jan mayen island

On our recent polar expedition cruise with Aurora Expeditions, we left Iceland to head north of the Arctic Circle to one of the most remote and isolated places on the planet. And boy, oh, boy, was it incredible!

Jan Mayen is a volcano in the middle of the Greenland Sea. It’s sort of near Greenland, but not so near that you’d be able to say that it’s “off the coast.” It’s basically a giant volcano rising up out of the sea without any other islands nearby. It was a full day and a half north of Iceland to get there.

There are no year-round residents of Jan Mayen. There’s a Norwegian military facility on the island, and a weather station, but both are small. In the summer, there are fewer than 40 people on the island, and none of them are stationed there for more than a few months. In the winter months, maybe a dozen or so military personnel are stationed there.

Once you’re there, it’s a pretty stark landscape. We cruised around in a zodiac looking at sea birds nesting on the cliffs. You’re above the tree line, so the vegetation is mostly moss and lichens. We cruised over to the volcano, which was shrouded in mist, and found the small weather station at the base.

Fortunately, we got permission to land on the island — something few travelers ever are able to do. The commander of the station met us on the beach and we took a long and strenuous hike over the spine of the island, across a crazy bleak landscape, to the other side of Jan Mayen.

We asked the Commander if there was anything they needed that we could provide, since they don’t get many visitors. Her answer? They’d run out of mayonnaise. Could we spare some?

Admittedly, this kind of adventure is not for everyone. If you’d rather be sitting on a warm beach with a mai tai and a trashy romance novel…we get it. But if you’re the type of traveler who wants to travel north of the Arctic Circle, to one of the most remote and desolate places on the planet — we can make that happen for you.