RVing to Newfoundland Ep. 4 - ICEBERGS and VIKINGS! L'Anse aux Meadows/The Great Northern Peninsula.

What do you think of this young upstart Christopher Columbus who's getting all the credit for... Iceberg dead ahead! In this episode we visit L'Anse aux Meadows where Vikings landed 500 years before Christopher Columbus in North America and then we set to the seas in search of icebergs. We are Terry and Cindy O'Keefe. We've been camping together for more than 40 years and we invite you to join us on a 14 episode adventure as we explore Newfoundland and Labrador. We left Gros Morne National Park headed north on Newfoundland's Great Northern Peninsula. Highway 430 followed the coastline for much of the trip passing through small communities where the weather seemed to change every 10 minutes. It's windy getting off the water. Foggy and really windy. About halfway up the peninsula we found the road conditions changed and broken sections and potholes became more frequent requiring extra diligence driving. It was also here we caught our first glimpse of icebergs. And just one tip for this route. There's not an abundance of gas stations so we recommend fueling up when you can. With a stop for lunch and gas and slowing down for the fog it took about six hours to reach Saint Lumiere and Viking RV Park. They are busy. So we just arrived at the Viking RV Park and Campground. The wind is still blowing you see the flags there and it is a balmy seven degrees. This is where the icebergs are. It was indeed where they were. We went for a short drive back into Saint Lumiere when the fog lifted a bit later that day. There were four icebergs right in the harbor. It was like all the quintessential Newfoundland postcards we'd ever seen had come to life for us. Wow. The fog was back the next morning but that wasn't going to stop our iceberg quest with dark to go expeditions. So what are you thinking? I can't really see very much but we shall find out. Do you want a medium or a large? Do you want a large ma'am? I got this one here for you sir. Awesome. What's that? I feel like 80 pounds heavier. And the stay tough marshmallow woman is that what you said? Yeah. Yeah well there's a lot of clothes underneath there. We donned our survival suits and headed for the boat. Here's the iceberg. Everybody turn around and go back again. This is a piece from the last trip. It's for drinks later? It's for drinks later. Oh you got lots in my fridge already. The crew consisted of our skipper and a marine biology student. As we headed out through the tickle and narrow shallow inlet the first iceberg loomed out of the fog. 90% of Newfoundland's icebergs break off glaciers in Greenland. The rest come from the crew then headed offshore aways radar guiding them to the largest bird we would see. This one considered medium-sized by iceberg standards was similar in size to the one the Titanic struck. And remember 90% or more of an iceberg is underwater. This one was a ground in 270 feet of water. This is always breaking off the bottom so you wouldn't want to be in there close with a big chunk of ice come up under you and push you out of the way. We see kayakers out around them. I don't think they really understand the danger of it. Thank you. Taste it. It's a bit like the Christmas story. It tastes so pure. You got a baby from that one. Yeah. Around here we talk to each other we help each other like when the whales have time to go we help each other out. So if anybody needs help every boat will help each other. And all too soon our time was up. We'd seen six or seven icebergs and felt blessed for the experience. There you go sir. Thank you. That was wonderful. That was amazing. That was a bucket list experience. It was number one on the list of things that we hoped we'd be able to do in Newfoundland and it did not disappoint. And if you stick around to the end of this episode we've got some tips that will help you if you're coming to Newfoundland in search of icebergs. Iceberg ice for sale. To celebrate what had really been a magical day we went out for dinner at the Norseman. Cheers. We'll say right up front it was the best meal we had in Newfoundland. That is delicious. The Vinland Martini made with baked apple liqueur, iceberg vodka, partridge berries and an actual piece of an iceberg was fantastic. The lobster ravioli appetizer was perfect. And while you wait for your mains you can use the provided binoculars to look for icebergs or whales. And speaking of main courses the pan-fried cod with fried capers, scrunchions, ginger and celery root again amazing. And when dinner is over you can walk across the to check out the statue of Viking Leif Erikson who stood in this exact spot 1,000 years ago. Is he looking off to Iceland? And speaking of Vikings, spoiler alert, Christopher Columbus was not the first European to discover North America when he landed in the Bahamas in 1492. The Vikings beat him by about 470 years when they landed right here in L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland. L'Anse aux Meadows is a Canadian National Historic Site as well as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. When you arrive there is a discovery center that explains the significance of the site that was discovered in 1960 and the archaeological research that followed. You can then follow a trail that leads under the Meeting of Two Worlds bronze statue to the actual site of the Viking settlement where evidence of structures in the archaeological dig remains. And adjacent to that Parks Canada has recreated on a one-to-one scale some of those buildings. Here you'll find staff in period costumes to answer your questions. Well it is a little warmer in here. Oh absolutely yeah it is a little fire even even this time of year and this building would accommodate about 20 to 30 men. A ship's crew would live in here. It's a work camp sort of thing you're coming here for a couple of years at a time taking back timber pretty much. A bit of a private semi-private bed chamber. Chieftain, navigator, the crew sleeping on these benches cooking over an open fire. Whale, seal, fish bones charred in the fire pit and there was iron work done in the next room. Textiles and weaving in the back room and this comes from the artifacts or the archaeology that was discovered like broken bone needles and a drop spindle and in the next room there was pieces little bits of iron and surface slag so looks like they made enough iron to produce about a hundred nails. Do we have an idea what year they arrived here? One thousand years ago or a thousand years ago yeah a couple of years ago there was a piece of wood carbon dated back to exactly the year 1021 so 2021 was a thousand years. How many in total would have come? 20-30 per ship. Leif Erikson says Leif and his crew of 35. Torval and his crew of 22. Torfinner Carl Cephany, his wife Goodsward, they had a child down here the only child we know of born they named him Sonori. They came in two ships this I guess say 60 men and five women. 60 men and five women that wasn't very good planning. They went back as the fights and jealousy broke out between the men they said over the women. How long was the journey over? 10 days sail was going to take you about 30 days. That was departing Greenland wasn't it? Yes but everything we have our reproductions you can pick up the sword and the shield and the helmet in the next room and put it on and get a feel for it but have a look around and if you got any questions thank you we're here to help you out. It's pretty heavy. You would have made a fierce warrior. Not if I can't lift it. In case we need to chop some firewood. Heavy? Yeah yeah more than I would have I mean it's got to be able to stop the the blow from a sword that heavy so I can understand why it is. Maybe arrows too? Yeah. Good morning. Before heading back to the Discovery Center and we should mention that Parks Canada does also offer guided tours of the site. You can hike the rugged picturesque shores where birds disappearing in the fog. Watson Meadows is the only known site established by vikings in North America and the earliest evidence of European settlement in the new world. And if you want to learn even more about the vikings just up the road from the Parks Canada site is Norstedt. Operated by a non-profit organization Norstedt depicts life as it could have existed in a viking village or port of trade in any of the Scandinavian countries and it includes a very special display. Well welcome to Newfoundland and welcome to Norstedt. This is our viking ship Snorri. Now Snorri is known as a nar which means it's a cargo ship. So traditionally Snorri would have been used for trading exploring and for sailing. It is 54 foot long 16 foot wide at its widest point and eight foot deep on top of the gunwales to the bottom of the keel. As it sits there Snorri weighs roughly 12 tons and before it can sail it does need a couple of things. It needs about 13 tons of ballast stone to go in the bottom of the ship to keep it steady and stable in the ocean. It also needs two tons of gear which consists of that sail into that wall there. That sail is a thousand square foot. Behind the fences right here is the mast. This mast right here is 47 foot long and made from spruce. Back right here in the corner on the floor is the yard arm that is also made from spruce. It was built in 1996 in Hermas Island Maine by a man named Rob Stephens and in 1998 with a crew of nine it set sail from Greenland for Lancet Metals here and it took the crew 87 days to arrive here. 87 wow. Now they recreated the voyage that Leif Erikson did over a thousand years ago. The sagas say that Leif Erikson could have done it in 14 to 30 days depending on the weather. Leif being a bit of a bragger he claimed he did it in nine days once but he would have had a crew of 25 to 35 so his ship can sail all day and all night and his crew was very experienced. These guys are not so much. Snorri has 2,800 forged iron rivets, 1,800 wooden dowels and is coated with pine tar and linseed oil. It is a replica ship. There was a ship found in the 1960s in Roskilde Denmark and that ship was found in the mouth of a fjord about 60 percent intact. Snorri is modeled after the ship on a scale of one to one. In addition to the replica ship here you will also find staff in period costume bringing to life a viking village. Morning. Welcome to our home. Thank you. This room here that you're in, this is the kitchen on the skelly. So the first room you pass through is the trading loft. That's where the merchant would be sat off doing trading. Did you bring anything to trade? Uh-oh. We hear that quite often. The ladies try to get rid of their man. So what they used to make thread, make your wool, was these drop spindles. Soapstone base. So once it's all curled and combed, you spin. You got your fleece here and while I'm spinning I am twisting between my fingers and you make thread and you keep going. This part you stretch it, keep stretching it out and keep going. When it gets too long you just wrap it around but it makes good structure. We quite enjoyed Norrsted and when the fog lifted during our visit we also got to enjoy a couple more icebergs. So far on the Great Northern Peninsula we've had icebergs and vikings. What could possibly make it better? How about some live music, beer made from an iceberg and becoming honorary Newfoundlanders by getting screeched in. There were 21 of us who'd come from away that night hoping to get screeched in and in Straitsview, population 55 on the Great Northern Peninsula, that process was quite involved. How's you getting on over there young man? Getting on all right? Yeah so tight I mean you know. There you go. First you have to don a sourwester and maybe some fishing gear. You guys you're gonna have to repeat it okay. Next you have to learn to talk like a Newfoundlander. Did you get that? You got that right. Then you have to eat some newfie steak. You know what newfie steak is? Newfie steak and some lassi bread. Next there's a bit of salted capelin to nibble on before you get to kiss a codfish or in our case air kiss a frozen codfish. All right. Just for the halibut Mr. Cod. I want you to say this after me okay and then down your screech. Long may your big jib draw. And of course the final step is downing a shot of screech, Newfoundland's rum. Followed by a quick jig. Now that we were honorary Newfoundlanders the fog saw fit to lift on the third day and we went into St. Anthony. So we came into St. Anthony this morning and driving along and Terry knows something out of the corner of his eye and here is yet another beautiful iceberg. What's that? What is that? Oh is that the fog horn? Crazy fog. Yeah just look at the fog rolling behind you. St. Anthony is the largest town in the region and it's a great place to reprovision and it's here you'll find Fishing Point Municipal Park and a beautiful coastal hiking trail. And for the hardy, the Santana Trail here climbs 476 steps to the top of these cliffs. And just before we get to our iceberg tips we wanted to mention the camping. So Viking RV Park has a few sites down in the trees here but most of the sites are in this parking lot and there's another parking lot right over there. It really reminds us of camping in Alaska where the season is short and in this particular instance this is probably not a destination park. This is a park close to you know attractions. So in addition to Viking RV Park there is one other small private park near St. Anthony and Pistolette Bay Provincial Park which only has 30 sites and they're dry. And given how cool and foggy it had been we were quite happy to be at Viking with an electric site so that we could keep a little bit of heat in the trailer. So because camping is rather limited in this area when you do know that you're headed for the Great Northern Peninsula we recommend calling ahead and making reservations. And finally we wanted to share some of the information that we learned when we were chasing icebergs. We know in 2024 many people were disappointed who'd hoped to see icebergs and they didn't show up where they were expected. Normally these 10,000 year old pieces of ice follow what's known as iceberg alley and April May and June are usually the best months to see them. In 2023 there were hundreds of icebergs that lasted well into July but 2024 saw a very different pattern. There were far fewer bergs this year and they were predominantly along the coast of the Great Northern Peninsula with just a few making it as far east as Triton and Brayton. Twillingate the unofficial iceberg capital had none. So if you are going to Newfoundland in the hopes of seeing icebergs we have a few tips. First make sure that your schedule is flexible so that you can basically chase them and go where they are. Don't count on them being in a place you made reservations. So how do you know where they are? There's two resources we found helpful. The first is a website called Iceberg Finder and the second which we really thought was excellent is a Facebook group called Newfoundland and Labrador Iceberg Reports. This is a really active Facebook group that had lots of posts and updates every day during iceberg season. And our final tip is keep your eyes peeled. We found ourselves driving around and icebergs would simply appear. Some of the locals probably thought we tourists were a bit crazy stopping every time we caught glimpses of a berg but for us everyone was special. It was almost surreal walking out of the general store in Saint Lunaire which was very well stocked by the way heading back to the truck and there's an iceberg. It was really cool. And just a final thought on the Great Northern Peninsula. Not every Newfoundland traveler will find themselves here but we did and we genuinely loved it. It is remote. It has a fascinating link to history and if you're lucky it is filled with icebergs and the people were wonderful. If you found this information helpful please remember to hit those like and subscribe buttons. It does help to grow our channel and join us on our next episode when we board another ferry. This one headed for Labrador, Lighthouses and Red Bay. The recently discovered 16th century Basque whaling outpost. You're going to notice some white flotation. They mark shipwrecks. So there's a galleon under those two and the sand one that was fully excavated.