Men’s Journal: Sea Kayak Iceberg Alley

When an iceberg explodes, the resulting slush can cover acres of sea.  According to Linkum Tours co-owner Ed English, after a “horrendous thunderclap” the slush “sizzles like it’s in a frying pan,” twitching with the release of air compressed in the glacial ice for thousands of years.  English’s kayak trips routinely go through the popping slush from a base at the northernmost tip of Newfoundland, right in the heart of Iceberg Alley (from $375 for two days: linkumtours.com).  That base, at the lighthouse on Quirpon Island, is by a fluke of geography also one of the world’s best whale watching sites.  English relates an experience of filming feeding humpbacks from the island one summer day and counting “10 times we could have stepped from shore right onto their backs.”  June is peak time for slaloming among the procession of cathedral-high icebergs, while July is best for paddling with whales.