Saturday morning found us approaching one's of the world's most isolated islands. It's 460 kilometers from the nearest land (East Greenland). It was not part of the original itinerary, but since the ice was too thick to be able to do some of the planned stops in Greenland, this became a fairly obvious goal.
A tiny, 34-mile-long speck in the Arctic Sea, Jan Mayen is dominated by Mount Beerenberg, the world's northernmost subaerial active volcano, and the only active volcano in Norway.
Jan Mayen has long served as a vital point in the international weather scene, with a full time weather station. It played an important role during WWII, as it was so isolated that it was hard for the Germans to sabotage it. Norway still maintains an active weather station on the island, with some 16 staffers, plus an airstrip.
The tides were running too high for the planned shore excursion, but we got LOTS of pics, even though we stayed on board. Sheila's still got that pesky cold.
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