Deception Island

Designated an Antarctic Specially Managed Area in 2005 and managed jointly by several countries with bases in the area, Deception Island is an active volcano whose caldera, flooded by the sea after a partial collapse, forms a natural harbour unique in the world where ships sail literally inside the crater through a narrow entrance known as Neptune's Bellows. The Hektor whaling station was built here in 1912, one of the very few whaling facilities ever raised in Antarctica proper (as distinct from the subantarctic South Georgia); volcanic eruptions in 1967 and 1969 destroyed much of the scientific base infrastructure installed there, forcing emergency evacuations and leaving structures half buried in ash that can be visited today as evidence of the place's active volcanism.