Antarctica - Day 5

Last night we sailed north up the Gerlache Strait on the western side of the Antarctica Peninsula and then crossed over the large Bransfield Strait - luckily we were asleep so did not feel any motion as we went through the open unprotected waters. When we woke up early this morning we were coming through the very narrow gap known as Neptune’s Bellows to enter Whaler’s Bay at Deception Island, part of the South Shetland Islands. Deception Island is a bleak, barren and rather ugly island which is a volcanic caldera. There are the remnants of an old whaling station there which is very derelict and quite frankly should be removed to allow the place to go back to its original state. It's a very popular stop off for most expedition trips in Antarctica as it is very interesting from a geology point of view.

We went ashore and walked along the beach at Deception Island, which is made up of black volcanic sand and rocks and there were geo-thermal gases arising on the beach. The volcano is still active and is constantly monitored, and is due to erupt in the short term! There were many washed up dead krill on the beach and also salp, two tiny organisms that are eaten by so many species in the area. We hiked up to the top of the hill through Neptune’s Gap to look back on the bay of the caldera. 

Back at the boat we had another lecture, this time about climate change and we were given some very interesting facts and figures and left to make up our own minds about it. We sailed further north to Half Moon Island where we dropped anchor so we could go ashore. By now it was windy and quite cold - we have been spoilt these past few days with ‘balmy’ temperatures of about 3C-6C but today it seems much colder again. This island had a large colony of Chinstrap penguins and some fur seals. At this time of year once they have finished moulting the penguins leave to spend winter at sea so the colonies are not as big as they were several weeks ago. We were limited to a narrow path as you cannot get too close to the animals so I found the photos quite challenging today as I could not get into the right position to get the best shot.

Tonight is our last night on the boat - we cannot believe the trip is nearly over. It has been quite short and I have enjoyed it very much, despite the sometimes very cold conditions.

My main image is of a group of Chinstrap penguins - easy to see why they are so named. In extras 1.Despite being brown and bleak, there were some lovely colours in the hills 2. The volcanic beach with geo-thermal gasses rising up 3. Remnants of an abandoned whaling boat 4. A fur seal takes centre stage in a large landscape 5. A family argument!

I am now back home again - I have posted two blips today in an effort to catch up.