Every year 40,000 icebergs break away from the glaciers of western Greenland. Two percent of these 15,000 year old bergs are carried south by the cold Labrador Current, dotting our coastline every year. Varying in size and shape, these unstable structures travel at a speed of 0.2 meters per second, often “grounding out” in the shallow waters off Newfoundland’s coast. This provides ample opportunities for hikers to view these spectacular structures.

What you can actually view is literally only the “tip of the iceberg”since over 85 percent of it is submerged underwater. In most cases, icebergs are about 85 percent larger under water than above.

The largest iceberg recorded in the Northen Hemisphere was encountered near Baffin Island in 1882. It was 13 kilometers long, 6 kilometers wide and towered 20 meters above the water. The iceberg exceeded a mass of 9 billion tonnes- enough water for everyone in the world to drink a litre a day for over four years.

Today in Newfoundland, iceberg ice is harvested for bottled water and vodka production. Both of these products can be purchased throughout the region and the province at retail stores.

Newfoundlanders have been given the term “Iceberg Cowboys” since iceberg towing is a common practice in the management of icebergs that pose a threat to offshore oil rigs. Huge icebergs are lasooed and slowly towed away from oil rigs in a fashion that ensures that the massive structures do not roll or get tangled in the tow lines.