We were considerably further North when we woke up this morning. Shortly later the captained maneuvered the ship ‘into’ Deception Island (at 62° 58.6′ S, 60° 39′ W), basically a volcano’s caldera, flooded by seawater through a small (but navigable) opening. The volcano remains active until today – in fact Deception Island is probably the only place on earth where a ship can actually navigate straight into the caldera of an active volcano.

Given the natural harbour provided, Deception Island had been a favourite spot for the sealing and whaling operations back in the beginning of the 20th century. We left the ship on zodiacs as usual to explore the remains of the old whaler’s station at the beach.
A special option was on offer towards the end of our visit – the option for a quick swim off Deception Island’s beach (for the experts: that’s not even close to the island’s hot springs) – or in other words the chance to do a Polar Plunge in 0.8° C water (based on the certificate, I got afterwards). In the end – and to the amazement of the expedition staff and the other travellers – 40 of us jumped in. Again the sauna was waiting … 85° to defrost again.