The last landing of our expedition lived up to all expectations.  Still inside the caldera of Deception Island, Whalers’ Bay is a long swathe of volcanic sand with remains of a whaling station stretched out along its’ length.  After the morning’s swim, the weather closed in with snow storms and driving rain complementing the already miserable visibility.  And of course it’s cold.

The beach underfoot is like biscuit crumbs and made up of many colours of cindery rock: reds, yellows, greys, blacks.  We hike up to Neptune’s window – a gap in the volcano’s side – and look out to sea, but the view lasts for about 50m.  No more.  Fog envelops the island.  We are feeling the cold and damp permeating our clothing like never before.  Yuk !

Solitary buildings punctuate the horizon.  Not the crammed and rusting ironwork of the other stations we have seen.  Here there are just occasional evidences of the whaling industry.  Presumably most has been taken or buried by the lava flows over the years.  A curious ‘U’-shaped structure stands like a giant gateway on the beach.  Without a dry dock, this allowed ships to drive into it and remain secure when the tide receded, allowing for work to the underwater sections of vessels that had sailed thousands of miles before finding refuge.

A few wooden buildings still stand, but are decaying.  A small number were in use up to the 1950s and some domestic items remain.  Carpets are slowly disintegrating as the ceilings fall in.  At the far end of the beach an aircraft hangar still stands, pointing to more modern forms of transport and access to the rest of the world.

At the shoreline a few shells have washed up.  So far the only shells we’ve seen are a small handful of limpets.  Brightly coloured strands of kelp are also adorning the waters’ edge.  A pair of chinstrap penguins waddle over to see us, but once they have pecked at us and our bags, they go back to their courtship, happy in their day.  A predatory skua lands on the sea a feet from us.  He bobs under a couple of times.  We assume for a duck-like wash, but then he goes fully under.  A couple of seconds later he’s appeared with a huge sea-slug type of creature in his beak, as big as he is.  Back on the beach he defends his meal, but Lex takes it from him to check it over.  It’s ribbed, slimy and quite frankly, unpalatable.  And it’s alive.  A couple of pictures later, the skua finishes his meal in peace.

Glad to be back aboard, we depart from a grim Deception Island and head north, to warmer climes.