---
type: Place
title: Deception Island
description: An active volcano with a hidden entrance in the South Shetlands, where the first landing happens — abandoned sealers' buildings, almost no wildlife, and one solitary penguin.
tags: [deception-island, antarctica, south-shetland-islands, volcano, sealing, history]
coordinates: {lat: -62.9570, lng: -60.5522}
timestamp: 2026-08-05T12:00:00Z
---

# Deception Island

One of the **South Shetland Islands**, and Harry's first landing in
[Antarctica](/countries/antarctica.md) after three days at sea. It is an **active
volcano** — it has erupted over a hundred times in the last few centuries — and
it takes its name from an entrance you cannot see until you are in it, which the
ship sails straight through.

It was not the plan. The storm in the Drake Passage cost a day, and this was
plan B; by that point, Harry says, everybody on board simply wanted to stand on
land.

## What it's actually like

Not what people picture when they picture Antarctica, and Harry says so
immediately: at that point in the season the South Shetlands have very little
ice left.

- **Eerie**, which is the word he keeps coming back to.
- **Abandoned buildings** left behind by the old seal hunters still stand.
- **Almost no wildlife** — strange rock formations, and one single penguin.
- **A few hours ashore**, then back to the ship.

## The sealing history

This is where a lot of it happened. Harry tells it standing on the beach:
**Nathaniel Palmer**, an American sealer, is credited with the first sighting of
Antarctica around 1820 — contested, he notes — and he was there to hunt. The furs
went back to America and on to China. **Over 500,000 seals** were killed in
Antarctic waters.

None of it is legal now. No sealing, no whaling, no fishing, under the Antarctic
Treaty. The empty huts are the only part still standing.

## What's around it

The South Shetlands hold **scientific research bases** run by Russia, Argentina,
England and France among others, with scientists living there year-round. Harry
sees them from the water on the way in — the first sign of human presence after
three days of ocean.

## Harry's tips

- **Adjust your expectations for the first landing.** Late in the season there is
  barely any ice here, and it is not the Antarctica of the photographs.
- **Take it anyway.** After three days at sea, standing on land is the point.

## Source

- [My First Time in Antarctica (10 Day Expedition) 🇦🇶](/videos/dbOpaM25K8k.md) —
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbOpaM25K8k