Deception Island is actually a volcano and we saided into the middle of the cordillera. It is one of those ugly yet beautiful spots with lave rock of warying shades and heights, some weathered and rounded, some needle sharp. It was a base for both a whaling station, a whaling factory and meteorlogical research as well as a safe refuge from storms in the late 1800's and early 1900's. SInce about the activity here is hiking I skipped the morning excursion. There was talk of some people wanting to swim in the "hot" springs so the crew took along shovels to try and dig out an area of hot sand big enough for people to take a dip. I stayed on board, took a few photos and got caught up and my journal and photo processing.
The afternoon excursion to Halfmoon Island was our last of the cruise and the only opportunity to see chinstrap penguins in quantity. They are so funny and always look as if they are smiling or acting as clowns. Strange, I was cold all day for some reason but when I got to the gravel beach I was finally warm and could have easily fallen asleep there. After a little more than an hour I saw one of the zodiacs come in to shore and decided that I would see about heading back to the ship. The driver was all set to take me back alone but as soon as I got on board people came out of th erocks and suddenly we had a full load.
On the way back to the ship I began talking/listening to Donna (the older woman on her sixth trip here) and it turns out that she is from Kitchener/Waterloo. We immediately began comparing notes and listing the locales that we had in common. Turns out there are quite a few and we are now comrades I guess. I was correct earlier when I wrote that she seems consider the people on these trips her family. She told me that it takes her a month to come back to earth after these trips and then she gets so lonely because she has no one to talk to.
Lunch was another good soup and tomato/onion pizza that I found too strong with tomato paste so only ate a few bites. Dinner offered choices of strip-loin steak, salmon, polenta and another dish. I declined all and just had two bowls of soup and a roll. The soup was black bean/cilantro so I began with a very small taste to see how strong the cilantro was. Lucky for me I couldn't taste it at all so was able to enjoy it. Speaking with the chef later I learned that he doesn't like cilantro either so uses it very sparingly.
Just prior to dinner there was an auction to raise money to support research into the decline of the albatross population due primarily to longline illegqal fishing. The people went absolutely crazy and paid ridiculous (in my opinion) amounts for everything. I suppose that was, at least in part, because they felt it was for a good cause. I was interested in a couple of the items but not at anywhere near the prices they went for. A chart of the ship's voyage signed by the captain sold for $5,000! All in all they raised almost $8,000 USD.
Off we go into the Drake Passage once more.... The weather forecast for day 1 is ok but day 2 is iffy..... fingers and toes crossed.