LIFE ON THE EDGE: BLACK & WHITE Why enter a flooded caldera by traditional sailing boat? Why walk on the edge of a crater rim in deep snow? Why swim in Antarctic waters? Just because it is possible! Today we live in a black and white world. The snow covered black mountaintops merge with the white sky. The dark lines of volcanic ash in this white world are like a piece of art, created by nature. Deception Island is shaped like a giant donut, where one has taken just one bite and then left it. And through the bite in the southeast we enter, with sheer cliffs on starboard side and a hidden rock just under the water’s surface. Fortunately Europa made it safely into the caldera of a collapsed volcano. The organic shape of several coves and volcano rims at Telefon Bay create a perfect background and a protected landing site. Through the black lava grains we climb up to a plateau. Cold hands are soon warm by the exercise and those who opted to walk around the crater rime have to climb even further. Snowdrift reduces our visibility and slowly we continue walking through knee-deep snow on sharp white edge of the rim. A long line of people serpents up and down and disappears in the distance, just like the ink black lava stones that fade to light grey and than vanish completely. At Pendulum Cove we silently walk along the scattered remains of an old Chilean Station, destroyed by a volcanic eruption 50 years ago. The safe harbor of Deception is deceptive, where winds are stronger than outside the caldera and with the ever-present restless volcano. Those living out here in 1967 had to run for their lives, using doors and tables as umbrellas to hide from the falling ash. Scraps and pieces of rusty metal stick out of the pure white snow, like a buried rollercoaster. The black lava sand beach in the background steams and Europa drifts in a snowstorm, only to complement this surreal world. But the worst has yet to come, with near naked people running around in freezing cold weather and jumping into the seemingly ice-cold water. But nothing is what it seems here in Deception Island. Thermal heat from the active volcano warms the Antarctic water at Pendulum Cove and allows bathing in warm water. Two chinstrap penguins watch the scene in disbelief. A few miles further, Cape petrels take advantage of the hot water as well near the beach of Whalers Bay; they gather by hundreds in the waves. This is an eerie place, where one can feel the long history, where whalers, secret agents and researchers once lived, far away from any form of civilization Two lone graves were spared during the last volcanic eruptions; others are covered by volcanic ash, just like most of the buildings. The large oil tanks are slowly integrated into nature again, with kelp gulls breeding on it and old wooden boats provide a shelter for a dozen skuas.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 15:57:40 +0000
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