This afternoon, we had our first landing of the expedition. The site was Whalers Bay at Deception Island, situated in the caldera of an active volcano. It was permanently abandoned after reoccurring eruptions proved too dangerous for the British research team that had taken possession of the old whaling station in the 1900s. Today, it serves as a historic landmark in the human history of Antarctica. There is little wildlife here. A constant cloud of steam hovers at the shoreline, where hot water from the volcano meets the cold waters of Antarctica. An almost ghostly atmosphere lingers over this place where only graves and the skeletons of buildings and whales remain.