On the 26th, we woke up early to see us transit Neptune’s Bellows which is the entrance to Deception island. The fantastic naming aside, almost no one got outside to see it because most folks had been up late with trivia the previous night. It was also cold and windy and the seas we’re pretty rough the previous night. I made it out for a few minutes, but managed to miss the transit through the bellows. Deception island is actually one of three volcano calderas in the world that you can sail into. The volcano had a massive eruption and collapsed in on itself which let the sea into the caldera. It was a neat place surrounded by the rim of the volcano nearly all around and beaches filled with relics from an old whaling station.
We took the zodiacs out to land on the beach and explored the ruins. Unlike all the previous sites, this one did not have much wildlife. There were a couple of penguins by the landing site, but that was pretty much it. The whaling station had been abandoned and partially destroyed by a couple of small eruptions over the last 50 years. It was a bleak site, but it felt appropriate, especially with the driving hail and freezing temperatures. We felt like the early explorers trudging through the snow on our way back to our cruise ship with hot chocolate and a shower waiting for us.
Afterwards instead of cruising around in the zodiacs, since the weather was still marginal they gave us a presentation on the geology and history of Deception island. Unfortunately after we left the natural harbor of the island the seas were still pretty rough. I started getting a little seasick so I went to have a nap. Pretty much the rest of the boat did as well, and due to the weather and seas they wound up cancelling our next landing at Half Moon island. I was ok with it, a nap was very welcome.
We finished off the day with a fantastic farewell dinner with some of our friends on the ship. The chef went all out with an explosion of chocolate desserts all beautifully made and delicious. I had been trying to meet up with one of the guides, Marla the biologist, all day to show her my pictures of the crab eater seal eating a fish, and finally managed to do so after dessert. She was extremely excited to see them and I gave her copies to use in her presentations. A bunch of the other guides gathered around to check them out as well. It’s great how much they’re all truly into this stuff.