Deception Island

We sailed into Deception Island this evening. An active volcano, the island is doughnut shaped—the doughnut hole, the flooded caldera of the original volcano. To enter the cove, the ship must maneuver through Neptune’s Bellows, a narrow passage narrowed even further by Ravens Rock, a large rock just under the surface of the ocean. More than one wreck has occurred here. Deception Island is a favored landing spot because of its unique geology, hot springs, and old whaling station, abandoned after the volcano’s most recent eruption in 1969. Too deep and too windy to anchor, the captain and his crew steered the ship in a circle all night long.