The Antarctic Peninsula is currently one of the most rapidly warming regions on Earth, as evidenced by large-scale ice shelf break up and accelerated glacier drainage. Despite this, only a limited number of well-dated coastal and lake sediment based palaeoenvironmental records exist from this region, implying a limited understanding of its climate and glaciological history. Here we reconstruct the deglaciation history and changes in sea-ice and climate using sedimentological proxies, diatoms and fossil pigments in a sediment core collected from an isolation basin on Beak Island (Prince Gustav Channel, northeastern Antarctic Peninsula), and compare it with what is known from the region. The results indicate a deglaciation of the site before c. 10,600 cal. yr BP. Iceberg concentrations were high but nearly perennial sea-ice persisted at the site until c. 9200 cal. yr BP, when a transition took place to a seasonally open marine environment until at least 6930 cal. yr BP. Following isolation of the basin between c. 6930 and 6400-6000 cal. yr BP relatively cold climate conditions are inferred to be persisting until 3240 cal. yr BP. A milder climate is reconstructed between c. 3240 and 1730 cal. yr BP, and is linked to the Mid Holocene Hypsithermal (MHH) recorded elsewhere in the northern Antarctic Peninsula. This warm period occurs slightly later than on the western margin of the Antarctic Peninsula, pointing to at least a temporary buffering by the cooler climate systems of the Weddell Sea Gyre. A wetter/cooler climate is inferred after 1730 cal. yr BP, and a final increase in primary productivity is interpreted in terms of the recent temperature rise. Climate changes in this region are strongly influenced by the Westerlies, and our reconstruction is therefore compared with those of sites in the northwestern Antarctic Peninsula and southern Patagonia.