Endless Vacation: Paddling among Giants

With cleaving fjords girdled by 2,000-foot-high cliffs, processions of icebergs 10-stories tall, and a cavalcade of breaching whales, the island of Newfoundland has a raw magnificence rivaling Alaska. Linkum Tours leads kayak convoys along the western shore to safely experience the contrasts and beauty of this rugged coast. Paddling off the Great Northern Peninsula jutting in the famous “iceberg alley”, you’re guaranteed to spot migrating humpback and orca whales as you wend among a flotilla of ice cathedrals. After daily adventures, your snug haven is the cliff-perched Quirpon Lighthouse Inn, near the site where Vikings landed 500 years before Christopher Columbus. If the weather turns arctic, the inn becomes a cozy fortress for watching North Atlantic storms and those hulking icebergs and whales that continue their timeless journey.

Ted Allan Stedman