Antarctica: Day 5

This was our last day in Antarctica before starting our voyage back to Ushuaia! There was no Zodiac excursion in the morning, but the landing excursion was a visit to Deception Island, which is a horseshoe-shaped active volcano in the South Shetland Islands. Its name comes from the fact that from certain angles, it' appears to be a regular island when it's actually a flooded caldera. The narrow channel through which the ship had to enter the caldera is called Neptune's Bellows and there's apparently only a 200-meter span for ships to navigate! The sand on the beach is black volcanic ash and because it's an active volcanic caldera, the geothermal heat warms the sand and the water!

The beach is just over a mile long and we walked the full length of it because there was a Leopard Seal sleeping at the far end! The total distance of two miles might not seem like a lot, but it was freezing cold, the wind was wicked, and it started snowing in short spurts (note the picture of the sleeping seal was taken during one of the little snow outbursts). The added difficultly of walking through the sand/ash made for quite a workout, but the scenery was beautiful and the penguin watching was great!

There are several video clips of the penguins at the bottom of this post and not only are the penguins entertaining in general, but I caught some cute interactions between them and the sounds they make!

entering Neptune's Bellows

enjoyed the view and cappuccino and
cookies in the lounge while we waited
for our landing excursion

Neptune's Bellows - the entrance to the caldera

It was bittersweet to return to the dry, warm ship knowing that our time in Antarctica was drawing to a close. We have absolutely loved our time here and feel incredibly lucky to have been able to experience the majesty first hand!

grateful

Happy Tails to you!