Whalers’ Bay
The sea inside Port Foster was calm and there away on our starboard side were the buildings from the British Antarctic base. Alongside the old base were the whaling station’s remains which were also damaged after volcanic eruptions.
Further round was the aircraft hanger where the first aircraft flights in Antarctica took place.
As MS Fram spun to set up for the landings we had more views of Port Foster.
Landing at Whalers’ Bay
It was a rush then to get down to Deck 2 as we were called after the Polar Cruisers had left on their Geology cruise around Port Foster.
The ride to the beach was fast and wet. We did have to pause offshore as a seal had decided to approach close to the landing steps on the beach. The beach was very different from all the others we had been on as it was made up of volcanic materiel.
There were seals all around us. The members of the expedition team all had poles which they would have to use to deter the seals from approaching too close.
We set off walking towards the British Base and the huge rusting tanks with the bay to our left.
There were fully grown fur seals on both sides as we walked past the remains of the whaling station.
The gap between the rusting remains was rather small as we turned off the beach towards the British base’s building.
The expedition team member there was kept busy keeping everyone safe from the seals. We could see the crosses of one of the first cemeteries in Antarctica beyond the rusting tanks.
Away in distance we could see the aircraft hangar and the fur seals that prevented us from safely going to take a look at this historic building.
Base B, Port Foster, Deception Island
The British Base was in a sorry state and we could only stand outside and look through the window frames to the rooms inside. The building is now preserved as part of the Antarctic heritage.
I walked to the left of the building to take pictures inside what looked to have been the generator room. Then I was confronted by a gaggle of sleeping seals and I rapidly retraced my steps.
The safest way was to go around the building on the other side. The walls and and roof on this side were in an even worse state of repair after the volcanic eruption. Inside a couple of rooms I did manage to to see graffiti left by earlier visitors brave enough to go inside the site.
We were taking pictures of each other by a tank without realising that there were seals only a few feet away to its side.
On the way back to the landing site we had our picture taken by one of the expedition team. He was still very busy as there were seals all around the path between the tanks.
As more and more passengers came through towards Base B, the seals were becoming very curious. The team members there had to stop passengers from coming through until they calmed down.
We passed three Gentoo penguins that looked very windswept as they walked along parallel to our marked path.
