The waters around the northern tip of Newfoundland are part of Iceberg Alley, the corridor where glacial ice calved from Greenland's ice sheet drifts south on the Labrador Current. In late spring — typically May and early June — massive blue-white bergs pass within sight of shore, sometimes grounding just offshore and sitting there for days. From the headland near the historic site you can watch them drift past at walking pace, some the size of apartment buildings, carved into arches and pinnacles by wave erosion.
The season is highly variable. In good years icebergs are visible well into July; in warm years they melt before reaching this far south. The site IcebergFinder.com aggregates real-time sightings from boat operators and plane spotters across Newfoundland and Labrador, and is the most reliable way to know whether bergs are currently in the area. Whale-watching season overlaps with iceberg season, and humpbacks, minkes, and fin whales follow the capelin schools through the strait in summer.