Deception Island (62° 59'S, 60° 34'W).
Up early to watch ship go through Neptune's Bellows, entrance to harbour in middle of island. Shallow rock in middle stops larger vessels entering the bay. We went ashore by zodiac at Whaler's Bay to see the extensive ruins of a former British station that took over from a whaling station. There is a fumarole of a volcano at left end of beach, Neptune's window (lookout) at right end of beach.
Back on the Polar Pioneer we exchanged our Christmas gifts receiving them from Santa, followed by sumptuous Christmas lunch.
After motoring once again, we went ashore at Elephant Point on Livingston Island to see some more elephant seals (Bulls and 1 year old Weaners), Gentoo penguin parents & chicks, Chinstrap penguins, Southern Giant Petrels courting, skuas nesting and some deep green mossy vegetation.
It was only just calm enough to launch zodiacs bit we now quite confident around zodiacs, even in rough, difficult conditions. The kyakers returned early as too windy and rough out near entrance to the bay.
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