Deception Island

A fur seal lies in front of whale bones on the beach

 

Last night we headed north from the Antarctic peninsula toward the South Shetland Islands. 

This morning we arrived at Deception Island. This is a volcanic island, where an explosion blew a hole in the wall and sea water came through the hole and filled the caldera.  The result is an island that looks like a letter O with a tiny chunk taken out of it. The passage into the middle is called Neptune's Bellows and is very narrow indeed.  When I awoke this morning the ship was rolling a bit, so I went up on deck both to get some fresh air and to watch the ship navigate the narrow channel.

Within the caldera the water is quite calm, and some of it is even heated by the volcanic activity, so steam rises off it. Deception Island has seen plenty of whaling activity and the beach is littered with whale bones and old whaling buildings (many of which have been partially destroyed by ash from subsequent volcanic eruptions). I took a walk with our expedition guide to the gap at the top of a ridge, which is called Neptune's Window. There were fur seals everywhere and it was difficult to thread our way across the beach without disturbing them too much.

The polar plunge

This location was also chosen as the venue for the "polar plunge".  Once during every voyage the crew organize this activity where passengers have the opportunity to change into their swim suits and jump into the polar waters. If you submerge your entire body, including your head, you get a certificate.  I can't swim, so there was no way I was going to attempt this, but 48 passengers did. Despite the volanic activity heating the water to some extent (hence the steam rising off it) this only
 occurs with about the top 2 inches of water, and water below that is just as cold as you'd expect.

Uli models his lederhosen

Deception Island was our last shore excursion of this voyage.  The weather forecast shows bad weather approaching in the Drake passage, so the ship has turned back towards Ushuaia hoping to make it back before the weather gets too bad. The Captain's farewell dinner has been rescheduled to happen tonight, as the staff think that the conditions will be too turbulent to hold it after that time.