The second morning at sea saw the Ortelius continuing to head South in the Drake Passage. We were heading for Deception Island, which lies at the South West end of the South Shetland Islands. The South Shetland Islands are a three hundred mile long chain of islands. They lie about six hundred miles South of the mouth of the Beagle Channel and are about seventy-five miles North of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.
The visibility was limited first thing
It was hard work early on with the visibility down to as little as one hundred metres. Fortunately, the visibility improved as we got closer to Deception Island. The seas were still good for the Drake Passage, with a moderate two and a half metre swell. Due to the limited view from the bridge wings, I switched to watching from the bridge, which was a lot warmer as we were so much closer to Antarctica. On the downside, I was having to take photos through the bridge windows.
The bridge: One of the good things about Oceanwide Expeditions, is they allow the passengers to view from the bridge
We passed this impressive Fish iceberg
Humpback Whale: This was one of two Humpback Whales that I saw as we approached the South Shetland Islands
Chinstrap Penguin: As we approached Deception Island, we started to see Chinstrap Penguins in the sea
We arrived at Deception Island around late-afternoon. This volcanic island is about nine miles across in circumference. The sea has broken through to form a narrow five hundred metres wide entrance, which leads to a flooded caldera. There is a very shallow rock just below the surface in the centre of this entrance. The most recent volcanic activity occurred in the late 1960s. Soon we were inside the caldera and dropping the anchor in Whaler's Bay. The zodiacs were launched to allow us to head ashore to explore the old whaling base. It was going to be an interesting landing, as we had thirty knot winds and a snowstorm.
Heading for the entrance channel: There is a safe anchorage within the caldera
Deception Island nearly featured in the Shackleton story. When Shackleton and his crew put to sea in their three lifeboats, they were aiming for the recently established whaling station at Deception Island. They failed to reach Deception Island, as the sea currents were too strong and they finally reached Elephant Island, over two hundred miles to the North East of Deception Island. The crew spent the next four months on the beach at Point Wild on Elephant Island, while Shackleton and his five companions put back to sea in their attempt to reach South Georgia. Fortunately, they were successful. After getting a boat to South America, Shackleton made three attempts to rescue his stranded crew. He finally reached Elephant Island and rescued the crew, only a few weeks before they were due to attempt to reach Deception Island. Shackleton knew that if his attempt to reach South Georgia failed, then the crew had a chance of making it to the whaling base at Deception Island. In comparison, they had no realistic chance of rescue at Elephant Island, as it was well off the route of other whaling ships.
The zodiacs landed us on the beach near the old whaling station: This had only been in operation for a few seasons before Shackleton's Endurance expedition
This poor visibility made seeing the Ortelius difficult
The local Penguins were on the beach to welcome us. Unlike us, they looked unfazed by the cold, snowy weather.
Chinstrap Penguin: This monotypic species breeds on the Antarctic Peninsula & surrounding islands
Gentoo Penguins with a sole Chinstrap Penguin: This is the ellsworthi subspecies of Gentoo Penguin which breeds on the South Shetland, South Orkney & South Sandwich Islands, as well as, the Antarctic Peninsula
It was time to have a look around the old whaling base. It was a lot smaller than the South Georgia whaling bases I've seen at Grytviken and Stromness.
Looking right along the beach
Another zodiac lands: The crew were efficient at getting our hundred passengers ashore. When considering an Antarctica trip, the number of passengers is an important consideration, as only one hundred passengers are allowed ashore at a time. Larger ships have to land passengers in relays and ships with over five hundred passengers are not allowed to land passengers
The main Whale oil tanks with the whaling base beyond
The main part of the whaling base
Looking back on the old Whale oil tanks
Kelp Gull: This is the austrinus subspecies which breeds on Antarctica & the surrounding Antarctic islands. It was nesting on top of the old Whale oil tanks
These old wooden huts wouldn't have provided much insulation from the cold conditions in the South Shetland Islands
The main office building: Visitors are not allowed to enter any of the buildings to protect them. However, they were too unsafe to enter
Before we arrived, there were plans to allow the passengers to have a polar dip, as the South Shetland Islands are considered as part of Antarctica. However, this was cancelled due to the strong winds and snow. A pity as I had gone ashore intending to do a polar plunge. Conditions were better on our return to the South Shetland Islands on our way back to Ushuaia. However, I had to skip that opportunity, as I was struggling to get over a nasty bug that had been going around the ship. We were back on Ortelius just before dinner. After dinner, I headed back to the bridge and saw two Fin Whales and four Humpback Whales as we headed for the Antarctic Peninsula.
It's a pity that the Beagle Channel Commerson's Dolphins didn't show this well earlier in the trip
Soon after it was dark, I was heading to bed as I had another early start planned as we would be around the Antarctic Peninsula and in range of an Emperor Penguin.
