Livingstone and Deception Islands

The weather is gloomy and overcast and our first excursion is a zodiac ride in the area known as Edinburgh Hill. We were the first group out, a 7:00 a.m. start. I must admit to being totally unenthusiastic about this ride. It's cold and very early, just enough time for coffee before rugging up to be loaded into the zodiac. At the briefing yesterday, our expedition leader said she didn't want to describe what we were going to see because it was going to be so fantastic. I'd have to confess I didn't feel there was much that was fantastic at the time we left the ship.

We sailed past a significant iceberg in the mist and a little bit of rain. Then we saw the geographical feature, Edinburgh Hill, we had come to see and is the core of an old volcano. Difficult to describe because each angel was different. Long tube like rock covered the surface and at the base pieces had broken up. We were told by the geologist that when the volcano erupted what we are seeing is the basalt core and the tube like rocks down the side formed as the core cooled. We spent quite a bit of time in the zodiac sailing slowly around it. On the other side, there are more icebergs and with the sun just beginning to show through the clouds the icebergs glisten.

We make it back for breakfast we are cold but in the end I felt it was worthwhile. That was the end of the nice weather for the day. Over lunch the day became increasingly gloomy. Misty rain had turned to snow showers. This is a very volcanic area and even in the zodiac we could smell sulphur. The captain sailed into the remains of a still active volcanoin the shape of a donut, the caldera. This was a slow sail because the channel is quite narrow. At the entrance penguins could be seen on the side of a steep cliff. It's a desolate landscape as a result of the volcanic eruption in 1967. The shore is ash and cinder, no trees, no vegetation and very little wildlife. The whaling station is just visible from the ship in the gloom.

The afternoon excursion was a zodiac ride to the whaling station. It looked so cloudy and cold from the ship that I was not enthusiastic about going out. Our visit was scheduled to be the last of the day and when an announcement came that we could go a little earlier because zodiacs were coming back that confirmed in my mind that it would be quite unpleasant if passengers were returning early. Bob, however, unwilling to miss a single excursion does go ashore. He took a great photo of a rusting tank with a solitary penguin sheltering next to it, I think that summed up the day.

We had the opportunity to dance the night away with the crew, we declined.もっと詳しく