Deception Island
On the second day at sea, we spotted our first piece of land, Deception Island. It’s called Deception Island because explorers first thought this island was the fabled 7th continent, but it ended up being just and island… Although we weren’t supposed to land that day, we were able to get through the drake passage so quickly, that we were ahead of schedule. So the expedition leader decided it was time for us to stretch our legs.
I went kayaking and also did a shore landing. It took us forever to get onto the kayaks as it was the first time for us to test our gear. But once we were in them, we slowly paddled along the shore. It’s funny, because later on everyone remembered the sea to be rough that day, but looking at the pictures, it was a really calm day. Clearly, we had no idea what we were doing in those kayaks.
It was a wonderful experience though and I sighted my first penguins right on the shore. All of it, had a dramatic feel to it because of the fire red sunset. It was a beautiful night. After kayaking, I went on shore. Deception island is a really interesting place because it used to be a whaling station in the early 1900. People used to live and work there and left so many interesting artifacts, like old boats, whale carcasses, houses, anchors etc. It felt like walking through a museum and I felt so privileged to be able to witness all of it.
I wasn’t quite dressed for a shore landing as I was only wearing small wetsuit booties. My feet got so cold that each step hurt, but there was no pain that could stop me. I was running around along the shore, trying to see everything and go everywhere. I had a glimpse into one of the old houses, I discovered a grave behind the house, all of it felt so magical. When we got back onto our ship, we had huge smiles on our faces and were way too excited to go to bed. It was a day I certainly won’t forget!
See more images here.
A short clip of deception island.
