Deception Island
We awoke this morning at Bailey Head – with a dramatic black sand beach and thousands of chinstrap penguins in nesting colonies along the hillsides. The landing at Bailey Head in the zodiacs can be quite challenging, but the winds were favorable and we had a relatively easy time putting everyone on the beach. The chinstrap penguins were joined by a single macaroni penguin, which observed the zodiac landings with some interest before moving on down the beach and into the water. Two humpback whales were seen by many on the way from the ship to the beach.
In the afternoon we proceeded to Deception Island in the South Shetland Islands. The site of a recently active volcano, the beach gives way to the caldera of the volcano. Hiking up the caldera brings you to the edge of the crater where the landscape looks more like the moon. Deception Island still displays geothermal activity and steam rises from the beach as heated water flows just underneath the sand. This provided an opportunity for many to take a dip in the warm waters at the edge of the beach in Pendulum Cove. The water on the beach is hot enough to burn your feet if you step directly into it without shoes. Mixing with the waters from the bay bring it to a comfortable temperature.
We left the area of Deception Island through a narrow entrance named “Neptunes Bellows.” Many early sailors passed right by without seeing the inner bay. The large sheltered harbor provided a base for whaling ships in the early 1900’s and the British, Argentines and Chileans all built bases on the island. These were damaged or destroyed in the volcanic eruptions of 1967 and 1969. Today relics of these earlier activities dot the shoreline as seals and penguins have taken it back as their own.
As we prepared for dinner, we were called back on deck for one last event – two humpback whales passed along the boat and just off the bow, slowly swimming along and blowing air as mist and diving into the depths beneath the waves.
We awoke this morning at Bailey Head – with a dramatic black sand beach and thousands of chinstrap penguins in nesting colonies along the hillsides. The landing at Bailey Head in the zodiacs can be quite challenging, but the winds were favorable and we had a relatively easy time putting everyone on the beach. The chinstrap penguins were joined by a single macaroni penguin, which observed the zodiac landings with some interest before moving on down the beach and into the water. Two humpback whales were seen by many on the way from the ship to the beach.
In the afternoon we proceeded to Deception Island in the South Shetland Islands. The site of a recently active volcano, the beach gives way to the caldera of the volcano. Hiking up the caldera brings you to the edge of the crater where the landscape looks more like the moon. Deception Island still displays geothermal activity and steam rises from the beach as heated water flows just underneath the sand. This provided an opportunity for many to take a dip in the warm waters at the edge of the beach in Pendulum Cove. The water on the beach is hot enough to burn your feet if you step directly into it without shoes. Mixing with the waters from the bay bring it to a comfortable temperature.
We left the area of Deception Island through a narrow entrance named “Neptunes Bellows.” Many early sailors passed right by without seeing the inner bay. The large sheltered harbor provided a base for whaling ships in the early 1900’s and the British, Argentines and Chileans all built bases on the island. These were damaged or destroyed in the volcanic eruptions of 1967 and 1969. Today relics of these earlier activities dot the shoreline as seals and penguins have taken it back as their own.
As we prepared for dinner, we were called back on deck for one last event – two humpback whales passed along the boat and just off the bow, slowly swimming along and blowing air as mist and diving into the depths beneath the waves.
