Whalers Bay

Friday, November 12th 2010                                                                             62º59’S 60º34'W


This day in History:- 1911 Amundsen sighted a range of peaks on route to the South
Pole, he would name Queen Maude's range.


Last night at re-cap Julio had “mentioned” that there could possibly be a wake up
call at around 5 a.m.(! ?) this morning, as we were looking to make a landing at Bailey
Head. Alas, the call did not come, and instead, we were awoken at the more normal
time of 7 a.m., we heard the reason why- rough, rough seas.
A shame, but we have understood by now that ‘man plans and God laughs’.

However we were not disappointed, we made a grand entrance through Neptune’s Bellows into the caldera of Deception Island. We anchored at Whaler’s Bay, a place not too long ago in human history where the slaughter of countless whales took place. This place despite of, or even because of, it’s past is eery. Old huts of scientific research together with the blubber ovens and huge storage tanks littered the shore together with whale bones and the remains of old wooden boats. We walked along the shore line passing a leopard seal toward Neptune’s Windows to look out at the swirling sea outside. The kayakers were out along the shore paddling and had another view of this most fascinating of places. Then the moment we had all been waiting for, our swim. The winds and snow made this the most perfect of places for over 30 of us who desired, for a reason known only unto them, to ‘go for a dip’. What fun (?) we had, our cameras were clicking as if we had discovered a new species of wildlife.

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