Mikkelson Harbor and Deception Island
Morning light filtered through the partial cloud cover early in the morning as the National Geographic Explorer pulled into her anchorage. Cold winds flowing over the ice caps of the surrounding islands blew a bit harder when the first people were brought ashore at Mikkelson Harbor to get up close looks at Weddell seals, fur seals, and Gentoo penguins. Antarctic terns dove to the water’s surface to scoop up bits of food churned up by the winds and skuas performed graceful hovering landings on shore.
Hikes on the rocky shoreline and kayaking on the leeward side were the activities of this early morning landing. Kayakers were treated to some up-close looks at two curious leopard seals. Feeling the chill starting to set in, most retreated back to the ship and by 10:00 a.m we were underway again and happily eating a welcome brunch of plenty of warm food and hot coffee and tea. The ship headed north.
Imagine sailing through a narrow gap into the caldera of a volcano, miles across with steep ash covered rock and ice rising up out of the sea. This we saw as the ship passed through Neptune’s Bellows, the entrance into the collapsed caldera of Deception Island. Stopping just inside the entrance we disembarked for hikes at Whaler’s Bay, the site of a whaling station and former research station which was destroyed in a volcanic eruption in 1970. The black volcanic gravel and sand that formed the beach slid underfoot as people walking made their way to Neptune’s Window to take in the ocean view, or to the rusted and broken down remains of the whaling station. The wind continued to blow cold as the ship moved deeper into the bay within the volcano to a beach many were excited to visit.
Pendulum Cove is a beach where fumaroles heat the sea water and bring this hot water to the surface to mix with the ocean’s edge. This action warms the water just at the beach and makes it tolerable for a swim. To be able to say one has swum in Antarctica turned out to be something nearly 30 guests decided they would like to do, so they were brought ashore in the cold Antarctic air for a dip in the sea. The bold swimmers were brought heroically shivering back to the ship, many heading directly to the sauna to warm up.
Sunset was already beginning to color the sky as we headed back through the bellows and continued on our journey.
Morning light filtered through the partial cloud cover early in the morning as the National Geographic Explorer pulled into her anchorage. Cold winds flowing over the ice caps of the surrounding islands blew a bit harder when the first people were brought ashore at Mikkelson Harbor to get up close looks at Weddell seals, fur seals, and Gentoo penguins. Antarctic terns dove to the water’s surface to scoop up bits of food churned up by the winds and skuas performed graceful hovering landings on shore.
Hikes on the rocky shoreline and kayaking on the leeward side were the activities of this early morning landing. Kayakers were treated to some up-close looks at two curious leopard seals. Feeling the chill starting to set in, most retreated back to the ship and by 10:00 a.m we were underway again and happily eating a welcome brunch of plenty of warm food and hot coffee and tea. The ship headed north.
Imagine sailing through a narrow gap into the caldera of a volcano, miles across with steep ash covered rock and ice rising up out of the sea. This we saw as the ship passed through Neptune’s Bellows, the entrance into the collapsed caldera of Deception Island. Stopping just inside the entrance we disembarked for hikes at Whaler’s Bay, the site of a whaling station and former research station which was destroyed in a volcanic eruption in 1970. The black volcanic gravel and sand that formed the beach slid underfoot as people walking made their way to Neptune’s Window to take in the ocean view, or to the rusted and broken down remains of the whaling station. The wind continued to blow cold as the ship moved deeper into the bay within the volcano to a beach many were excited to visit.
Pendulum Cove is a beach where fumaroles heat the sea water and bring this hot water to the surface to mix with the ocean’s edge. This action warms the water just at the beach and makes it tolerable for a swim. To be able to say one has swum in Antarctica turned out to be something nearly 30 guests decided they would like to do, so they were brought ashore in the cold Antarctic air for a dip in the sea. The bold swimmers were brought heroically shivering back to the ship, many heading directly to the sauna to warm up.
Sunset was already beginning to color the sky as we headed back through the bellows and continued on our journey.
