Jan Mayen

Jan Mayen is a very surreal place. We where joking that the island is glowing (let's pretend there is no polar days in July), because of a nuclear accident that happened on the soviet submarine K-19 in 1961 near it shores. As a proof the lush green moss and bare rocks were unbelievably colourful, probably radioactive.

The Island is the north-end of the middle Atlantic ridge dominated by the 2277 meter high Beerenberg volcano. We were only lucky enough to catch a glimpse as thick fog and heavy clouds where constantly rolling across the sky encircling the island. Clear days are very rare on Jan Mayen because of the huge contrast in temperatures between the sea and air. Also, the island’s location makes it a boundary between the Gulf Stream and East Greenland Current.

The first thing you notice on the island is the diversity of birds. Jan Mayan is a true bird paradise. The arctic fox are extend on the island because of early hunting practices, while colonies of gulls, fulmars, puffins and other birds are doing really well. The sea ice from Greenland does not reach Jan Mayen anymore, so the last polar bear was seen on the island in 1991, also it has been many years since the walrus were gone.

There is no permanent residents on the Jan Mayen and 16 people were maintaining the Olonkinbyen Station at the moment when we were there, witch get there is by Norwegian military aviation. Before Norwegian government declared Jan Mayen a nature reserve in 2010, sheep were farmed on the island. Nowadays all farming and hunting activities are forbidden.

Also, since the nature reserve was established, tourists are not allowed to go ashore or camp within the island (the exceptions are for Kvalrossbukta and Batvika areas near Olonkinbyen, where it is allowed to land only after gaining permission). That is why most of the footage was taken by drone from the yacht, and others from Kvalrossbukta area, where we legally landed.

There are three ways to get Permission to visit Jan Mayen. The first two are from the chief of police in Nordland or Norwegian Ministry of Justice. The third one, which was the one we managed to get, is to contact the Olonkinbyen Station commander of Jan Mayen. To do this, you send a radio message to Jan Mayen station when you are a few miles away. Be aware that the island is 1,390 km away from Norway.

The other problem is that there is no dock on the island. We were granted 24 hours permission to land, but we weren’t able to do so right away because of very rough seas. We had to sail from the East side of the island to the West to found a shelter there. Luckily, the weather turned for the better and the following day I was able to fly the drone and get some good photos.

Видео Jan Mayen канала Viktor Posnov