Deception Island, The South Shetlands, Antarctica
Deception Island is a unique piece of Antarctica – an island of the South Shetland group that is an active volcano. It last erupted in 1968–69-71; today it is quiescent but not dormant, a fact made clear by the volcanically-warmed water that rises to the surface on the beaches that surround the inner harbor of Port Foster. Deception Island took its present “donut” shape when a volcanic cone collapsed into the vacated magma chamber to form a caldera that is now flooded by the sea. On the outer side of the caldera, facing the ocean is the wonderful chinstrap penguin colony of Baily Head. Landing here is often challenging, but this morning our Zodiacs navigated through a field of bergey-bits grounded just off the shore and we stepped off onto a snow-covered beach. We were greeted by the “parade of penguins”, some showing their white bellies as they came down from the colony to depart on feeding excursions, others showing black backs (and full bellies) as they plodded up the slopes to their nest sites. We followed the returning penguins into a large bowl-shaped valley where the birds stood in vast numbers (perhaps 50,000 pairs, reduced from a former breeding density of over 100,000 pairs) waiting for the snow to melt so they can get on with the important business of breeding. Most of the penguins stood in pairs over the site where they will later lay and incubate their two eggs. Some gave a more graphic display of their readiness to breed. Occasionally a bird would stretch to its maximum height, raise its bill towards the sky, spread and quiver its flippers, and give a loud vocalization. This would stimulate others to do the same, and a crescendo of penguin song would spread through the neighborhood and then fade in dimuendo. The first evidence of egg-laying came in the form of an egg being carried away by a skua, the main predators of penguin eggs and chicks.
We passed through the narrow entrance of Neptune’s Bellows into the inner caldera, where we found the remnants of the winter’s sea ice still packed along the shore. Our Captain pushed the National Geographic Endeavour through the ice until its bow touched the beach to give us a view of the former whaling station and, later, British Antarctic Survey research base at Whalers’ Bay. (It was damaged and abandoned following the last eruption.) We then continued further into the caldera to Pendulum Cove for our planned bathing excursion in volcanically warmed water. Here we found not broken floes of sea ice but a continuous expanse of shore-fast ice. Were we deterred? Oh, no! Captain Kruess created a berth for the ship by pushing into the ice, and we stepped directly from our ship onto the ice. A game of football (= soccer) quickly broke out. We walked across the ice to reach the steaming shore where, with great frivolity, a large contingent cast off their warm clothing for as dip – perhaps more of a wallow than a swim, but how many of our friends back home can lay claim to a dip in Antarctic waters? The event was well documented by those who claimed a higher state of sanity and chose to watch rather than participate.
Deception Island is a unique piece of Antarctica – an island of the South Shetland group that is an active volcano. It last erupted in 1968–69-71; today it is quiescent but not dormant, a fact made clear by the volcanically-warmed water that rises to the surface on the beaches that surround the inner harbor of Port Foster. Deception Island took its present “donut” shape when a volcanic cone collapsed into the vacated magma chamber to form a caldera that is now flooded by the sea. On the outer side of the caldera, facing the ocean is the wonderful chinstrap penguin colony of Baily Head. Landing here is often challenging, but this morning our Zodiacs navigated through a field of bergey-bits grounded just off the shore and we stepped off onto a snow-covered beach. We were greeted by the “parade of penguins”, some showing their white bellies as they came down from the colony to depart on feeding excursions, others showing black backs (and full bellies) as they plodded up the slopes to their nest sites. We followed the returning penguins into a large bowl-shaped valley where the birds stood in vast numbers (perhaps 50,000 pairs, reduced from a former breeding density of over 100,000 pairs) waiting for the snow to melt so they can get on with the important business of breeding. Most of the penguins stood in pairs over the site where they will later lay and incubate their two eggs. Some gave a more graphic display of their readiness to breed. Occasionally a bird would stretch to its maximum height, raise its bill towards the sky, spread and quiver its flippers, and give a loud vocalization. This would stimulate others to do the same, and a crescendo of penguin song would spread through the neighborhood and then fade in dimuendo. The first evidence of egg-laying came in the form of an egg being carried away by a skua, the main predators of penguin eggs and chicks.
We passed through the narrow entrance of Neptune’s Bellows into the inner caldera, where we found the remnants of the winter’s sea ice still packed along the shore. Our Captain pushed the National Geographic Endeavour through the ice until its bow touched the beach to give us a view of the former whaling station and, later, British Antarctic Survey research base at Whalers’ Bay. (It was damaged and abandoned following the last eruption.) We then continued further into the caldera to Pendulum Cove for our planned bathing excursion in volcanically warmed water. Here we found not broken floes of sea ice but a continuous expanse of shore-fast ice. Were we deterred? Oh, no! Captain Kruess created a berth for the ship by pushing into the ice, and we stepped directly from our ship onto the ice. A game of football (= soccer) quickly broke out. We walked across the ice to reach the steaming shore where, with great frivolity, a large contingent cast off their warm clothing for as dip – perhaps more of a wallow than a swim, but how many of our friends back home can lay claim to a dip in Antarctic waters? The event was well documented by those who claimed a higher state of sanity and chose to watch rather than participate.
