St. Anthony - Whales and Icebergs

We had a nice relaxed morning then drove into St. Anthony for our boat tour at 13:00. The weather forecast for the day had been for rain all day, but that changed and we while we had a foggy morning and a bit of drizzle, it cleared by late morning. When we did get out on the boat, the fog had mostly lifted and we had pretty decent visibility on the water. The harbour here is steadily busy. It’s changed since the cod fishery closed in 1992, but they now fish snow crab and shrimp, and while they’ve always had some lobster here, with warming ocean temperatures lobster have migrated north and they now have them in commercial quantities. Interestingly enough they are seeing lobster that have had their tails clipped in Nova Scotia showing up here. That’s a pretty significant migration for a lobster! There is a commercial cod fishery here now that starts next week, but this week, locals can now fish for themselves, 7 days a week and 5 cod per person on the boat. They’re also seeing tuna here for first time, but there‘s no infrastructure yet to support a tuna fishery.

Our tour boat (pictured above) was captained by Captain John with commentary by Verrick, a local to the area (5th generation). They started by letting us all know that were no guarantees we would see whales. They had not seen any that morning and only seen a few the day before on one tour. With managed expectations, we set out and not long after leaving the harbour, we spotted 2 mature humpback whales feeding close to shore. They feed here for themselves summer and then head to the Dominican Republic to have their young. They don’t go out of their way to feed on the trip south or on the way back north, so their sole focus here is feeding. They eat about 150 tons a day and they follow the capelin, their main food source. We followed the whales for a good hour and half as they surfaced and dove. Got a few (hundred) pictures and we did see one spectacular broach. Luckily a fellow traveller caught it on video and shared it with us. Verrick also managed to get a picture, and we should see it sent to us in the next day or so.

So whales seen, check. Next off to some closeups with 3 icebergs in St. Anthony. Most of icebergs are from Greenland but they do get some that come from the Canadian Arctic. These have been in the are for about 2 months now and are all grounded. The locals go out and collect the smaller floating bits, rinse off the salt water and then use it for their drinks etc. Nothing like 15,000 year old ice at around -20C for your rum or screech!

Last on the list for the day was a Viking Feast. They host this is a traditional Viking era building made of peat and sod. It’s staged as a traditional Viking court so lots of fun, and the food was great. Jiggs dinner (salt beef, boiled together with potateos, carrots, turnip, cabbage, and greens), moose stew, roast beef, shrimp fried rice, salad, beans and dessert. No forks (too dangerous, Vikings are a violent lot after all). The night ended with a “yell in” (instead of a Screech In), to make us honourary vikings. The show started around 19:30 and went until after 21:00. If you’re looking for a different night out in St. Anthony, it’s worth it!