be.
 |
| Heading Home |
