We are back at Deception Island again!

Faithful blog readers will be familiar with Deception Island. It is an active volcano and a small entrance known as Neptune's Bellows allows ships to sail into the volcano's caldera. Today it was blowing a gale when we arrived so we heaved-to outside the entrance and waited for the winds to calm. They did so and we sailed in! Once inside the winds still blew fiercely but from a direction that allowed a landing in Whaler's Bay.

Behind our landing and near the freshwater pond were several Brown Skuas. Seabirds such as skuas often bathe in freshwater to wash the salt out of their feathers. They seemed quite at home in the winds and snow.

The snow was flying around the oil tanks at the whaling station, providing a very Antarctic look

After our landing, we cruised around the Deception Island caldera. Deeper inside, we found sea-ice still stuck fast to the land from last winter. Our Captain decided to break some of it!