Famous iceberg drifting from N.L. town, mayor says

The world’s most famous intact iceberg appears to be on the move.

Ocean currents appear to be sweeping the colossal iceberg away from tiny Ferryland, N.L., where it squatted this month and put the town of about 500 on the world’s radar.

Mayor Adrian Kavanagh said onlookers started flooding into the town over Easter weekend, causing bumper-to-bumper traffic jams in pursuit of the perfect camera angle.

News of the frozen spectacle rippled through global media including The New York Times, CNN, BBC, Time, The Guardian and Russia’s state-backed news channel, as well as outlets based in Australia, Japan, Germany.

One headline in the U.K.based Independent made clear its fame: “How to Visit the Ferryland Iceberg.”

Diane Davis, who runs the Newfoundland Iceberg Reports Facebook group, says she has seen hundreds of frozen slabs in her years as an amateur berghunter, but the Ferryland gem appeared to be a special find.

Based on photos, she admired the natural ice sculpture’s ornate features - concave scoops and pinnacles protruding in different directions like a malformed crown.

The peaks lurch towards the sky like a crystallized tsunami, and at the right time of day, Davis said, the sunlight refracts to give the berg a glassy-blue hue.

“Every one (iceberg) has a got a shape and personality to it,” Davis said. “It’s so big and sexy … and against the ocean, it’s so photogenic, and that’s why it’s getting so much attention.”

Davis had hoped to soon make the roughly four-hour trip from her home in Gander, N.L., to behold the frigid beauty sculpture in Ferryland, but she said multiple sources among her Facebook group’s 4,500 members reported Sunday that the berg had drifted several kilometres southwest towards Aquaforte, N.L.