March 10 - Deception Island

After a rough, stormy night, we arrived at Deception Island around 7:30  this morning.  The captain came on the loudspeaker to let us know that we were approaching, and I fell back asleep and missed the entrance through Neptune's Bellows, but awoke to this scene:

The Red Group was scheduled to be the last one to go ashore today, so I had until 10:00 am to have breakfast and get ready for the 5-minute Zodiac shuttle ashore.  We landed on a broad, black-sand beach, with the remains of the whaling station to our left, and a long walk down the beach to our right, leading up to a notch in the high ridge, called Neptune’s Window, that gave a beautiful view out to sea.  Along the beach were hundreds of fur seals, a few penguins and birds, and scattered remains of the whaling station and a large number of old whale bones poking  out of the sand.  The seals were mostly pretty quiet, but every now and then one or two would get spooked and charge us as we walked along, so we had to keep alert for that.  Just as I started the steep part of the climb to Neptune’s Window, it starting raining and sleeting, but that didn’t last for more than 10 minutes.  After taking in the view, we walked back down to the beach, past our landing point, and then were able to wander all around the ruins of the whaling station.  

Looking at a map, the little bay, Whaler’s Bay, that the ship was anchored in, is just a very small nook in the whole interior bay, which is an ancient volcano that’s collapsed back into the ocean.

Here are some photos from the morning’s visit to Whaler’s Bay:

View from Neptune’s Window, towards then sea,
Whaler’s Bay, Deception Island

View away from the sea, from Neptune’s Window

Zodiac shuttle back to ship

Leaving Whaler’s Bay, heading back out to sea,
through the narrow passage, Neptune’s Bellows

They are super-serious about not cross-contaminating
any of the locations; after returning from Whaler’s Bay
our boots are first pressure-washed and then another crew
member uses a knife to pick out any remaining dirt or gravel 

As soon as our group was all back aboard, the ship hoisted anchor and exited back through Neptune’s Bellows in a very stiff wind, back into the open ocean, and headed for South Georgia Island, where we will arrive around midday on Monday.  So we have a few sea days ahead of us to absorb everything we’ve seen these last several days in Antarctica.  Initially, a low fog descended and I couldn’t see more than a couple hundred yards off the side of the ship.  But the sea wasn’t too rough, and every now and then there would be a whale’s spout off to the side.

Later in the afternoon there was a lecture by the resident glaciologist, Leo Decaux, about climate change, and especially about how glaciers work.  I went to the French talk first and absorbed the gist of it, but then stayed for the English redux to get the fine details.  It was really fascinating, he is exploring INSIDE glaciers in Svalbard.  At the end of BOTH the French and English presentations, after a short film of him going in and under a moving glacier, when he asked if there were any questions, the initial question was “Are you crazy?”

We had cocktails in the 3rd deck lounge, which was crowded and lively, but the seas were getting increasingly rough.  Interestingly, the Captain and a bunch of the senior officers were having a glass of wine at the next table, which I didn’t want to think too hard about; and we went down to dinner in the fancy restaurant on the 2nd deck.  By 10:00 pm when we finished, the seas were worse and this ship is rocking QUITE a bit more than even the worst part of the Drake Passage.  The wind is howling outside in the freezing rain, and I’m sad that we’ll pass by Elephant Island during the night.  I had really hoped to catch a glimpse of it after reading so much about Shackleton’s expedition (my obsession over which largely being the inspiration for this whole trip), but we’ll be retracing his voyage to South Georgia Island these next couple of days, which should be interesting.  The last couple of nights cruising through this unbelievably hostile environment (and it’s still summer here!) have really given me a new appreciation for polar explorers of every period.

So, finally after two weeks of traveling, a bit of down time, which I’ll very much enjoy!