The ship is the antithesis of our hosteria in Chile. It is a four star luxury cruise ship with all of the amenities. We felt somewhat out of place with our backpacks and hiking boots. The kids are kind of lonely because they are essentially the only people less than forty years old on board. We had a relatively painless crossing of the notoriously rough Drake Passage and arrived at our first landing on Deception Island essentially unscathed.
Deception Island is a still active volcano.
The volcanic eruptions have created a crater caldera into which the ship can sail. We anchored at Pendulum Cove and boarded Zodiacs for the transfer to the beach. The scenery is stunning but stark and cold. We did see three lounging seals in Pendulum Cove. They were enitrely unaffected by our presence.