A narrow escape

6 January 2014

Yesterday at 7AM we sailed through the narrow entrance ‘Neptune’s Bellows’ into the volcano crater of Deception Island. At Telefon Bay we anchored for a walk on shore. The wind increased rapidly and from the cold crater walls gusts of wind blew over the water. Clouds of volcano ashes and dust made the sky hazy. Before we had everyone back on board the ‘Oosterschelde’ went off the anchors. The inside of the crater is very steep and the anchor with 120 meters of chain was hanging down in the water. The wind was so strong that it was hard to keep the ship in place on engine. As soon as we had the anchor back on board and the ship in place we could pick up the rest of the guests. For hours we kept the ship on windward side, which was hard work! Looking at the upcoming bad weather we decided to leave Deception Island. The only big question was how many waves (and how high) there would be in the entrance. Without any waves it was hard enough to keep the ship in place. With waves we would not be able to go against it. From the crater it looked ok. With a double reef in the main sail and a run-up we made speed and luckily we went relatively smooth through ‘Neptune’s Bellows’. The strong northeast wind was favourable for the rest of the leg. We sailed to Trinity Island, occasionally steering clear of icebergs.