The weather was a bit
grey, cloudy and it snowed, it looked almost “mystical”, when MS Fram passed
through the narrow opening called Neptune’s Bellows at Deception Island.
We
made our landing at Whalers Bay, once the southernmost Whaling station in the
world. The hikers were set on land, and set off towards the other side of the
caldera. The slope was steep, but the slide down on the other side towards Baily
Head was worth the exhaustion.
A natural amphitheater packed with ten-thousands
of Chinstrap Penguins was awaiting us, what an amazing view. After a break and
a stroll between the colonies, we headed back up again.
It was hard to find our
path back in the snowdrift, but we reached the other side all well, and some of
us might got a little bit of a taste of an Antarctic explorer’s life. The rest
of us wasn’t bored neither, there was lots to see at Whalers’s Bay: the remains
of the Norwegian whaling operations, the stunning view through Neptune’s Window
and even the Hangar, where the first Antarctic flight took place! And last but not
least: the brave Antarctic swimmers! Some fearless passengers jumped into the
icy waters from Deception Island and went for a polar plunge.
In the afternoon we
had a little rest before we arrived at Mikkelsen Harbor, a small rocky islet
located in the Palmer Archipelago. And what a small but fine place: the views
on all directions were – once more – stunning.
We were surrounded by huge
glacier fronts and the evening sun made beautiful horizons over the Gentoo
rookeries. It was a coming and going on the penguin highways up and down the slope.
On the landing side the Weddell seals had a rest on the snow and it was a very
peaceful ending of the day.
