Jan Mayen Island Arctic Norway
Norway
38
Cruises availables
At departure or passage at this port
Crystal Cruises (6 Cruises)
HX Expeditions (2 Cruises)
Ponant (1 Cruises)
Seabourn Cruise Line (12 Cruises)
Seabourn Pursuit
12 Cruises
Silversea Cruises (1 Cruises)
Frequently Asked Questions
Lost in the North Atlantic between Iceland and Svalbard. This Norwegian possession, some fifty kilometres long, has no port, no hotel and no permanent population beyond the crew of a weather station.
No, there is no harbour at all. Zodiacs usually aim for Kvalrossbukta, walrus bay, a relatively sheltered cove on the west coast lined with dark volcanic sand. A landing is never guaranteed.
A glacier-covered volcano rising to 2,277 metres straight out of the sea: the northernmost subaerial active volcano on the planet. Its last eruption was in 1985. The summit often hides in cloud.
Swell, fog and environmental permissions decide the programme, and even the best-planned expeditions sometimes leave without setting foot ashore. The lines say it plainly: Jan Mayen is attempted, not booked.
Like the beginning of the world: black sand beaches strewn with driftwood carried from Siberia by the currents, frozen lava flows under moss, wind-scoured ridges. The volcanic soil, dark and spongy in places, holds footprints for a long time.
You follow simple routes set by the guides, sometimes to a viewpoint over the Olonkinbyen station, where around twenty Norwegian technicians and meteorologists rotate far from everything. The routes are strict precisely because the ground keeps the marks.
Seabirds nest in numbers on the headlands, and the rich waters around the island draw whales and dolphins, often spotted from the ship during the approach. There is no notable land wildlife.
Dutch whalers of the 17th century were the first to work these shores, as a few discreet remains in the bays still show. Trappers followed, then scientists, the only permanent occupants for nearly a century.
No. The island is protected as a nature reserve: you take away no stone, no driftwood, no souvenir other than your photographs.
Waterproof boots for the Zodiac landings and several warm layers: the wind is constant. There is nothing to buy on site, no infrastructure and no shops.
