Antarctica (3) - Deception Island and Neko Harbor on the Antarctic Peninsula

Our second stop was Whalers Bay in Deception Island, also located in the South Shetland island archipelago. Interestingly, this island is the caldera of an active volcano. It was a safe heaven for whalers when the weather was bad. The volcano returned to activity in the late 1960s destroying several scientific stations, both British and Chilean. The island was deserted for a while. The bay has a very narrow entrance. The water in the caldera is several degrees warmer than the ocean water. It was a grey day. Some photos came out like black and white pictures.

On our way to Deception island, big icebergs

Humpback whales

Deception Island

The entrance of Whalers Bay

Neptune's window in the back

    An antarctic starfish

 A fur seal

 Neptune's window

A krill viewed under the microscope

Norvegian smoked salmon

"We must always remember with gratitude and admiration 

the first sailors who steered their vessels through storms 

and mists, and increased our knowledge 

of the lands of ice in the South"

Roald Amundsen (1872-1928) 

Roald Admundsen was the Norvegian explorer of polar regions who led the Antarctic expedition of 1910-1912 and was the first to reach the South Pole