Our next stop was Deception Island, one of the South Shetland Islands. Its name says it all. Unless you know where the entrance to the interior bay is, it's easy to miss it and think the island is just high cliffs all the way around. In reality it is a sleeping
volcano which occasionally wakes with devastating results. But if you know to look you can enter the inner bays through a
passage called Neptune's Bellows. Inside the island the waters are warmed by the sleeping volcano,
sometimes to boiling temperatures, but in the right spots you can wade happily in the hot and steaming waters.
In 1906 a Norwegian-Chilean whaling company set up a whaling station in the small bay just past Neptune's Bellows. This bay became known as Whaler's Bay. During the Great
Depression however the whaling base was abandoned due the drop in oil demand and oil prices, increased oil drilling,
new advancements in processing factories and other factors. Since it wasn't cost effective to bring supplies back to the mainland, most of the hardware, the boilers, and even the wooden dinghies were left behind.
Entering Neptunes Bellows - The near hidden entrance to deception island is the beautiful Neptunes bellows. - Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
Comment on this photo
Strange Visitors - It was truly other-worldly to make landfall on Deception Island. The rusting pressure boilers and storage tanks, the martian landscape, and the steam rising up around the zodiac from the heat of the still-active volcano under our feet made this one of the most surreal destinations in an already surreal expedition.
- Photo by Kevin Fox
Comment on this photo
Bringing The Roof Down - Remains of building destroyed in the volcanic mudslide in 1969. - Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
Comment on this photo
Inside Deception Island - Part of the remains of the old British based destroyed by the volcanic mudslide here in Whalers Bay. - Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
Comment on this photo
Broken Bow - Both trapped and protected by the caldera's mud since the 1920s, this skiff has had nearly a century to think about the open seas.
- Photo by Kevin Fox
Comment on this photo
When the Bow Breaks - A larger tender, abandoned when the whale oil factories were shut down during the Great Depression, when dropping prices and increased availability of oil from drilling made whaling financially unviable.
- Photo by Kevin Fox
Comment on this photo
Reclaimed by the sea -- err, beach. - Partly from volcano-trigered mudslides in the 1960s, partly from simple churn over the century, this boat has almost finished its sinking into the beach.
One an only wonder how much more has already become completely covered by the mud and sand.
- Photo by Kevin Fox
Comment on this photo
Peek-a-Boo - A fur seal checking us out from a distance. - Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
Comment on this photo
No Longer Rolling the Barrell - A fur seal trying to show us his tricks on Deception Island. - Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
Comment on this photo
Angry? Threatened? No. Bored. - These three pictures pretty much sum up the three stages of my reaction to this Fur Seal.
Unlike the Leopard, Crabeater and Weddell seals, Fur seals can travel quickly on land. Faster than people can.
My, what big teeth you have!
- Photo by Kevin Fox
Comment on this photo
Wistful Seal - His eyes and posture seem to be saying "Can't you hang out a bit longer? Take me with you?"
Just ignore the teeth.
- Photo by Kevin Fox
Comment on this photo
Whalers Bay - Remnants of a british research base (closed in the 1960's and covered in a mud slide in 1969) as well as a whaling station (abandoned during the Great Depression, 1931) - Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
Comment on this photo
In 1944 a British research base was setup in Whaler's Bay. The station was manned until 1967 when volcanic activity required them to leave. They tried again to use the base in 1968-69 but were again driven away by the volcano, this time for good. The mudslide from 1969 volcanic activity destroyed and buried many of the structures built in Whaler's Bay, which added to our exploration.
Get Off My Lawn - Fur seal, looks like he is barking at us, but really he is yawning. It's boring and lonely on Deception Island! - Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
Comment on this photo
Grounded - Old boats buried by a mud slide. - Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
Comment on this photo
Below Deck - Boats from the old whaling station. - Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
Comment on this photo
Trapped in Deception Island - Whales Bay in Deception island - we're inside a sleeping volcano!! - Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
Comment on this photo
Grandpa Fur Seal - Unlike the young fur seal in the earlier photo, this one is probably nearly 20 years old.
After a bit of watching us, he concluded that we weren't worth interrupting his nap over.
- Photo by Kevin Fox
Comment on this photo
Neptune's Window to the Moon - We often felt like we were walking on a different planet or the moon while here in whalers bay. The U-shapped cliff in the background is named Naptune's window and it looks in from the ocean to the inner bay's of Deception Island. - Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
Comment on this photo
Walking on the Moon - Tim coming up to Neptune's Window across the silt and residue from the volcanic mudslide that buried many things in Whaler's bay in 1969. - Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
Comment on this photo
Neptune's Window - Standing on Neptunes window looking out on the ocean. - Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
Comment on this photo
Sitting in Neptune's Window - Kevin and I sitting in Neptune's Window. Either Rob or Tim took this photo, I forget who now. - Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
Comment on this photo
Photographer Rob - As Rob takes great care to find the right vantage point for Nate and Patricia's photo, he doesn't realize that at the moment he's the more interesting subject.
- Photo by Kevin Fox
Comment on this photo
Rob McCallum - Adventurer - I think this is one of my favorite photos of Rob, setting out to explore the Martian landscape. I mean the rocky rim of Deception Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica.
- Photo by Kevin Fox
Comment on this photo
Moon Landing - Somehow this is what I imagine the moon or another planet would be like if it also had water on it. It was desolate and erie and amazing! - Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
Comment on this photo
Two Chinstrap Beach - There was very little wildlife inside Deception Island. This is because the heat pockets in the water can be volitile and difficult to navigate for the animals. However these two made it. - Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
Comment on this photo
We must! We must! We must increase the apparent size of our torso! - Two chinstrap penguins preen and puff, far away from their colony.
- Photo by Kevin Fox
Comment on this photo
Lichen This Boat - An abandoned boat from when this was a whaling station. Now buried in mud and covered in lichen. - Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
Read 1 comment
No Escape From Neptune's Window - The U-shaped cliff or window sill in the distance is what we hiked up. I just love the abandoned feel of this place. - Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
Comment on this photo
The experience of walking around Whaler's Bay in Deception Island was surreal. Like Base W it had a desolate, blast from the past kind of feel, but this was still different. The whole place had been altered by mother nature. The volcanic silt and mud gave the area the feeling of being on another planet that had long been abandoned. In Antarctica we already felt removed from civilization, but here it was almost creepy, like nature had said, repeatedly and with increasing force "No civilization here!". It was a creepy beautiful though. I really can't put into words the feeling of being here. If you get a chance to go here, land with as few people as possible. The feeling of lonely surreality is not to be missed!
Read the next chapter: Day 10: Deception Island - Part 2: The Martian Chronicles of Oz
Table of Contents:
Introduction: Telling the Story posted Jan 10, 2009
Day 0: Positioning posted Jan 12, 2009
Leaving, on a jet plane posted Jan 12, 2009
Day 1: The Herc posted Jan 15, 2009
Day 1: Penguino posted Jan 16, 2009
Day 2: Chicken posted Jan 17, 2009
Day 2: Leopard posted Jan 19, 2009
Day 2: Snow Day posted Jan 22, 2009
Day 2: Shipwreck posted Jan 26, 2009
Day 2: Totally Tabular posted Jan 27, 2009
Day 3: Gentoo Cute posted Jan 29, 2009
Day 3: Lichen Shag Glacier posted Feb 3, 2009
Day 3: Palmer Station Visit posted Feb 9, 2009
Day 4: Icy Penguins posted Feb 11, 2009
Day 4: Adelie Awesome posted Feb 15, 2009
Day 4: Leopard Seal Attack posted Feb 17, 2009
Day 4: Kayak posted Feb 19, 2009
Day 4: Vernadsky Station Visit posted Feb 23, 2009
Day 4: Vernadsky Sunset posted Feb 25, 2009
Day 5: Antarctic Circle posted Feb 27, 2009
Day 5: Polar Plunge posted Mar 5, 2009
Day 5: Mouth of The Gullet posted Mar 13, 2009
Day 5: Ice Camping posted Mar 18, 2009
Day 6: Flamingos on Ice posted Mar 20, 2009
Day 6: Mountain Climbing posted Mar 24, 2009
Day 6: Ice Textures posted Mar 26, 2009
Day 6: Antarctic New Years posted Apr 2, 2009
Day 7: Crystal Sound Icebreaker posted Apr 9, 2009
Day 7: Abandoned Antarctica: Base W - Part 1 posted Apr 17, 2009
Day 7: Abandoned Antarctica: Base W - Part 2 posted Apr 21, 2009
Day 8: Bird Watching in the Fish Islands posted Apr 23, 2009
Day 8: Icee Day - Part 1 posted May 5, 2009
Day 8: Icee Day - Part 2 posted May 11, 2009
Day 9: Port Lockroy - Base A posted May 20, 2009
Bonus Chapter: Baby Penguins! posted May 21, 2009
Day 9: Antarctic Humpback Whales posted June 3, 2009
Day 9: Dallmann Butt Sliding posted June 11, 2009
Day 10: Birthday Whales posted June 23, 2009
Day 10: Hannah Point Part 1: The Birds posted July 15, 2009
Day 10: Hannah Point Part 2: Elephant Seals posted July 22, 2009
» Day 10: Deception Island - Part 1: Walking on the Moon posted Dec 11, 2009
Day 10: Deception Island - Part 2: The Martian Chronicles of Oz posted Dec 15, 2009
Day 1: Emperor Penguins posted Jan 8, 2010
More chapters posted every few days...
View Larger Map