Sailing into the crater of a volcano
Deception Island is an active volcano in the South Shetland Islands whose crater has been flooded by the sea, forming a natural harbour. Ships enter through Neptune's Bellows, a narrow gap in the crater wall. Inside, Whalers Bay holds the rusting tanks and buildings of an old whaling station and research base, abandoned after eruptions in the late 1960s. Geothermal heat warms the shallows in places, and some expedition visitors take a polar plunge. A large chinstrap penguin colony lives at Baily Head on the outer coast.