Kayaking with Icebergs in Hampden, Newfoundland

By Keith and Heather Nicol

Icebergs near Hampden

     This is the iceberg season that just won't stop! The Petermann Ice Island which I wrote about in several earlier posts in mid August,2011  is now making its appearance closer to Corner Brook. Not long after we were in St. Anthony the ice island drifted to the south and broke in half. These 2 pieces have been spawning icebergs that have now drifted into the Hampden area of White Bay.  And that is great news for anyone who hasn't seen this "once in a lifetime spectacle" and lives in the Corner Brook area since it is just 120 km away (allow 1.5 hours to drive there). We brought our kayaks and were not disappointed since the bergs were just 400-500 meters off shore and there were several large ones within 1 km of where we launched our boats. The GPS location (UTM coordinates) where we put in was: 21 0511083 E and 5488955 N. You could also see icebergs all along the road to The Beaches. Of course, icebergs can move quickly so you might want to touch base with some one in Hampden before heading out. As I have mentioned in my earlier posts - give icebergs a wide berth if you are kayaking. We saw 2 icebergs calve off large chunks of ice and one sent off a wave that would have swamped a small boat if you were too close.

Paddling past some iceberg debris from a recent calving