Thursday 3rd March; 4th day at sea
At 7:20 a.m. we were cruising along the Bransfield Strait (named after an English naval officer who is now credited as the first person to sight the continent of Antarctica) heading for Deception Island. Livingston Island, off to starboard, was generally rocky with a snow covering, but there were glaciers coming down to the sea along its coast. The weather was OK and the sea was very calm, despite a lively breeze.
The ship was a Baltic Sea class ice breaker, which we found out later means it doesn’t need to get through more than about 2 metres of ice, which in turn means you can make some design changes compared to other icebreakers such as the ones the Russians use to keep the North-East Passage clear in the winter. It’s registered as 5,000 tons, which apparently is a measure of its capacity rather than its weight and is about 86 metres long and 21 metres wide. There are two main passenger decks, numbers 3 and 4, we were on the latter, with some extra cabins on 5 and 6. The Observation Lounge is on 5, towards the stern, occupying what was the helicopter deck before the ship was converted for cruises, and has large windows; there’s also a dining room, a bar, and a library, plus crew accommodation. The crew’s mostly Philippino, though the officers are either Polish or Czech, and the expedition staff are from various countries. The captain’s Norwegian, new to the ship, and he had to be re-educated when he came on board. He thought that people should have their shirts tucked in it seems, and the expedition staff tend to dress rather casually.
Deception Island itself is rather curious. It’s a caldera, essentially the crater of a volcano, and has a narrow entrance into the centre. The entrance was missed for quite a long time, hence the name, and no one realized that there was a safe anchorage available. Eventually of course its usefulness was spotted and a whaling station was established, at what’s now called Whaler’s Bay, in the internal harbour (called Port Foster). The island also proved useful for scientists and some bases have been established on the island; the British Base ‘B’ being set up in 1944 close to the whaling station. The volcano is still active and the abandoned whaling station and both the British and Chilean bases were destroyed in the late 1960s.
Deception Island
The ship went through Neptune’s Bellows, the entrance to Port Foster, not a simple manoeuvre – there’s a wreck of a British ship to the left of the entrance – and anchored in Whaler’s Bay. Once we were on shore, one party headed off on a long walk up to the hilly rim of the island, whilst we joined a group going up to Neptune’s Window, a gap in the hills around the island, from where you were supposed to be able to see the mainland of Antarctica. Despite the sun having come out, we couldn’t see that, but you did get a good view down into the ruins of the whaling station. After that we wandered back to the whaling station, along the beach, which was created by a volcanic mudslide, partly burying buildings, boats and a cemetery, to the oil tanks for the whaling station. There wasn’t much wildlife there other than the ubiquitous fur seals and a few giant petrels – the volcano acts as a deterrent it seems – but the industrial archaeology was impressive.
We were pottering about near Biscoe House, the ruins of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) base, when the ship’s siren sounded; this was the signal to get back to the ship as soon as possible. From the shore you could see that the ship was anchored quite close to the beach, and the wind had been getting stronger though the morning. We found out later that the wind had got up to about 60 knots, which was the highest safe speed for operating the zodiacs, and it was obvious from the shore that if the ship had broken it’s moorings and had drifted onto the beach sideways we would have to be towed off.
Loading a Zodiac in Whaler's Bay
Given the wind, the second landing, at Telefon Bay, further into Port Foster, was cancelled and the ship headed out of Neptune’s Bellows and across the Bransfield Strait for the Antarctic Peninsula. By now the weather was wonderful; cold but bright and sunny, and as we got close to Astrolabe Island I could count about 40 icebergs from the ship. We could also see Antarctica itself by now; an apparently very high range of mountains, but as they were only about 5,000 feet high something must have been distorting the perspective.
After dinner I popped out to the stern of the ship to see if there was a decent sunset – nothing worth photographing – but as I peered around to the front of the ship I could see a large tabular iceberg ahead. As this looked interesting I went up to the bridge only to see loads of icebergs ahead of us – the real Antarctica. Neither the officer on watch nor the captain seemed concerned about it so I went to bed.
The ship was a Baltic Sea class ice breaker, which we found out later means it doesn’t need to get through more than about 2 metres of ice, which in turn means you can make some design changes compared to other icebreakers such as the ones the Russians use to keep the North-East Passage clear in the winter. It’s registered as 5,000 tons, which apparently is a measure of its capacity rather than its weight and is about 86 metres long and 21 metres wide. There are two main passenger decks, numbers 3 and 4, we were on the latter, with some extra cabins on 5 and 6. The Observation Lounge is on 5, towards the stern, occupying what was the helicopter deck before the ship was converted for cruises, and has large windows; there’s also a dining room, a bar, and a library, plus crew accommodation. The crew’s mostly Philippino, though the officers are either Polish or Czech, and the expedition staff are from various countries. The captain’s Norwegian, new to the ship, and he had to be re-educated when he came on board. He thought that people should have their shirts tucked in it seems, and the expedition staff tend to dress rather casually.
Deception Island itself is rather curious. It’s a caldera, essentially the crater of a volcano, and has a narrow entrance into the centre. The entrance was missed for quite a long time, hence the name, and no one realized that there was a safe anchorage available. Eventually of course its usefulness was spotted and a whaling station was established, at what’s now called Whaler’s Bay, in the internal harbour (called Port Foster). The island also proved useful for scientists and some bases have been established on the island; the British Base ‘B’ being set up in 1944 close to the whaling station. The volcano is still active and the abandoned whaling station and both the British and Chilean bases were destroyed in the late 1960s.
Deception IslandThe ship went through Neptune’s Bellows, the entrance to Port Foster, not a simple manoeuvre – there’s a wreck of a British ship to the left of the entrance – and anchored in Whaler’s Bay. Once we were on shore, one party headed off on a long walk up to the hilly rim of the island, whilst we joined a group going up to Neptune’s Window, a gap in the hills around the island, from where you were supposed to be able to see the mainland of Antarctica. Despite the sun having come out, we couldn’t see that, but you did get a good view down into the ruins of the whaling station. After that we wandered back to the whaling station, along the beach, which was created by a volcanic mudslide, partly burying buildings, boats and a cemetery, to the oil tanks for the whaling station. There wasn’t much wildlife there other than the ubiquitous fur seals and a few giant petrels – the volcano acts as a deterrent it seems – but the industrial archaeology was impressive.
We were pottering about near Biscoe House, the ruins of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) base, when the ship’s siren sounded; this was the signal to get back to the ship as soon as possible. From the shore you could see that the ship was anchored quite close to the beach, and the wind had been getting stronger though the morning. We found out later that the wind had got up to about 60 knots, which was the highest safe speed for operating the zodiacs, and it was obvious from the shore that if the ship had broken it’s moorings and had drifted onto the beach sideways we would have to be towed off.
Loading a Zodiac in Whaler's BayGiven the wind, the second landing, at Telefon Bay, further into Port Foster, was cancelled and the ship headed out of Neptune’s Bellows and across the Bransfield Strait for the Antarctic Peninsula. By now the weather was wonderful; cold but bright and sunny, and as we got close to Astrolabe Island I could count about 40 icebergs from the ship. We could also see Antarctica itself by now; an apparently very high range of mountains, but as they were only about 5,000 feet high something must have been distorting the perspective.
After dinner I popped out to the stern of the ship to see if there was a decent sunset – nothing worth photographing – but as I peered around to the front of the ship I could see a large tabular iceberg ahead. As this looked interesting I went up to the bridge only to see loads of icebergs ahead of us – the real Antarctica. Neither the officer on watch nor the captain seemed concerned about it so I went to bed.
posted by Iain Burke at 30.1.06
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