Hannah Point (Livingston Island) and Deception Island
After a pleasant crossing of the Drake Passage, we awoke early this morning with the South Shetland Islands in view. This archipelago consists of a line of mostly ice-covered volcanic islands. Our destination for the morning was the southern shore of Livingston Island, where we landed on Hannah Point…one of the few ice-free sites in the area.
The spectacular terrain of Hannah Point is composed of knife-edged cliffs, promontory rocks, and raised terraces, but our primary reason for coming here was to experience a diversity of species found almost nowhere else in Antarctica. We landed on a protected shingle/cobble beach and immediately encountered a young crabeater seal (a species rarely found on rocky beaches like this), as well as numerous gentoo and chinstrap penguins. This was what we came to see! Right above the landing site was a large nesting colony of gentoo penguins and we enjoyed observing them and watching some interesting behavior, including the amusing antics of big, fat, fuzzy chicks chasing their parents at full run begging for food. All around we saw extensive growths of Antarctic hair grass, one of only two species of vascular plants found in Antarctica, and the grass seemed to be doing well in the rich ornithogenic soil near the penguins.
As we walked toward the main part of the island, we came upon a colony of chinstrap penguins, a much more tightly-packed nesting area than the gentoo colony. It was a loud and raucous place and the energetic ecstatic displays were very photogenic. We were excited to find a pair of little macaroni penguins nesting in the center of the chinstrap colony. Many species of birds are known to nest at Hannah Point, including southern giant petrels (some of which could be seen on the rocky outcrops), skuas, sheathbills, pintado petrels, Wilson’s storm petrels, and probably a few others. We eventually came upon an elephant seal wallow (Figure 1) that proved to be an assault on most of our senses. The seals were here to molt their fur and prepare for a long time at sea before returning to this place for next year’s breeding season. One could easily tell this was a tradition molting site, because it had been built up into a smooth, rolling, soft surface through many years of accumulation of mud, feces, and hair packed down by the huge seals. In addition, Zodiac cruises were offered and people were able to get some nice views of several humpback whales feeding on krill within the bay.
From Livingston Island, we sailed southward and reached Deception Island in the late afternoon. This impressive island is really a giant caldera...a volcanic structure that has collapsed into its underground magma chamber after much of the molten material receded. The circular island measures more than nine miles in diameter and is still volcanically active. We sailed right inside the flooded crater center (called Port Foster), passing through the dramatic narrow entrance known as Neptune’s Bellows.
Just inside the entrance is Whalers Bay, an important historic site where one can still see the remains of an abandoned shore-based Norwegian whaling station, which operated from 1910 to 1931. The site was taken over by the British in 1944, who established a base here in order to monitor any German ship movements in the area during WWII. Captain Skog put the bow of National Geographic Explorer right up against the shoreline, which was steaming from fumaroles caused by underground thermal activity, and we could view it all right from the ship’s foredeck. Soon after our vessel departed Deception Island, we sighted our first icebergs far off in the distance, and later, at the finish of dinner, we passed quite close to a large iceberg with hundreds of Adélie and chinstrap penguins resting on the smooth ice outcrop just above the sea surface (Figure 2).
