Deception Island, South Shetland Islands: Visitors Guide
Old rusted oil drums at Port Whalers Bay on Deception Island, Antarctica.
Deception Island, part of the South Shetland Islands, is a wild, isolated and beautiful horseshoe shaped island close to Antarctica. Despite offering tour ships a safe and sheltered harbor, I'm afraid my own visit, while exciting, coincided with a heavy snowstorm.
Deception Island is an active volcano that's part of the South Shetland Islands. A huge colony of chinstrap penguins; glaciers covering around sixty percent of the island; remarkable geology and unique flora; and the runs of the historic Hektor Whaling Station provide a fantastic visitor experience.
Human activity on the island has included a whaling station, scientific bases and, most recently, as a destination on the Antarctic tourist trail.
I visited Deception Island and explored the abandoned whaling station on a photography tour I co-ran with my friend and colleague David Burren to the Falkland Islands, South Georgia Island and Antarctica.
Our Aurora Expeditions cruise ship moored just offshore the island in Whalers Bay. From there we made our beach landing aboard a zodiac inflatable boat.
This post features documentary photos and more artistic interpretations of the landscape surrounding the abandoned Hektor Whaling Station.
The foul weather we encountered is evident in this photo of old, rusted oil drums in the snow at Whalers Bay. While the weather certainly made photography challenging, the experience was exhilarating and, to my mind, one of the most memorable from the tour.
We sailed from Ushuaia in Southern Argentina on a Russian ice-breaker operated by the Australian tour company Aurora Expeditions.
Table of Contents:
Deception Island Map
Deception Island is located north of the Antarctic Peninsula at the south-west end of the South Shetland Islands archipelago.
The centre of this 72 km square island is a caldera, the name given to the top of a volcano.
Deception Island Climate
The climate on Deception Island is described as polar maritime. Here's what my research tells me.
Temperatures vary from a chilly -28C (-18F) to a relatively balmy 11C (52F)
Mean average air temperature is -3C (27F)
Mean annual rainfall is 500 mm or 20 inches
Not what I'd call a resort destination, Deception Island is a remote and wild location with a climate to match.
However, it’s the harsh beauty and abundant wildlife Deception Island offers is central to its attraction for anyone with a genuine desire to seek out landscapes and wildlife not part of the usual travel experience.
Deception Island Population
Despite the relatively large number of tourists that visit during the summer months there’s currently no permanent human population residing on Deception Island.
Heavy snowstorm sweeps over Whalers Bay on Deception Island in Antarctica.
Volcanos in Antarctica
Deception Island is one of only two active volcanoes in Antarctica. The other is Mount Erebus which lies due south of New Zealand.
The last volcanic eruption in Antarctica occurred on Deception Island in 1970. Evidence of past eruptions are evidence in the black and beaches on the island.
While the beach at Whalers Bay was largely covered in snow during my visit, the contrast between the black sand and white snow added a textural quality to this photo of machinery partly buried in the snow.
If you’re interested in seismic data you might like to take a look at the Deception Island - Global Volcanism Program.
Deception Island Volcano
This horseshoe shaped island is one of only two places in the world where it's possible to sail directly into the centre of an active volcano.
The American sealer, Nathaniel Palmer, was the first to visit and explore Deception Island. He did so in November 1920 and named the island based upon its deceptive appearance.
Not until the narrow entrance of Neptune’s Bellows was sighted did its geographic nature, that of a mountainous ring around a flooded caldera, become evident.
Though there’s argument over the dates it seems safe to say that sometime between 8,300 and 3,980 BCE a massive volcanic eruption sent forth 30-60 km3 of molten rock from the volcano.
As a result the volcano’s summit collapsed forming the large basin that became the Port Foster caldera.
Flooded by seawater a harbor measuring 10 km x 7 km (6.2 mile x 4.3 mile) came into existence. Entrance to the Port Foster harbor is through the 560 m (1,840 foot) wide Neptune’s Bellows.
Classified as a restless caldera Deception Island is an active volcano with a significant risk of volcanic eruption.
Eruptions have continued over the years with particular activity in the 18th and 19th centuries and, most recently, with the 1970 eruption.
Deception Island Hot Springs in Antarctica
One of the more unique attractions on Deception Island are the natural hot springs where it's possible to take a dip, assuming you're prepared to unrobe in such a cold, windswept environment.
Kroner Lake, one of the islands geological points of interest, is the only geothermal lagoon in Antarctica.
Rusted metal at Whalers Bay on Deception Island, Antarctica.
Flora and Fauna on Deception Island
Glaciers on the island are up to 100 meters in thickness. But, as interesting as they are, there’s so much more than barren, volcanic slopes and ash layered glaciers to see on Deception Island.
Nine species of seabirds breed on the island, including the following:
Cape petrel
Wilson’s storm petrel
Black-bellied storm petrel
Kelp gull
Brown skua
South polar skua
Antarctic tern
At 539 meters Mount Pond is the highest point on the island. Mount Flora, at 520 meters, is the second highest point and the first site in Antarctica where fossilized plants were discovered.
Eighteen species of moss or lichen, two of which are endemic to the island, have been discovered on Deception Island.
Geothermal areas host plant communities including the Antarctic Pearlwort. This attractive, moss-like yellow flowering plant is native to the Antarctic region and grows to around 5 cm in height.
The Deception Island Management Package has been developed as an aid for the long term protection of the island given the competing pressures of science, nature conservation and tourism.
Deception Island Penguins
Avian enthusiasts will appreciate the fact that Deception Island hosts a large colony of chinstrap penguins.
There are up to 80,000 breading pairs, including around 50,000 pairs that are estimated to nest at the Baily Head amphitheater on the south-eastern side of the island.
Brown skuas, Cape petrels and Snowy sheathbills also nest at Baily Head.
Deception Island Research Stations
Over the years several scientific stations run by Chile, Argentina, Spain, and the UK have operated on the island.
These days there are two scientific stations, both at Port Foster. Base Decepción is operated by Argentina and Gabriel de Castilla by Spain.
Hektor Whaling Station, Deception Island
At one stage the South Shetland Islands operated as a base for fur-sealing. From a modest beginning in 1819 nearly one hundred ships operated from the islands by early 1892.
The Norwegian Hektor Whaling Station operated on Deception Island between 1912 and 1931. Up to 13 whaling ships operated from the island over the Antarctic summers.
Some of the old tanks at Whalers Bay were used to store fuel and whale oil.
In 1908 the British government formally declared Deception Island to be part of the Falkland Islands Dependencies establishing postal services and appointing a magistrate and customs officer for the island.
Remnants of some of these old buildings at the Hektor Whaling Station remain and provide great opportunities for enthusiastic documentary and landscape photographers.
David Burren amongst ruins at Whalers Bay on Deception Island, Antarctica.
Deception Island Tourism
Administered under the Antarctic Treaty System Deception Island has become one of the most visited locations in Antarctica. This photo features my friend David Burren inside one of the ruined buildings at Whalers Bay.
Because the photo was made under slightly more comfortable conditions than what we were all experiencing outside I was able to take a little longer making the picture.
What’s more the light and, therefore, the colors within the scene were much more pleasing to work with than the flat, almost colourless light outdoors.
In this case the light is coming in through large open gaps in the building, where sections of the walls have fallen down, on either side of David and also behind me.
It’s important to understand that large light sources produce a soft, flattering quality of light. Some of the light that entered through those large holes in the building bounced off interior walls, further softening the quality of the light that reflected onto David.
As a result, despite pretty hostile conditions, I was able to produce quite a flattering portrait.
The spectacular and active volcano that we know as Deception Island offers the visitor great opportunities for exploration and photography.
Spectacular landscapes
Wildlife
Geothermal activity
The opportunity to explore the remains of the historic Hektor Whaling Station at Whalers Bay
There are variety of sites where tourists visiting Deception Island can land.
Whalers Bay
Pendulum Cove
Baily Head
Telefon Bay
Our tour landed at Whalers Bay where we spent our time exploring the abandoned whaling station during a heavy snowstorm.
This post features photos that both document and interpret my experience visiting the beautiful but barren landscape surrounding the abandoned Hektor Whaling Station.
The inclement weather we encountered made photography challenging. But the experience was exhilarating and, to my mind, one of the most memorable from our Antarctic tour.
Snow covered landscape viewed from abandoned hut in Whalers Bay, Deception Island.
Photography At Whalers Bay, Deception Island
This photo was made looking out a window from an abandoned hut at the old Hektor Whaling Station at Whalers Bay.
The view out onto the bleak, snow-covered landscape is interesting to me. I feel the photo suggests three landscapes, which I can describe as follows:
The exterior and quite desolate view of the landscape, during a heavy snowstorm.
The interior landscape of this historic hut, which seems to offer only a bare minimum of protection against the harsh weather outside.
A psychological landscape, which I like to refer to as a landscape of the mind.
Being from south-eastern Australia I've grown up without the joys and hardships associated with living in a much colder part of the world.
In particular I refer to long months living in a world covered by snow and ice. To experience snow I've had to travel considerable distances, usually to overseas destinations.
As a result I still find photographing snow and ice to be a fairly unique experience. In fact I love it!
I’m sorry to say that, over the years, I’ve witnessed many people failing to make the most of their travel photography experiences.
More often than not they’re put off by the weather, the crowds or by the inconvenience of putting themselves in the best situation to make photos.
I just can’t understand why getting up for a sunrise or missed dinner so as to photograph a sunset is such a big deal.
What about an Instagram filter that allows us to fake the result so that an average, midday photo begins to look like it was created at sunrise?
Such technology simply can’t replace the authentic experience of being there when the light is optimal.
If you’re passionate about photography you’re going to be make photos for yourself before you think about anything else.
Given that it’s true that we may not always have a great deal of control over the following:
The scenes or subjects in front of our camera
The weather we photograph under
What happens to us while we’re there
But what we make of those particular circumstances, events and interactions is what matters most. The choices we make determine our reality in the present and, as a consequence, in the future.
Choice is a gift, and all great gifts come with responsibility and consequences. Do they not?
Our lives are determined not so much by what happens to us, but by what we choose to make of what happens to us.
Experience can be a useful thing in guiding us to make the right decision. But what we make out of what’s going on inside our own head, right now, is all that really matters.
Because it’s that decision that determines how we feel, in this very moment, as well as what world we create for ourselves in the next.
Make of the world what you will and, by doing so, help create your own reality.
Building ruins at Port Foster on Deception Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica.
Needless to say the long abandoned Hektor Whaling Station we visited at Port Foster was a blast, both visually and literally.
Exploring a landscape in the middle of a pretty significant snowstorm isn’t easy. As this photo of building ruins showcases photography under these conditions is even more challenging.
The Canon camera kit I was using at the time handled the conditions well. But I was prepared for problems with a pretty solid back up plan.
Given the cost and difficulty associated with such a trip, no serious photographer should undertake this kind of tour without a decent backup camera solution.
I’d purchased a plastic waterproof cover especially for the trip. It kept the camera and lens dry, though I found it to be a real hassle to use.
In the end I ripped it off and simply took my camera in and out of a fleece beanie, like I’d done so many times before, when photographing under inclement weather.
My research indicates that graffiti, by which I mean tagging, has appeared on buildings and storage tanks at Whalers Bay.
I only noticed a few, barely visible, markings during my visit. But the snowstorm did reduce visibility considerably.
In any case I’m not a fan of tagging, particularly when it’s been done over recent times.
I sometimes feel different about such annotations when they’re made decades or centuries ago. That can add to the history of the site. But contemporary tagging seems, to my way of thinking, to be unsightly and in very poor taste.
Inclement Weather Tells the Story
Due mainly to the inclement weather the images I made look a little flat, despite very careful post processing on the desktop.
That’s evident in this photo of rusted old oil drums at Port Foster.
The snow was pelting down and I headed for the drums to shelter from the snowstorm as much as wanting to explore how I might incorporate them into my photos.
While not a great picture it’s an example of me trying to make something out of nothing. It’s an approach I’ve used quite a lot over the years, often quite successfully.
Due to the poor weather these photos probably lack the defining and luminous quality of light under which I so often seek to photograph.
Nonetheless, I feel they portray the harshness of the environment, while still being interesting and descriptive.
I’d say that, just like Deception Island, these pictures are beautiful in a harsh and dramatic way.
I feel that’s particularly the case in this photo featuring the ruins of a building at Port Foster.
It’s easy to see how rugged the surrounding landscape is and how unforgiving and inhospitable this place would be for long term habitation.
And I visited during the summer months.
Conclusion: Visiting Deception Island in Antarctica
Fortunately the conditions throughout most of my Antarctic adventure were considerably more mild than what I experience during my visit to Deception Island.
Other than a few rough days and nights crossing the Drake Passage, the journey was comfortable and the experience exceptional.
In particular our zodiac inflatable boat expeditions were great fun and provided many opportunities for great landscape and wildlife photography.
If you find yourself on an Antarctic tour make sure you’re well prepared with quality clothing that’s designed for this kind of adventure.
That means warm fleece pants and tops, thermal underwear and a jacket that’s both waterproof and windproof. And don’t forget a good beanie and warm, waterproof gloves.
After all, your opportunities to make great photos in the snow can only be enhanced if you’re comfortable while doing so.
I’m very much looking forward to my next trip to Antarctica and would be more than happy for another opportunity to explore and document the remote, harsh and dramatic beauty of Deception Island.
Antarctic tours are expensive and time consuming. However, if you can afford it and you’re after a once in a lifetime travel experience, an Antarctica tour that includes a visit to Deception Island is well worth considering.
