Entering the Caldera
At 5:45 in the morning, it was still pretty dark and cold, but the colours in the sky promised a rewarding view.
I stood alone on the helm of Bark EUROPA that was drifting right in front of Baily Head. It is the place of an enormous chinstrap penguin colony with tens of thousands of breeding pairs. Huge parts of the mountainside are covered by their nests. The penguins gathered at the shore in long lines, making their way into the ocean. Slowly, fellow sailors made their way to the deck to marvel at the spectacle. It always amazes me how high up certain penguins are prepared to breed, doing daily strenuous climbs from the ocean to their offspring. More and more penguins were now jumping around in the water below us. And soon, we were off, making our way to the steep cliffs at Neptune’s Bellows to enter the caldera of Deception Island.
