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Visitors to Jan Mayen

Jan Mayen published 4 årsiden in .

To   Visitors of Jan Mayen

BACKGROUND:

The Norwegian Armed Forces operates the community of Jan Mayen. The Station Commander is the official representative of the Norwegian Authorities. The Station Commander carries local police authority over Jan Mayen territory (on behalf of the Chief of Police in Nordland). On behalf of the County Governor of Nordland the Station Commander is also responsible for environmental and cultural/historical law and public administration.

Jan Mayen is regulated, as a nature reserve by Norwegian regulation no. 1456 of November 19th, 2010 called «FOR 2010-11-19 nr. 1456, Forskrift om fredning av Jan Mayen naturreservat”. The objective of the Jan Mayen nature reserve is to conserve a near-pristine arctic island and its adjacent sea areas including the ocean floor, with a distinctive landscape, active volcanic system, special flora and fauna and cultural remains, including securing;

• the island’s grand and unique landscape
• the island’s distinctive volcanic rock types and landforms
• the island as a very important habitat for seabirds
• the close relationship between life in the sea and on land
• the distinctive ecology of isolated islands
• the historical perspective that remains from all major eras in Jan Mayen’s history represents
• the island and adjacent marine areas as a reference area for research

Mount Beerenberg, (2277m) on north end of Jan Mayen is the world’s northernmost active volcano and dominates the scenery when visible.

On the island of Jan Mayen there is a weather station, a EGNOS/GALILEO navigation site and a variety of infrastructure throughout the island – communications, seismic sensors, roads, airstrip, power station, water production, etc. 18 persons employed by the Norwegian Weather Service and Norwegian Armed Forces man the island and infrastructure.

• The airstrip is a 1600 meters gravel airstrip – closed for civilian flights.
• There are no operation seaports/harbours. Landing from boat is through the surf in either Båtvika or Kvalrossbukta. Landing by permission from station commander only!
• Olonkin City (built 1958-60) on the SE part of the island near Båtvika. This is the main station and accommodation for all personnel.

RULES and REGULATIONS:

Jan Mayen is Norwegian territory and Norwegian citizens are free to visit Jan Mayen, but must follow the islands regulations.

Foreign citizens who wants to visit the island of Jan Mayen must obtain a permission from the Norwegian authorities prior to arrival ; this is regulated through a Norwegian regulation regarding non-Norwegian citizens entry of Jan Mayen («Forskrift om utlendingers adgang til Jan Mayen»), of June 1962. Permission to visit Jan Mayen for non-Norwegian citizens can be granted as follows:

• Up to 24 hours, From the Station Commander of Jan Mayen. Apply by mail and ensure you get permission before arrival. ( [email protected] )
• Up to one week from the Chief of Police in Nordland. ( [email protected] )
• More than a week from the Norwegian Ministry of Justice. ( [email protected] )

  Norwegian regulation no. 1456 of November 19, regulates and restricts activity throughout Jan Mayen. For all visitors it is pertinent to note the following:

• There are only two areas permitted for landing and disembarkation; this is Båtvika on the SE side and Kvalrossbukta  on the NV side of the island.
• Camping is only permitted in KVALROSSBUKTA or BÅTVIKA (details provided upon arrival).
• Driftwood and other natural/human objects encountered on Jan Mayen (except obvious marine waste) are protected and to be left in place.
• All visitors are to receive a mandatory safety/security brief upon arrival.

If visitors intend to conduct research or any other activity apart from being a tourist they must send an application to Statsforvalteren i Nordland (sfnopos (aa) statsforvalteren.no)

FACTORS to consider:

On Jan Mayen there are no polar bears, or other predators who are a threat to humans. Lack of natural sheltered harbour, rough weather, windy beaches and rough sea makes it a challenge to visit Jan Mayen. The nature of Jan Mayen is extreme, one must be prepared for winter conditions with sandstorms throughout the year, there is limited to no natural shelter and freshwater is scarce.

There is no dedicated SAR capacity on the island and Jan Mayen is normally outside of helicopter coverage. There are no medical services available although the station crew includes a registered nurse in case of emergency.

The station does not offer accommodation or transport services by car/boat. If one choose to anchor/land in KVALROSSBUKTA it is a 9km walk to Olonkin City. The road between KVALROSSBUKTA and Olonkin City is winterclosed November through May.

All buildings of Jan Mayen are off limits to visitors except a portion of the main building in Olonkin City if permission is granted. The area of Olonkin City open for visitors contains Krambua Kiosk (souvenirs), a reception area with a historic exhibit, and a restroom. Please note that station crew provides visitor services in their free time. Also note that the station operates on Norwegian time (one hour prior to GMT during winter and two hours prior to GMT during summer).

Does & Don’ts of Jan Mayen:

• One should stay away from the tip of cliffs as they may slide into the sea due to heavy erosion.
• DO NOT touch/go near antennas, as they carry very high voltage.
• No walking on airstrip, boot prints will freeze and the airstrip must be scraped prior to flight operations.
• All buildings are off limits for visitors, except area of Olonkin City detailed above and permission is granted. No shoes/boots inside Olonkin City. Please be respectful of the fact that one is entering the station crew’s home.
• No littering (this also includes cigarette butts and chewing gum).
• Please ask before taking pictures of station crew and respect their privacy if they don’t accept.
• Be aware of traffic, especially in conditions with poor visibility.

For visiting ships/yachts

Please provide the following information at earliest possible time in advance of arrival:

• Name, nationality and port of registration of ship / yacht.
• Ship/master contact information (MMSI number, call sign, e-mail, Iridium number,etc)
• Name & nationality of master.
• Last port of departure – next port of arrival.
• POB (persons on board).
• Passenger manifest list.

Contact information for station commander Jan Mayen:

+47 32177902

http://www.jan.mayen.no

[email protected]

Jan Mayen maritime radio is remote controlled through Bodø Radio. A listening watch is conducted on VHF ch 16. Working channels is VHF ch. 60.

Best regards,

Station Commander Jan Mayen

© Jan Mayen 2024 All rights reserved. JM by Simen Grinden | Telefon / Phone 00 32 17 79 00

Bookings & Enquiries

Jan Mayen - one of the most isolated islands in the world.

Norwegian territory and one of the most isolated islands in the world. The closest other land mass is Iceland some 600 kilometres away and Norway, almost 1000 kilometres to the east.

The volcano Beerenberg is the northernmost active volcano on earth and had its last eruption in 1985. It is also one of the highest mountains in Norway with its perfectly coned shape and a summit at 2277 metres above sea level. In the 16th century Ducth whalers operated out of Jan Mayen and today a Norwegian weather station holds a few souls all year round having mail dropped from a plane occasionally.

Tourists visiting Jan Mayen are extremely rare, specially being able to land on the shores.

Wildlife on Jan Mayen

Simply put, this island is not known for its flora and fauna. Still, visitors on Norwegian cruises will likely encounter seabirds breeding on steep cliffs. The most abundant species is the northern fulmar, a gull-like relative of albatrosses. This bird is spectacularly evolved for the frigid conditions of the island. Other popular birds are the kittiwake and Brünich's guillemot as well as the little auk, which breeds under rocks on steep slopes rather than on vertical cliffs. Including these, there are 27 species of birds use the island as their regular nesting site.

If you're lucky, you and the crew will catch a glimpse of hooded seals and harp seals that have important breeding areas northwest of Jan Mayen. Some years these creatures can be spotted near the shores of the island, due to ice conditions.

There are no land mammals since the polar fox was hunted to local extinction in the 20th century. Once in awhile, polar bears may visit the island when there is ice drift around, but in recent years they have not been seen since the East Greenland ice sheet no longer reaches Jan Mayen.

During calm weather, a number of whale species might be seen, including the king of the waters, the blue whale.

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Cruising Jan Mayen Island

As you sail by this remote island in the middle of the Norwegian Sea, catching a glimpse of its towering, ice-covered volcano through the fog, you might wonder how anyone could live on the desolate spit of land. In fact, the 373-square-kilometer (144-square-mile) island—some 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) west of Norway and 500 kilometers (300 miles) east of Greenland—is, for the most part, uninhabited. Other than a weather and navigation station that houses a few personnel, the only living things frequenting this barren landscape are the numerous seabirds on the cliffs.Discovered in the early 1600s by the English explorer Henry Hudson, the island was named after Jan May, a Dutch sea captain who established multiple whaling bases along its coast beginning in 1615. The whales were hunted to near extinction by 1642, and the island was abandoned. In 1921, Norway opened a meteorological station; nine years later, Jan Mayen became part of the Kingdom of Norway. The island's most distinguishing feature is the 2,277-meter (7,470-foot) Beerenberg, which dominates the northern half of the island and is the northernmost active volcano on the planet, last erupting in 1985.

• Jan Mayen Introduction

Jan Mayen information

• Expedition to Jan Mayen
• Jan Mayen Book
• Links and literature
• Photos, Webcam Panos & Video
• Rolf Stange
• Spitsbergen Website

Page Structure

• Jan Mayen: Introduction
• Current weather
• * Expedition Jan Mayen
• Jan Mayen Book
• Jan Mayen Links and Literature
• 2014/07/03-04
• Sør Jan Inland
• Sjuhollendarbukta
• Titeltbukta
• Guineabukta
• Panorama Beerenberg
• Brielletårnet and Haugenstranda
• Dagnyhaugen
• Eldste Metten
• Gamle Metten
• Jøssingdalen
• Kvalrossbukta
• Maria Muschbukta
• Olonkinbyen
• Site notice
• Privacy Policy

On this site, you will find an intro­duc­tion to the fas­ci­nat­ing island of Jan Mayen, includ­ing the fol­low­ing sections:

• Cli­mate & glaciers
• Cur­rent weather
• Cur­rents & Ice
• Flo­ra & Fauna
• Reg­u­la­tions

Gen­er­al: Jan Mayen is sit­u­at­ed at 71°N/8°W or, in oth­er words, about 550 kilo­me­ters north of Ice­land and 450 kilo­me­ters east of Green­land. The land area is about 373 square kilo­me­ters, sim­i­lar to La Gomera in the Canary Islands or the Lake Gar­da in north Italy. The shape is quite pecu­liar, sim­i­lar to a nar­row spoon, stretch­ing 53 km long from south­west to north­east. This has to to with the geol­o­gy – see next sec­tion below: Geol­o­gy ). The spec­tac­u­lar scenic cen­tre point of Jan Mayen is the 2277 meter high glac­i­er-cov­ered vol­cano Beeren­berg with its sym­met­ri­cal cone shape.

Jan Mayen was dis­cov­ered ear­ly in the 17th cen­tu­ry and became part of Nor­way in 1930. There is an active Nor­we­gian mil­i­tary and weath­er sta­tion. There is no touris­tic infra­struc­ture what­so­ev­er: no accom­mo­da­tion or trans­port facil­i­ties (nei­ther from the out­side world to Jan Mayen and back nor with­in the island) avail­able to the pub­lic. In 2010, Jan Mayen was declared a Nature reserve – gen­er­al­ly with­out any doubt a good thing, but restric­tions for vis­i­tors are ridicu­lous­ly strict, mak­ing it even more dif­fi­cult to vis­it the island prop­er­ly (see sec­tion Reg­u­la­tions ). Tourist vis­its, already rare before 2010, have accord­ing­ly become even more scarce, espe­cial­ly those very few ones who did a bit more than vis­it­ing the sta­tion or Kval­ross­buk­ta. Hard weath­er, rough seas and the lack of shel­tered nat­ur­al har­bours make it dif­fi­cult enough to vis­it Jan Mayen any­way. On the oth­er hand, it is a unique, fas­ci­nat­ing island, inter­est­ing with regards to geol­o­gy, scenery and his­to­ry, and absolute­ly worth see­ing and expe­ri­enc­ing for adven­tur­ous polar enthusiasts.

© Rolf Stange – Jan Mayen. The island is 53 km long (SW-NE) and just 2 km wide in the cen­tral part.   Black cir­cles: 17th cen­tu­ry whal­ing sta­tions. White cir­cles: 17th cen­tu­ry whal­ing sta­tions (assumed). Squares: Sta­tions (1. Eld­ste Met­ten = weath­er sta­tion 1921-1940. 2. Jøss­ing­dalen (weath­er sta­tion 1941-46 and gar­ri­son), 3. Atlantic City (US Coast­guard sta­tion, 1943-46, weath­er sta­tion 1946-49) 4. Gam­le Met­ten (weath­er sta­tion 1946-62), 5. Olonk­in­byen (today’s Nor­we­gian sta­tion, active since 1958), 6. Hele­ne­sanden (weath­er depart­ment of the sta­tion since 1962).
Breen = glac­i­er, buk­ta = bay, Kapp = cape, Nylan­det = New Land, slet­ta = plain, Vika = small bay.

Geol­o­gy: Jan Mayen is geo­log­i­cal­ly sim­i­lar to Ice­land, but com­plete­ly dif­fer­ent to oth­er land mass­es and islands in the north Atlantic such as Nor­way, Green­land or Spits­ber­gen. It is even younger than geo­log­i­cal­ly rather ado­les­cent Ice­land. Both are part of the mid­dle Atlantic ridge sys­tem, but Jan Mayen is not sit­u­at­ed exact­ly on top of it. The island is owing its exis­tance and its pecu­liar shape to a so-called Hot Spot (talk­ing plate tec­ton­ics, not wire­less inter­net) and the fact that the plate with Jan Mayen on top is slow­ly drift­ing over the Hot Spot, which itself is deep-seat­ed and sta­tion­ary. The vol­cano Beeren­berg is still active, with sev­er­al erup­tions dur­ing the 20th cen­tu­ry. These took place not at the large cen­tral crater at the top, but near the north­ern tip of the island (Nylan­det = new land).

Cli­mate & glac­i­ers. The cli­mate is dis­tinct­ly mar­itime-arc­tic. In oth­er words, the weath­er is most­ly pret­ty poor. Clear and cold win­ter weath­er is as rare as sun­ny sum­mer days. Fog, wind and driz­zle, not pro­duc­ing much pre­cip­i­ta­tion but mak­ing you nev­er­the­less quick­ly wet, are char­ac­ter­is­tic for Jan Mayen. The well-known Ice­land low pres­sure sys­tem should actu­al­ly be called the Jan Mayen low, because this is where it is from.

Pre­cip­i­ta­tion is increas­ing with alti­tude, and so is the pro­por­tion of pre­cip­i­ta­tion that falls as snow. This is why Beeren­berg has more than 100 km2 of glac­i­ers, 5 of which reach down to sea lev­el. At least they did so until a few years ago; they are shrink­ing as they do almost every­where and the only one that still has an impres­sive calv­ing ice cliff is Weyprecht­breen , which is is descend­ing down direct­ly from the cen­tral crater at the top of the vol­cano. Spec­tac­u­lar stuff, indeed! Most of the oth­er glac­i­ers are more and more hid­ing under their grow­ing ter­mi­nal morains.

Cur­rents & Ice. Jan Mayen lies with­in the area with dif­fer­ent ocean­ic water mass­es meet. The East Green­land cur­rent brings cold water and huge mass­es of drift ice from the Arc­tic Ocean, fol­low­ing the coast of East Green­land down south. Com­ing from the south­west and bring­ing large mass­es of tem­per­ate water into the north­east Atlantic is the Gulf Stream . Jan Mayen is pret­ty much exact­ly on the bound­ary zone of these two, where arc­tic and tem­per­ate water mass­es meet and mix. Today, the cold waters of the East Green­land cur­rents do rarely touch the shores of Jan Mayen any­more, and drift ice is hard­ly seen around the island. If so, it comes „nor­mal­ly“ some time between March and ear­ly May, but chances the ice comes as far east as Jan Mayen have become very slim these days.

Flo­ra & Fau­na. Jan Mayen’s fau­na is most­ly char­ac­ter­ized by seabirds breed­ing on steep cliffs and slopes. Impor­tant species include the North­ern ful­mar, which is beau­ti­ful­ly adapt­ed to the harsh weath­er and open sea and may well be called a char­ac­ter bird of Jan Mayen and the sur­round­ing ocean. Also very abun­dant are the Kit­ty­wake, Brünich’s guille­mot and Lit­tle auk, the lat­ter one breed­ing under rocks on steep slopes rather than on ver­ti­cal cliffs. Birds typ­i­cal for the arc­tic tun­dra such as the Snow bunting, Grey phalarope, Turn­stone and oth­ers are hard­ly found on Jan Mayen due to the obvi­ous lack of tun­dra veg­e­ta­tion and wet­lands. There are no ter­restric mam­mals since the Polar fox was dri­ven to local extinc­tion in the ear­ly 20th cen­tu­ry. There have nev­er been Muskox­en, rein­deer or rodents. Polar bears may vis­it the island occa­sion­al­ly when there is drift ice around, but they haven’t been seen in recent years as the East Green­land ice does not reach Jan Mayen anymore.

The area is nev­er­the­less bio­log­i­cal­ly very rich, but it is the sea that is pro­duc­tive and has a lot of life, not the most­ly very bar­ren land. With some luck and calm weath­er, a num­ber of whale species up to the very largest one, the Blue whale, can be seen, and sev­er­al seal species feast in the rich fish­ing grounds.

What is most­ly strik­ing about the veg­e­ta­tion over large parts of Jan Mayen is its absence. Large areas are almost com­plete­ly bar­ren, dark plains of vol­canic sand and rocks. Oth­er parts have sur­pris­ing­ly rich, thick and colour­ful car­pets of moss­es and lichens. The list of vas­cu­lar plants is much short­er than on Spits­ber­gen, which is much fur­ther north, and the species diver­si­ty of neigh­bour­ing Green­land reminds of a trop­i­cal rein­for­est in com­par­i­son, but it includes sev­er­al species of sax­ifra­ga and even sev­er­al dan­de­lions, includ­ing endem­ic ones.

His­to­ry. The ear­ly his­to­ry of Jan Mayen is no more than leg­ends if any­thing at all, and it may well be that no one has ever seen the island before the days of the whalers in the ear­ly 17th cen­tu­ry. There are some sto­ries of Irish monks in the 7th cen­tu­ry fol­lowed by the Vikings , who cer­tain­ly went from Nor­way to Ice­land and fur­ther to south­west Green­land, but if they ever came any­where near Jan Mayen remains unknown. No one less than famous Hen­ry Hud­son may have dis­cov­ered the island in 1608, but the first con­firmed sight­ing was made in 1614 by John Clarke from Eng­land. Clarke was soon fol­lowed by whalers who start­ed to exploit the bio­log­i­cal trea­sures of the arc­tic seas in the 17th cen­tu­ry. Dutch whalers estab­lished sev­er­al sta­tions on Jan Mayen. A few remains can still be seen at two sites on the north­ern side of the island, includ­ing Kval­ross­buk­ta. Jan Mayen obvi­ous­ly received its name in those years, com­mem­o­rat­ing a Dutch whal­ing cap­tain. An attempt to win­ter dur­ing 1633-34 end­ed fatal­ly: all 7 men died of scurvy.

Once the whales got scarce and whal­ing remained with­out prof­its, Jan Mayen most­ly dis­ap­peared in north­ern mists again until it was vis­it­ed the next time by a group of Aus­tri­an sci­en­tists dur­ing the First Inter­na­tion­al Polar Year (IPY) in 1882-82 . The Aus­tri­ans estab­lished a sta­tion in Maria Muschbuk­ta and were the first ones to win­ter suc­cess­ful­ly on Jan Mayen. The whole expe­di­tion was quite suc­cess­ful, „only“ one sailor of the trans­port ves­sel died of tuber­cu­lo­sis and was buried on the spot near the sta­tion (his grave is still there), the win­ter­ing crew returned home with a wealth of data as part of the inter­na­tion­al pro­gramme car­ried out in the Arc­tic and Antarc­tic dur­ing that first IPY.

Nor­we­gian trap­pers dis­cov­ered Jan Mayen in the ear­ly 20th cen­tu­ry as a rich hunt­ing ground for the polar fox. The first win­ter­ing of that peri­od took place in 1906-07 and was ini­tial­ly a suc­cess: the trap­pers could board a small ship to bring them back home after a good sea­son. But desaster struck near Ice­land, when the ship sank and all except the machin­ist died. Sev­er­al hunt­ing par­ties win­tered in fol­low­ing years, some of them return­ing back home with record catch­es of Polar fox, includ­ing a high pro­por­tion of the rare vari­ety called Blue fox, which has dark­er fur which fetched good prices. Unfor­tu­nate­ly, the local pop­u­la­tion of fox­es could not tol­er­ate the hunt­ing pres­sure and col­lapsed soon. The Polar fox is still local­ly extinct on Jan Mayen, one can only hope that it will return to the island one day with the drift ice from East Greenland.

Progress with­in the field of mete­o­rol­o­gy and the need for reli­able weath­er fore­cast made it nec­es­sary for Nor­way to estab­lish a weath­er sta­tion on Jan Mayen. This was done in 1921. The sta­tion was re-locat­ed sev­er­al times dur­ing the 20th cen­tu­ry, but has been oper­at­ed con­tin­u­ous­ly since 1921 with the excep­tion of the dark years of WWII. Run orig­i­nal­ly with 3, then 4 men, to begin with just north of Eggøya on the south­ern side, it also served as an impor­tant radio sta­tion for fish­ing and seal­ing ships. The ear­li­est one near Eggøya is now gen­er­al­ly referred to as Eld­ste Met­ten (old­est met(eorological) station).

Sev­er­al attempts were made dur­ing the 1920ies by Nor­we­gian indi­vid­u­als to take pos­ses­sion of Jan Mayen , and soon the Nor­we­gian gov­ern­ment, rep­re­sent­ed by the crew of the weath­er sta­tion, entered the scene. In 1930, a law came into force that declared Jan Mayen part of the King­dom of Nor­way. But the ground was still pri­vate prop­er­ty of a Nor­we­gian, who had per­sis­tent­ly put up his annex­a­tion signs and went the weath­er sta­tion crew and Nor­we­gian offi­cials on the nerves, thus secur­ing his claims both local­ly and in Nor­we­gian courts. The gov­ern­ment bought the island lat­er from his descen­dants to achieve full con­trol. Jan Mayen is accord­ing­ly now both Nor­we­gian ter­ri­to­ry and state (not to be mis­tak­en for „pub­lic“) prop­er­ty. The dif­fer­ences and fac­tion­al­ism relat­ed to the sov­er­eign­ty and own­er­ship ques­tion in the 1920s and 30s were in fact quite bizarre.

The Nor­we­gian weath­er sta­tion was evac­u­at­ed dur­ing ear­ly stages of WWII in Sep­tem­ber 1940, but re-estab­lished as soon as ear­ly 1941 at some dis­tance from the coast because weath­er fore­casts were impor­tant for the mil­i­tary on both sides. Also the Ger­mans tried to estab­lish mete­o­ro­log­i­cal air­craft (hydroplanes), but lim­it­ed them­selves to reg­u­lar mete­o­ro­log­i­cal flights and weath­er ships from occu­pied Nor­way after some false attempts. Sup­port­ed by the Unit­ed King­dom, Nor­way kept the weath­er sta­tion active in Jøss­ing­dalen (see map above) and added a mil­i­tary gar­ri­son to „guar­an­tee“ the safe­ty of the sta­tion. Shots were occa­sion­al­ly fired from both sides when Ger­man air­craft flew over the sta­tion, but with­out any real dam­age or even loss of life on either side. But to Ger­man air­craft crashed into moun­tain slopes on Jan Mayen dur­ing the war years due to bad nav­i­ga­tion. Dur­ing lat­er years of WWII, the US Coast­guard estab­lished a sta­tion to detect and track down ene­my radio traf­fic. The Amer­i­cans and their sta­tion, called „Atlantic City“, were not far from their Nor­we­gian neigh­bours, until they left in 1946 as agreed with the exiled Nor­we­gian gov­ern­ment in Lon­don. The Nor­we­gians soon took over the build­ings of Atlantic City and used them as their tem­po­rary weath­er sta­tion until 1949, when they built a new, bet­ter one just next door. The new sta­tion („Gam­le Met­ten“, no 4 on map above) was fine, but very exposed to the occa­sion­al­ly vio­lent winds that can fall down from the glaciat­ed slopes of Beeren­berg. Extreme wind con­di­tions led to a trag­ic acci­dent when sta­tion leader Aksel Liberg was sim­ply blown away dur­ing an attempt to get to the mete­o­ro­log­i­cal instru­ments of the sta­tion. His frozen body was found days lat­er, only 150 meters from the sta­tion buildings!

In the late 1950s, the Nor­we­gian mil­i­tary built a sta­tion on the south side of the island, where it is still today. Its name is Olonk­in­byen (Olonkin City), after a sta­tion man­ag­er who spent some years on Jan Mayen dur­ing the 20th cen­tu­ry. The pur­pose of the sta­tion was to serve the mil­i­tary LORAN (Long range nav­i­ga­tion) sys­tem, which one would think is obso­lete in the days of GPS and rumours were that it was to be aban­doned dur­ing the years after 2000, but the rumours have gone and the sta­tion is still there (to my knowl­edge, the LORAN func­tion was put out of use in 2006, but the sta­tion and a crew of around 19 are def­i­nite­ly still there). In 1962, the weath­er sta­tion moved to the LORAN sta­tion, as it had to be rebuilt any­way and it made logis­ti­cal­ly sense to have one sta­tion rather than two. The weath­er sta­tion itself is, strict­ly speak­ing, short­ly north of the actu­al LORAN sta­tion, close towards the run­way, which is occa­sion­al­ly used by Nor­we­gian air­force Her­cules planes to sup­ply the sta­tion, but it is not open for pub­lic use.

Reg­u­la­tions: Before I briefly sum­ma­rize those parts of the reg­u­la­tions that came in 2010 (see below), I want to describe the sit­u­a­tion until then and make some com­ments .

Until 2010 , those few vis­i­tors who made it up to Jan Mayen could pret­ty much land any­where, depend­ing on wind, weath­er and sea (which meant that some did not land at all, oth­ers had to be hap­py with a few wet hours in Kval­ross­buk­ta and some lucky ones made it to a num­ber of inter­est­ing sites with­in a 1-2 day vis­it). F0r a few adven­tur­ous polar enthu­si­asts, it was logis­ti­cal­ly chal­leng­ing but legal­ly pos­si­ble to land some­where con­ve­nient to estab­lish a base camp some­where near Beeren­berg to hike and climb up to the sum­mit of the glaciat­ed vol­cano crater, 2277 above the wave-hid­den shores, to enjoy some mag­nif­i­cent views in a rare moment of clear skies. 

In late 2010, how­ev­er, the Nor­we­gian gov­ern­ment declared Jan Mayen a nature reserve, some­thing that is gen­er­al­ly to be wel­comed in the days of the fish­ing and oil indus­try putting more and more pres­sure onto the remotest areas. But it remains a mys­tery why Nor­we­gian author­i­ties con­sid­er the minia­ture tourism on Jan Mayen a threat to the envi­ron­ment. One can only guess that nobody seri­ous­ly does, the author of these lines is cer­tain they sim­ply don’t like it. Argu­ments giv­en by rel­e­vant author­i­ties dur­ing the hear­ing that was held before leg­is­la­tion final­ly came into force do hard­ly go beyond gen­er­al and rather weird state­ments that Jan Mayen is a poore­ly under­stood ecosys­tem that needs accord­ing­ly to be pro­tect­ed from risks unknown (and hard to imag­ine, one might add) based on a pre­cau­tion­ary prin­ci­ple. Of course also some­thing that is cer­tain­ly to be wel­comed: don’t let bad things hap­pen in the first place. The author finds it hard to argue against it. But the „pre­cau­tion­ary prin­ci­ple“ is sim­ply so over-stretched here that it can­not be described with any oth­er words but ridicu­lous. What harm should be done by putting up a few tents for a few days on dark vol­canic sand? What is the envi­ron­men­tal ben­e­fit in not let­ting rare ship-based vis­i­tors go ashore on often drift­wood-cov­ered beach­es to see, for exam­ple, the remains of the Aus­tri­an win­ter­ing sta­tion in Maria Muschbuk­ta, or the small mon­u­ment that was erect­ed at Koksslet­ta to com­mem­o­rate five Eng­lish sci­en­tists who died dur­ing a boat acci­dent in 1961. Of course, tram­pling boots may poten­tial­ly cause harm to veg­e­ta­tion (where present) or his­tor­i­cal sites, but expe­ri­ence from oth­er polar areas such as Antarc­ti­ca or Spits­ber­gen has shown that this can be done suc­cess­ful­ly with­out clos­ing large areas down (although Nor­we­gian author­i­ties have in recent years start­ed to imple­ment sim­i­lar­ly shi­z­o­phrenic legal action in Spits­ber­gen as well). Vis­i­tor num­bers could be lim­it­ed, camp­ing on veg­e­ta­tion can be pro­hib­it­ed, waste man­age­ment etc could be imple­ment­ed (and is imple­ment­ed, of course), dam­ag­ing plants and dis­turb­ing wildlife can be (and is) pro­hib­it­ed, min­i­mum dis­tances e.g. to impor­tant seabird breed­ing cliffs could be set etc. etc. there is sim­ply no need to close a fas­ci­nat­ing and unique place such as Jan Mayen almost com­plete­ly down for the pub­lic. Those few who actu­al­ly take the effort to sail up there to have a clos­er look at some sites for a cou­ple of hours, of even spend some days to climb up Beerenberg.

So, what came with the law no 1456 on Novem­ber 19, 2010 that is called „Forskrift om fred­ning av Jan Mayen natur­reser­vat“ ? The main points are: tourists are not allowed to go ashore or camp with­in the nature reserve (a strong con­trast to the way nature reserves are designed and man­aged so far in Spits­ber­gen). The nature reserve com­pris­es the whole island except the sta­tion area and a small­er area in Kval­ross­buk­ta. This means effec­tive­ly: you can land only at Kval­ross­buk­ta or at Båtvi­ka near the sta­tion. From there, you are actu­al­ly allowed to walk any­where you can, but you are not allowed to camp else­where either. As ship-based vis­i­tors will usu­al­ly nei­ther have enough time nor the abil­i­ty to walk very far, this means that most parts of Jan Mayen are effec­tive­ly closed off. The offi­cial version is (accord­ing to hear­ing doc­u­ments) that this is not the case: fol­low­ing this version, traf­fic is not banned, but only „chan­neled“, as you can actu­al­ly walk from the two remain­ing land­ing sites. But this is prac­ti­cal­ly vir­tu­al­ly impos­si­ble for most. The island is prac­ti­cal­ly almost com­plete­ly closed. Full stop.

Final­ly now the text of the 2010 law. As far as vis­i­tors are con­cerned, rel­e­vant parts include the fol­low­ing ones (trans­la­tion by the cur­rent author. No offi­cial translation):

Chap­ter 1 (§§1-3) describes the extent and pur­pose of the nature reserve.

§ 2 (excerpt): The „Jan Mayen nature reserve“ includes the whole island except a „busi­ness area“ (virk­somhet­som­råde) on the east side of the island (Olonk­in­byen (the LORAN sta­tion), the weath­er sta­tion and the run­way) and a small­er area in Kval­ross­buk­ta on the west side of the island … togeth­er with ter­ri­to­r­i­al waters except a small­er area at Båtvi­ka (the small bay near the sta­tion. Author).

§ 3 Aims (com­plete translation): The pur­pose of the pro­tec­tion is to pre­serve an almost untouched arc­tic island and near­by seas, includ­ing the sea bot­tom, with a unique land­scape, an active vol­canic sys­tem, spe­cial flo­ra and fau­na and many his­tor­i­cal rem­nants, and espe­cial­ly, to pro­tect the following:

• The island’s great and unique landscape
• The island’s pecu­liar vol­canic rocks and landscapes
• The island as an impor­tant habi­tat for seabirds
• The close rela­tion­ship between marine and ter­res­tri­al life
• The spe­cial ecol­o­gy that is devel­oped on iso­lat­ed islands
• The his­tor­i­cal per­spec­tive rep­re­sent­ed by cul­tur­al her­itage from all main peri­ods of Jan Mayen’s history
• The island and near­by marine area as a ref­er­ence area for reserach.

(author’s com­ment: who wouldn’t agree with all the above? Can any­one please tell me how occa­sion­al Zodi­ac land­ings with tourists walk­ing under super­vi­sion by guides with­in rather lim­it­ed areas and a few moun­taineers hik­ing up Beerenberg’s glaciat­ed slopes could do any harm to the above-men­tioned or any oth­er values?)

Chap­ter 2 (§4) goes into details regard­ing what is allowed and what not:

§ 4. Land­scape, nat­ur­al envi­ron­ment, flo­ra, fau­na, cul­tur­al her­itage, traf­fic and pol­lu­tion (com­plete­ly translated):

• Land­scape, nat­ur­al envi­ron­ment and cul­tur­al heritage
• No action may be tak­en that can affect the land­scape, nat­ur­al envi­ron­ment or cul­tur­al her­itage, includ­ing set­ting up build­ings, con­struc­tions … remov­ing drift­wood … build­ing roads, quays, air­fields, use of fish­ing gear that may dam­age the sea bot­tom, drainage or any oth­er way of set­ting areas dry, drilling, explo­sions or sim­i­lar and removal of min­er­als or oil.
• Nobody may dam­age, dig out, move, remove, change, cov­er, hide or deface lose or fast cul­tur­al her­itage or start action that includes a risk of such tak­ing places.
• The reg­u­la­tions of pt. 1.1 do not restrict the following:
• use of per­mit­ted fish­ing gear at sea except equip­ment that may cause sig­nif­i­cant dam­age to the sea bottom
• nec­es­sary main­tainance of the exist­ing road between Olonkinbyen/airfield and Kvalrossbukta
• nec­es­sary main­tainance of the exist­ing road/track between Trongskarkrys­set og Gam­le Metten 
• local use of drift­wood for main­tainance and heat­ing of exist­ing huts on the island and small­er campfires.

Points 2 and 3 of § 4 are fol­low­ing­ly briefly sum­ma­rized by the author: Pt. 2 of § 4 deals with flo­ra and fau­na, which is pro­tect­ed against all dam­age, destruc­tion and dis­tur­bance of any kind unless caused by legal traf­fic. No new species of ani­mals or plants, includ­ing genet­i­cal­ly mod­i­fied species, may be intro­duced. Point 2.3 of § 4 spec­i­fies excep­tions for fish­ing, which is per­mit­ted as spec­i­fied by rel­e­vant Nor­we­gian author­i­ties (fish­ing and coastal depart­ments) as long as it does not dam­age the sea bottom. Pt. 3 of § 4 deals with his­tor­i­cal sites. All arte­facts and traces from human activ­i­ty which is old­er than 1946 is auto­mat­i­cal­ly pro­tect­ed. Younger arte­facts may also be pro­tect­ed, this is for exam­ple the case with Gam­le Met­ten, the sta­tion used after WWII. „Pro­tect­ed“ means that every­thing that might poten­tial­ly change the arte­fact and sur­round­ing site is for­bid­den. Every­thing means real­ly every­thing. Period. 

Pt. 4 of § 4 (com­plete):

• Traf­fic (non-motor­ized and motorized)
• All traf­fic shall take place in a way that does not dam­age or in any way dimin­ish the nat­ur­al envi­ron­ment or cul­tur­al her­itage or leads to unnec­es­sary dis­tur­bance of animals.
• Putting up tents and camp­ing is only allowed for the sta­tion crew and their visitors.
• Land­ing per­sons with boats is not allowed inside the nature reserve. The sta­tion com­man­der may in spe­cial cas­es give per­mis­sion to land inside the nature reserve.
• Land­ings with air­craft is pro­hib­it­ed inside the nature reserve. From April 01 to August 31 it is, beyond nec­es­sary traf­fic to and from busi­ness areas, pro­hib­it­ed to fly clos­er than 1 nau­ti­cal mile from con­cen­tra­tions of birds or mam­mals. In the same peri­od, it is pro­hib­it­ed to use a ship’s horn, fire a gun or make any oth­er loud noise with­in 1 nau­ti­cal mile from bird colonies.
• Motor­ized traf­fic is lim­it­ed to vehi­cles that belong to the sta­tion and only on tracks and roads marked on the attached map.
• Pts. 1.1 and 4.5 do not restrict use of alter­na­tive routes in con­nec­tion to nec­es­sary offi­cial traf­fic („nød­vendig nyt­tekjøring“), if exist­ing roads and tracks as shown on the map can­not be used due to spe­cial weath­er- or wind situations.
• Pt. 4.5 does not restrict traf­fic with snow mobile or tracked vehi­cles on frozen and snow-cov­ered ground
• for trans­port­ing goods to the sta­tion if the weath­er requires ships to anchor at oth­er places than Båtvika
• for inspec­tion and main­tainance of installations
• for trans­port con­nect­ed to main­tainance and deliv­ery of fuels and pro­vi­sions to exist­ing huts away from roads
• for get­ting to the huts dur­ing week­ends and sim­i­lar occa­sions for recre­ation of the sta­tion crew.
• Author­i­ties can prohibit/regulate any traf­fic in the whole nature reserve or parts of it, if con­sid­ered nec­es­sary to avoid dis­tur­bance of wildlife or dam­age of veg­e­ta­tion or cul­tur­al heritage.

Pt. 5 of § 4 deals with pol­lu­tion, which is obvi­ous­ly most­ly pro­hib­it­ed. The remain­ing §§ (8-12) reg­u­late gen­er­al dis­pen­sa­tions for author­i­ties, admin­is­tra­tion, sanc­tions (fines or impris­on­ment up to 1 year) and imple­men­ta­tion (imme­di­ate­ly on Novem­ber 19, 2010). Maps attached. 

Chap­ter III (§§5-6) deals with excemp­tions, which are giv­en to, for exam­ple, author­i­ties includ­ing police, mil­i­tary and res­cue ser­vices. Per­mis­sion to move around etc. can also be giv­en in spe­cial cas­es for sci­en­tif­ic or oth­er reasons.

Chap­ter IV (§§7-9) spec­i­fies admin­is­tra­tive aspects includ­ing com­pe­tence etc.

Chap­ter V (§§10-12) makes sure you will be giv­en a hard time if you break the reg­u­la­tions (fine or impris­on­ment up to 1 year) and puts the law into force on Novem­ber 19, 2010.

Click here to read the com­plete orig­i­nal Nor­we­gian text of the law 1456 of Novem­ber 19, 2010: „Forskrift om fred­ning av Jan Mayen naturreservat“

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Greenland Tours & Vacations

About 4,500 years ago, early man migrated thousands of perilous miles from Canada into Greenland.

And when they got there and saw the ice-covered mountains, glaciers and resident polar bears, they stopped and said ‘Yep, this looks like the spot.’ And who can blame them? It may be cold, but the unfenced wilderness of the world’s biggest (and least populated) island is worth wearing a scarf 11 months of the year for. Although technically still part of Denmark , Greenland is now self-governing and has a proud Inuit culture. And with no crowds, little crime and only a few roads to break up the endless ice flow, it’s easy to see the appeal (just don’t forget that scarf).

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Greenland at a glance

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Learn more about Greenland

Best time to visit greenland.

Generally the summer months of June, July and August are the time to see Greenland, but it does depend what you’re looking for. At midyear the country isn’t as chilly as it can be (temperatures can rise as high as a sweltering 60°F…) and you’ll get to experience the phenomenon of the midnight sun. Of course, if it’s the night lights of the aurora borealis you’re after, the time to go is definitely October through to March, when temperatures can plummet to well below freezing. Pack accordingly.

Geography and environment

When 84 per cent of your country is covered in the world’s largest ice sheet (and the rest is classed as permafrost), geography may seem kind of self-explanatory. But Greenland’s coastal fringes are where most of the magic happens. Plunging fjords, rocky promontories, trundling glaciers calving off into the Labrador Sea. Most of the settlements along the western coast are colorful wooden houses painted every color of the rainbow. Towns and settlements are virtually cut-off from each other (roads are very rare in Greenland), so most trade and movement is done by sea and air.

Top 5 wildlife experiences in Greenland

1. humpback whale.

Humpback whales migrate to the cooler waters of the Arctic to feed each year. It’s a mammoth journey, often spanning thousands of miles (and all at traveling just a few miles per hour). That’s probably why humpbacks like to blow off a bit of steam in Greenland. Around Aasiaat, Qeqertarsuaq and Sisimiut between April and November it’s not an uncommon sight to see a 30-tonne humpback leaping clear out of the water.

In the Middle Ages, Inuits and Norse tribesmen would trade narwhal horns for fabulous sums (they were the marine equivalent of a unicorn). Thankfully the horn trade is over and these beautiful toothed whales can swim and eat in peace. They’re usually found in Melville Bay and around Qaanaaq, where their spiralling three-metre tusk can be seen poking through the surface of the water.

3. Polar bear

This is the world’s largest land predator, and the chances of seeing one increase when you’re on the water. Cruising along the coast of west or north-east Greenland is your best shot at spotting one of these creatures, but don’t hold your breath – they can be quite aloof. But the good news is that if they are out there, they are quite easy to see due to their off-white fur standing out against the snow-white ice.

4. Arctic fox

Technically there are two types of Arctic fox in Greenland – the classic white and the blue. Both species change color depending on the season in order to blend in with the rocky landscape and the polar ice sheet. Arctic foxes live on an almost exclusive diet of lemmings – so when lemming populations drop, so do the number of foxes. Thankfully numbers are strong, and the Arctic fox isn’t a threatened species.

5. White-tailed eagle

Don’t forget to look up every now and then: Greenland has a huge and colorful variety of birdlife. The biggest and most striking bird is the white-tailed eagle (known as the nattoralik in Greenlandic). You’ll usually find them circling along the west coast down to Cape Farewell, hoping to find a cod, char or smaller sea bird to stoop. These birds are as rare as they are beautiful, and are officially a protected species in Greenland.

Greenland travel FAQs

Do i need a visa in greenland.

Australia: No - not required Belgium: No - not required Canada: No - not required Germany: No - not required Ireland: No - not required Netherlands: No - not required New Zealand: No - not required South Africa: Yes - required in advance Switzerland: No - not required United Kingdom: No - not required USA: No - not required

Is tipping customary in Greenland?

Not really. For restaurants and hotels, a service charge is usually included in the bill. Tipping won’t be expected, but it is sure to be appreciated when offered.

What is internet access like in Greenland?

You can thank undersea optic cables running from Europe for Greenland’s great internet connectivity. Around 93 percent of the population has access to the web. And it’s highly likely your accommodation will have Wi-Fi.

Can I use my mobile/cell phone in Greenland?

You sure can. There’s only one phone provider in Greenland, TELE Greenland, but most villages will have good 3G coverage. Note that data roaming charges are international (as Greenland is technically outside the EU) and much higher than usual.

What are the toilets like in Greenland?

Most Greenland villages and cities have modern and fully functional flush toilets, which are widely available.

Can I drink the water in Greenland?

Tap water is safe to drink throughout Greenland. You can even drink the water in the rivers and lakes – nothing better than pure glacial melt water.

Are credit cards widely accepted in Greenland?

Major credit cards will be accepted at most restaurants, hotels and shops. Major supermarkets will also give cash out, but if you’re venturing into the smaller settlements, carry cash as a backup (card readers are often broken).

What is ATM access like in Greenland?

ATM access is good in the major towns and settlements, but most holes-in-the-wall will close at about 6pm. You can also withdraw money in banks and post offices.

Do I need to purchase travel insurance before traveling?

Absolutely. All passengers traveling with Intrepid are required to purchase travel insurance before the start of their trip. Your travel insurance details will be recorded by your leader on the first day of the trip. Due to the varying nature, availability and cost of health care around the world, travel insurance is very much an essential and necessary part of every journey.

For more information on insurance, please go to: Travel Insurance

How do I stay safe and healthy while traveling?

From Australia?

Go to: Smart Traveller

From Canada?

Go to:  Canada Travel Information

From the UK?

Go to:  UK Foreign Travel Advice

From New Zealand?

Go to:  Safe Travel

From the US?

Go to:  US Department of State

The World Health Organisation also provides useful health information.

Does my trip support The Intrepid Foundation?

Yes, all Intrepid trips support the Intrepid Foundation. Trips to this country directly support our global Intrepid Foundation partners, Eden Reforestation Projects and World Bicycle Relief. Intrepid will double the impact by dollar-matching all post-trip donations made to The Intrepid Foundation.

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Eden Reforestation Projects are helping to mitigate climate change by restoring forests worldwide; they also hire locally and create job opportunities within vulnerable communities. Donations from our trips support restoration across planting sites in 10 countries around the globe. Find out more or make a donation World Bicycle Relief

World Bicycle Relief provides people in low-income communities with bicycles to mobilize school kids, health workers, and farmers in far-out areas – giving them access to vital education, healthcare, and income. Donations help provide Buffalo Bicycles – specifically designed to withstand the rugged terrain and harsh environment of rural regions – to those who need them most. Find out more or make a donation

A visit to the fascinating island of Jan Mayen

by Iain Rudkin Blog

Regions: Arctic

Highlights: Jan Mayen

After exploring the remote island of Fair Isle, our Atlantic Odyssey voyage once more turned its attentions northwards and left the outer extremities of the UK behind. Our destination was Jan Mayen , a volcanic island situated on the mid-Atlantic ridge just north of 71° (about 550 kilometers north of Iceland and 450 kilometers east of Greenland ).

Jan Mayen is reputedly shrouded in mist the vast majority of the time so it was a very pleasant surprise to see the conical crater appearing over the horizon. Over eighty nautical miles away and completely cloud free.

© Karen Mulders -  Jan Mayen landing beach 

Brief history of Jan Mayen

Jan Mayen was recorded in early manuscripts from Norse and Irish travellers but was first occupied in the 17 th  century by English and Dutch whalers. It was visited infrequently till the 1900’s and then in 1906 Norwegian trappers and hunters inhabited the island seeking the blue Arctic fox for its fur.

In 1921 a meteorological station was established and since then, the island has been continually occupied. It was officially annexed to Norway in 1930 and shortly after was the only part of Norway not under German occupation, despite a number of attempts. Now, it is run by the Norwegian military and supports meteorological science year round.

Landing Båtvika, at the southern part of Jan Mayen

The Zodiacs left the ship and headed towards Båtvika (The Boat Cove), a bay lying on the eastern coast close to the Norwegian base. Even setting off in reasonably calm seas was no guarantee of getting ashore as even a small swell out at seas can dump large waves on the steeply sloping shoreline making for a tricky landing. We need not have worried. An idyllic cove fringed with ash black sand little troubled by the gently lapping water greeted us. Also there to greet us was an assembly of Norwegian base staff eager to welcome us onto and show off their island in the sun.

Volcanic landscape

A steady stream of passengers followed our initial Zodiac disembarking with ease and steadily made their way northwards along the islands only road. Many stopped for some retail therapy at the base shop and nearly all explored the landscape beyond the base. The volcanic history of the island is evident all around and reminded me of islands in the South Shetlands . Jan Mayen can be approximated into two halves. The northern half of the island, Nørd Jan, is where Beerenburg the northernmost active volcano in the world lies. It has a classic ’Mount Fuji’ shape to it and sports a nice caldera when viewed from the satellite imagery. The southern end is no less volcanic but is a confusion of lava flows, striated hillsides and cinder cones.

© Oceanwide Expeditions - Beautiful Jan Mayen Panorama The two sections are separated by a narrow isthmus of land sometimes less than 3 kilometres wide. One of the more magical experiences was when one paused and took in the volume of the kittiwake’s calls echoing from the cliffs above the road. Turning seaward, the beaches were lined with driftwood debris in the form of logs separated from their Siberian loggers and ships flotsam as well as buoys from the fishing industry.

Sailing North

After an uneventful departure, we weighed anchor and departed Jan Mayen under darkening skies with poor weather encroaching from the south. The Plancius worked its way along the spectacular coast of Nørd Jan. Stratified volcanic cliffs could be scoured through binoculars for a myriad of seabirds until our attention was diverted to a pair of humpbacks . Lovely evening light on the summit of Beerenburg dispatched us north in search of the ice.

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• Small Ship Cruises
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• Greg Mortimer
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Jewels of the Arctic

• Explore Longyearbyen
• Encounter Svalbard
• Explore Ittoqqortoormiit
• Enjoy viewing wildlife

Arctic Ocean - Aberdeen, Fair Isle, Jan Mayen, Ice Edge, Spitsbergen, Birding

• Spot white-beaked dolphins
• Discover Aberdeen
• Experience Fair Isle
• Witness the midnight sun

Jewels of the Arctic: Greenland Solar Eclipse

• Witness the solar eclipse
• Encounter Svalbard wildlife
• Visit Ittoqqortoormiit village
• Experience Greenland’s wildlife

Northern Lights Explorer

• Discover Vega Island
• Explore Greenland’s Scoresbysund
• Visit Iceland’s remote Westfjords
• Witness Aurora Borealis

Arctic Ocean - Fair Isle, Jan Mayen, Ice Edge, Spitsbergen, Birding

• Explore Aberdeen
• Experience Fair Isle's charm
• Explore Jan Mayen

Arctic Ocean - Aberdeen, Fair Isle, Jan Mayen, Ice edge, Spitsbergen, Birding

• Discover Fowlsheugh
• Witness Forlandsundet

The Far North from Spitsbergen to Iceland

• Explore Spitsbergen
• Visit Ny-Alesund
• Discover Jan Mayen

Arctic Saga: Exploring Spitsbergen via the Faroes and Jan Mayen

• Discover Fair Isle
• Experience Faroe Islands

Ultimate Arctic Voyage: From Svalbard to Jan Mayen to Iceland

• Explore Helsinki
• Discover Spitsbergen
• Experience Greenland Sea

Cruise from Iceland to Svalbard

• Explore Reykjavik
• Visit Dynjandi Waterfall
• Visit the Arctic Circle
• Discover Hrisey Island
• Explore Husavik
• Visit Jan Mayen Island and Svalbard

Arctic Adventure

• Sail across towering glaciers
• Witness Jan Mayen's Beerenberg vol
• Witness diverse Arctic wildlife
• Navigate majestic Arctic fjords

Crossing the Arctic Circle, Jan Mayen & Svalbard

• Enjoy Edinburg's unique charm
• Explore St. Magnus Cathedral
• Explore Spitsbergen & its wildlife
• Visit Kirkjubøur

Arctic Cruise Adventure: In Search of the Polar Bear

• Sail on a Arctic cruise adventure
• Explore Ny Alesund's and Monacobree
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• Cruise along the edge of sea-ice
• Visit the volcanic Jan Mayen island
• Observe orca and minke whales
• Tour ancient circular stone towers

Arctic Travel Guide

• All Arctic Trips
• All Arctic Videos
• All Arctic Travel Stories
• Arctic Overview
• Wildlife Guide to Polar Regions
• When to Go on an Arctic Cruise?
• Comparing the Two Polar Regions: Antarctica and Arctic Cruising
• Cruise the Arctic Svalbard Islands
• Baffin Island
• Northwest Passage

Favorite Arctic All Trips

• Arctic Watch Discovery Experience
• Out of the Northwest Passage
• Beluga Whale Photography
• Arctic Char Fly Fishing
• High Arctic Muskoxen & Polar Bear Photography

Top Jan Mayen Travel Destinations

Top experiences in jan mayen.

• Jan Mayen Cruises (12)
• Jan Mayen Small Ship Cruises (9)
• Jan Mayen Wildlife & Safari Exploration (5)
• Jan Mayen Luxury (3)

Jan Mayen Trips by Duration

• 13 day trips (3)
• 15 day trips (3)

Jan Mayen Trips by Activity

• Jan Mayen wildlife viewing (12)
• Jan Mayen whale watching (8)
• Jan Mayen hiking (4)
• Jan Mayen kayaking (4)

Why Travel With Adventure Life

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