Dawn on our last day in Antarctica sees me on the bow of our ship at our arrival at Deception Island. I have 3 layers of clothing on but the wind chill as we approach Neptune’s Bellows has me cursing inwardly that I didn’t don my parka. I am not alone and many of us drop down to the deck to allow the ship’s railings to provide some protection from the wind chill.
Deception Island is the remnant of a collapsed volcano. A breach in the crater walls allows acces into the submerged caldera and this is the evocatively named Neptune’s Bellows. To the right there is a large gap in the volcano’s wall named Neptune’s window. As we pass through the Bellows a vast sea “lake” opens up and low snow capped hills surround us, the land around is like a moonscape. Through the dark overcast gloom we make out the various abandoned buildings on the volcanic “black sand” beach, all in a state of disarray courtesy of eruptions in 1966 and 1969. The latter eruption resulting in the abandonment of all human habitation here. Despite the icy waters and the snow all around this is still very much an active volcano and one that could erupt again at any time.
Deception island is near the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. As such it is the de facto gateway to Antarctica and it is a microcosm of man’s involvement in Antarctica. Initially it was a whaling station and as we come to a halt here I close my eyes eyes and imagine those days. Whalers harvested the blubber from the whales and cast off the rest of the carcass. The pebbly black sand beaches must have run red with whale blood, the surrounding waters a foul “soup” of decomposing whale. The stench must have been revolting! Ashore there are rusting massive fuel tanks and smaller rusting vats used to boil and purify the blubber. The whalers left in 1931 and the British arrived here in 1944 to establish Base B.
Deception Island was a safe and sheltered harbour. In 1928 South Australian explorer and adventurer Hubert Wilkins sailed down here with 2 aircraft with a mission to be the first to fly over the South Pole and across Antarctica. The plan to use sea ice was thwarted by a warm season so a hanger was constructed on the beach as well as an airstrip 2300 feet long and 40 feet wide with a couple of 20 degree bends all rolled out with a basic primitive roller. From here he conducted the first flights over Antarctica but failed to fly over the South Pole or over the continent.
Today on whaler’s beach all is deserted and be buildings that remain lean precariously and are crumpled as a result of the volcanic eruptions. It was the last eruption that forced the evacuation of the British research station in 1969.
Before returning to our ship we were offered the option of undertaking the polar plunge, braving the icy Antarctic waters. Unsurprisingly I took up the option and stripped down to bathers. At the request of a bikini clad respiratory physician we buddied up and ran into the frigid water. People have asked me if it was exhilarating and my response is more prosaic, it was freezing!
