Fire Island

As you may already know, the Antarctic Peninsula extends from Antarctica toward South America, with numerous islands scattered along its coast. One of these islands is Deception Island.

Inside the island, the remains of a whaling station and a beach with hot springs make it a popular stop for Antarctic sightseeing cruises.

In recent years, seeing people in sailboats visiting the area has become less unusual.

Aomi moved further into the island, but I was unsure of her exact position. As I mentioned, I had no sense of perspective; the distances to the mountains and the peninsula ahead were unclear.

I tried to determine Aomi's position by observing the surrounding terrain, but my eyes couldn't focus on anything. Both distant and nearby objects blended into a continuous, overlapping white mass, making it impossible to recognize the terrain.

Moreover, the shape of the island shown on the nautical charts might have been altered by volcanic eruptions. When I checked the depth finder, the readings were significantly different from the numbers on the chart. What could I trust?

A white, snow-covered landscape stretched all around Aomi on the water. She moved forward, her sense of perspective completely lost.

Suddenly, it felt like Aomi collided with a white screen. (Point A in the illustration)

In reality, she didn't hit the screen but came very close—perhaps within a hundred meters. Continuing further without knowing the exact distance would be dangerous.

According to my plan, I should have seen the target cove (marked with an anchor symbol in the diagram) by then. But it didn't appear, and Aomi came to a dead end.

I had planned to shift the course slightly to the right. This way, if I missed the destination cove, I could find it by following the coast to the left (from A to B in the diagram). But if I had gone straight toward the destination and missed it, I wouldn't have known whether to turn right or left.

What had happened to the small cove where Aomi was supposed to anchor? Had it been buried under volcanic ash? If I couldn't find it, where would I spend the night? My head spun with a mix of anxiety and anticipation.

＊

The entrance to the cove finally appeared, and Aomi cautiously entered, watching the water's depth.

It was much larger than expected, and I feared the waves might become rough in strong winds. However, as I ventured further in, I unexpectedly discovered a smaller cove at the far end, about 200 meters in diameter—small enough to provide shelter from the wind and waves.

Aomi is anchored in the left-center of the photo above. The light blue frame in the photo corresponds to the area shown in the figure on the right. The dark brown area in the photo is covered with volcanic gravel and rock.

These are volcanic stones I picked up on the beach. They have many holes but are much heavier than pumice stones. (Probably not the best idea to place volcanic gravel on an important nautical chart — as I just did!)

Refer to the satellite photo above for the current conditions of the cove.

This diagram compares two nautical charts. Look at the areas inside the blue frames on the left and right. The area within the blue frame in the middle is based on recent satellite imagery. An oval-shaped island appears in the center of the left frame, but no island appears on the right. Moreover, the small cove where Aomi was anchored is missing from both charts. I never imagined this could happen.

As soon as I arrived in the Antarctic, I realized I couldn't rely on those charts, which made me anxious about the voyage ahead. I wondered if Aomi could safely continue south to the Antarctic continent.

Aomi's journey to the Antarctic continent was just beginning.