Formed by an active volcano, the desolate landscapes of Deception Island in Antarctica is one of the most intriguing destinations in the Seventh Continent. Its barren environment is filled with ash-covered glaciers, volcanic beaches and slopes, and an enormous natural harbour guarded by narrow cliffs, as well as a rich human history.
One of the South Shetland Islands lying just off the Antarctic Peninsula, Deception Island has been a site of considerable sealing, whaling and scientific interest for more than two centuries. But now it lies uninhabited, with only the remnants of army bases and whaling and research stations awaiting adventurous travellers.
The wonder and mystery of Deception Island in Antarctica makes it a popular stopping point for today’s expedition cruises to Antarctica, so we’ve created this guide to the island to provide you with everything you need to know if you’re hoping to make a visit here.
Where is Deception Island?
Deception Island is one of the South Shetland Islands, situated off the northwest tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. It sits just south of Livingston Island.
Deception Island in Antarctica sits on the northern side of the Bransfield Strait, separating the South Shetlands from the Peninsula proper. The strait is around 64 miles (100 km) wide and a good place to spot whales during an Antarctica cruise.
Why is it called Deception Island?
Deception Island was named by Nathaniel Palmer, the captain of an American sealing ship. He visited in 1820, a crucial year in the exploration of the South Shetlands and Antarctic Peninsula. Palmer was one of several people to claim to have been the first to see the Antarctic Continent (along with the British sealer Edward Bransfield, who gave his name to the strait). Palmer gets the naming credits however as he was almost certainly the first person to land here.
Anyone arriving on an Antarctic cruise is immediately shown the reason for Deception Island’s name. While it appears like a normal island at first glance, it has a unique topography and shape. Its closed horseshoe formation shelters the volcano’s inner flooded caldera – the entrance to which, dubbed Neptune’s Bellows, is hidden from view until the ship is almost upon it, at which point it reveals an enormous natural harbour: the perfect place to moor, whether in an old wooden sealer or modern cruise ship.
Deception Island topography
Deception Island in Antarctica is a volcano that even today is not entirely dormant. Around 10,000 years ago, a massive violent eruption blew the cone off the volcano, causing its caldera to collapse. The eruption forced the caldera to split, allowing the sea to flood its interior and create a harbour six miles (10 km) long and nearly as wide. This harbour, called Port Foster, is accessed through Neptune’s Bellows, the original breach that’s nearly half a mile wide and guarded by sheer rocky cliffs.
Port Foster has several black sandy beaches the colour of volcanic ash, where it’s easy to pull up in a ship’s zodiac. Over half of Deception Island is covered by glaciers, ice-covered pyroclasts, and frozen moraines. The other half is free of ice and snow during the summertime, with terrain composed of volcanic rock and ash. At colder times of the year, some beaches actively steam as volcanically-heated water filters through the sand.
Deception Island history
Port Foster’s sheltered harbour means that Deception Island in Antarctica quickly became a draw for sealers in the early 19th century, who were scouring the area for fur seal pelts to sell to the lucrative fur trade.
After the sealers hunted fur seals to commercial extinction and moved on, Deception Island was the site of Antarctica’s first purely scientific expedition in 1829 led by Henry Foster of HMS Chanticleer, for whom the island’s harbour is named for. Scientists have been returning ever since – thankfully the region’s fur seals have re-established themselves as well.
In 1906, the first whaling ship visited Deception Island in Antarctica, and the island’s Whaler’s Bay in its caldera became the recognised anchorage for whaling vessels. Initially, factory ships were moored here, but in 1912 a permanent shore station was established. That year, over 5000 whales were killed and processed for their blubber from ships based at the island.
Whaler’s Bay was also the site of the first powered flight in Antarctica, flown by the Australian explorer. During the Second World War, Deception Island became the site of sovereignty disputes: Argentina raised its flag here in 1940, overlapping its claim with those of Chile and Britain. This prompted Britain’s wartime mission Operation Tabarin, establishing a permanent base at Whaler’s Bay as well at Port Lockroy on the Antarctic Peninsula, better known today as the ‘Penguin Post Office’. All sovereignty claims have since been suspended by the Antarctic Treaty.
In 1967, volcanic eruptions on the island destroyed the British base at the old whalers station, and Deception Island in Antarctica has since been deserted. Much of the island’s history remains on view however, with the remains of old whaling buildings, boats and oil storage tanks, giving Whalers Bay and other parts of Deception Island an eerie ghost town atmosphere.
Deception Island wildlife
While Deception Island in Antarctica no longer has any human residents, plenty of wildlife calls it home.
Deception Island’s coastline is populated by one of the largest concentrations of Chinstrap penguins in the world, with over 140,000 breeding pairs. The colony extends into the hillsides and mountains of Deception Island in Antarctica, scattering the island with black and white, including the western cliffs of Neptune’s Bellows, where their krill-rich guano stains the cliffs red. Gentoo penguins may sometimes be seen here, though there are no colonies. Skuas, cape petrels and kelp gulls all breed on the island.
Deception Island has plenty of seals. Weddell seals, elephant seals and fur seals can all be found here, along with predatory leopard seals drawn by the chinstrap penguins.
One often overlooked fact about Deception Island is that it is also the greenest place in Antarctica. The island’s volcanic warmth means that moss and lichens thrive here, with around 22 species recorded here, including many found nowhere else on the continent.
Deception Island climate and weather
The climate of Deception Island in Antarctica is much like the rest of the continent – cold! Temperatures range from 52F (11C) in the austral summer when cruise passengers visit, and sometimes falling as far as -18F (-28C) in the depth of midwinter.
As with the rest of the Peninsula and South Shetland Islands, winds from the west predominate at Deception Island, though the island’s interior is more sheltered, often allowing landings that would not be possible in other locations. There are up to 18 inches (50 cm) annually, though this often falls as rain in the summer due to warm air in the volcanic microclimate. This also accounts for the fact that in some parts of Deception Island water hot spots at the beaches can be as warm as 158F (70C) – we’ve even seen krill washed ashore that’s been cooked in the waters. The mixing of the warm water means that Deception Island in Antarctica can be a popular place to take the polar plunge, running into the water from the beach – even if some purists prefer to jump from the ship when there are icebergs clearly in sight.
Where to visit on Deception Island
Deception Island in Antarctica has a handful of landing sites that show off the best of the island’s history, wildlife and landscapes. Like any destination on an Antarctic expedition cruise however, visits to individual locations can never be guaranteed in advance, but these are the places that expedition teams always try their best to include on their itineraries of their ship is spending time in the South Shetland Islands.
Whaler’s Bay
Arguably the most popular site on Deception Island, Whaler’s Bay is the first landing site in Port Foster, tucked into the northern side of harbour just after passing through Neptune’s Bellows. The sloping ash beach contains the weathered remains of Hektor whaling station, which was abandoned in 1931, and the remains of the British base from Operation Tabarin.
The old ruined buildings have a haunting atmosphere that’s heightened when you learn that part of the British base was destroyed in a mud slide during a volcanic eruption in 1967. Whaler’s Bay is a registered Antarctic Historic Site; it’s forbidden (and dangerous) to enter the old buildings. Such rules don’t seem to apply to the fur seals, elephant seals and Weddell seals that often haul up here.
Pendulum Cove
Situated on the north-eastern side of Port Foster, Pendulum Cove is home to warm, steaming sands and gentle sloping ash on its shorelines, and is a site of historical significance in Antarctica: this is where the first scientific recordings were made on Deception Island in 1829 (including experiments in measuring gravity using a pendulum, hence the name).
Pendulum Cove was also the home of the Aguirre Cerda Base, operated by Chile until 1967 when it was destroyed by the same volcanic eruption that ruined the British base at Whaler’s Bay. Now, just its fragments of buildings lie on the beach that visitors can view. The beach here is another place where it’s common to do the polar plunge.
Telefon Bay
Telefon Bay lies at the westernmost edge of Port Foster. It offers the chance to get away from the beach and hike inland and uphill to the edge of the cinder cone left behind by Deception Island’s 1967 eruption.
There’s no wildlife to be seen here. The attraction instead is the geology and the opportunity to walk on land that was formed little more than half a century ago, but which is already being colonised by a host of lichens and mosses. Your guides will indicate how safe to the edge of the cone it’s safe to approach, to look down into flooded crater and then across to broken ridges of the island – it’s an otherworldly view.
The area is visited by scientists every summer: don’t approach any instruments placed on the ground, which are seismographs used to detect volcanic activity.
Baily Head
Also known as Rancho Point, the rocky headland of Baily Head lies on the eastern outer coastline of Deception Island, exposed to the Bransfield Strait. It’s home to a large colony of chinstrap penguins, and they form a narrow penguin highway from a small cove where they line up to march from the sea through a narrow valley and uphill into the headlands to their rocky nests.
The colony is found in a tremendous natural amphitheatre that rises above a sheltered beach. It’s the best place for wildlife watching on Deception Island by some distance – and also the greenest, with its lichen-covered rocks. Fur seals can often be found on the beaches here. Walking up above the colony offers tremendous views across the island – these are particularly rewarding in the Antarctic spring when there is plenty of snow on the slopes.
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