Alas, the end of the cruise is approaching. In the morning, we left the Antarctic Peninsula and set sail for the South Shetland Islands.
Our first stop was Deception Island. The ring-shaped island is the top of a what is still an active volcano, a caldera. The caldera has a diameter of about 15 kilometers and has a narrow entrance on one side, called ‘Neptune’s Bellows’. The entrance was named after the Roman sea god ‘Neptune’ by American sealers because of the strong wind gusts. The island is seldom visited due to the tricky currents and narrow entrance. Conditions were good so we entered the flooded crater through the narrow passage.
Inside the flooded crater is a flat cinder beach with the remains of an abandoned Norwegian whaling station, a British Survey base and a small airplane landing strip which was evacuated during a volcanic eruption in 1967. The first flight over the Antarctic continent took off from that landing strip. We had a zodiac landing and shore excursion inside the caldera. The beach and ruins were crowded with male fur seals, some quite aggressive.
There was a small colony of Chinstraps at one end of the beach.
This Chinstrap cracked us up. He was in a big hurry going somewhere.
In the afternoon we moved onto Barrientos Island, still in the South Shetlands. Not many ships come to this site as it is very rugged and exposed to swells. The location is striking with steep cliffs and what are termed ‘columnar basalt’ outcrops.
Our zodiac landing was on Fort Point – a bleak, tall, rocky point. The ‘beach’ here was very unusual – ridges of stones and ice.
Some beach, eh?
The site is very cool though as it is crowded with both Gentoo and Chinstrap colonies, fur seals, and skua.
It’s hard to say what these Chinstraps were all excited about.
The pebbles on the beach are covered with penguin shat, kelp, and a surprising number of half-eaten remains. On the zodiac ride back to the Seaventure we cruised the coast. Leopard seals again! We’re starting to hate those guys.
Back on the ship, we began packing up the gear. We were treated to a beautiful sunset to mark our end time in the Antarctic Peninsula. The mood on the boat is a festive one, and we are greeted with champagne in the lounge before dinner. As this is the last cruise of the season, the crew is in an exuberant mood as well. The ship’s crew is mostly Filipino and tonight after dinner is the crew show. Good fun – lots of ethnic dancing and singing. The clear winner was the wait staff’s version of the ‘Full Monty’. They, thankfully, ended their show at an appropriate spot, maybe a ¾ Monty.
Tonight, we leave Antarctic waters and move into the Drake Passage for the two-day passage to Ushuaia. What’s coming – the ‘Drake Lake’ or the ‘Drake Shake’? We’ll see, all part of the adventure.
Penguin count: 800 (Gentoo). 1500 (Chinstrap)
Total trip penguin count: 640,750