Deception Island

Two stops at Deception Island today. I missed the first one because I was in my sick bed. A 24 hour bug or some seriously potent pisco sours or a combination made for a rough night! Besides - they went out at 5:30. Blech!

It is because this tour company explicitly included a stop at Deception Island (weather permitting of course!) that I chose to come on this cruise. The idea of visiting a volcanic crater where the waters were warmed by geothermal activity was really intriguing. So I made myself get up for the second outing.

We landed on the shore at Whaler's Bay and went for a short walk past seals and abandoned buildings. These buildings were once part of the whaling community from 1931-1969. At one time there were so many whale carcasses you could walk along the shore without actually setting foot on the sand, how sickening. It's sure a different view these days.

The wind was fierce as we walked up a hill to a magnificent lookout called Neptune's Window. The sun was finally out though and the landscape was more pretty with shadows.

Then we wandered down the beach to a spot where the waters at the shore were actually hot. About half of the group stripped down and went for the polar dip. I just wasn't feeling up to it; I was green under the gills. Part of me wanted to join them, part of me was glad to have an excuse not to go. I might regret not going but I'm okay with that right now. I could always come back to do it or try it in the Arctic!

As we left Deception Island, I noticed two entrances but I later discovered that we were only in a small harbour of the large, doughnut shaped island. There is only one entrance and as I found out in the afternoon lecture, it was named Deception Island because it looks easy to sail into but it's not. The waters are 500m across at the entrance but the navigable waters are only 90m wide. Right in the middle of this entry way is a rock hiding 2.5m below the surface. We had calm seas going in. I could imagine it could be quite tricky on a stormy day.

Our departure out of Deception Island meant we said goodbye to Antarctica. That was our last landing and now we're rocking and rolling our way through the Drake Channel. We should be in Ushuaia in three days' time. Hopefully by then I'll be caught up with my journaling, photo editing and general laziness on board!