As cruise ships are not able to dock here you will be tendered by inflatable zodiac boats.
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Deception Island. The island received this name because on casual observation it appears to be similar to the other surrounding islands. On closer inspection, the island is shaped like a ring, and there is a narrow entrance that allows access to the inner bay. The entrance is named Neptune's Bellows. Once past the opening, it opens up to Whalers bay. The entrance to Whaler's Bay was discovered many years after the island itself. The cruise through the narrow opening was quite an experience. Deception Island is the largest of three active volcanoes in the South Shetland Islands. The most recent eruptions were in 1956, 1967, 1969 and 1970. During the heyday of whaling in the 1800s the protected waters of Whaler's Bay was a prime location for the processing of the large animals.
The remnants of the whaling station and its large boilers remain there today. Processing plants like this were used before larger self-contained factory ships were made. These larger ships would travel with other smaller ships that would hunt the whales and then bring them to the larger ship to be processed. This was much more economical then land based operations.
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