After all
the fog yesterday, this morning the sun and a clear horizon welcomed us when we
got up. Nevertheless life appeared slowly today. Maybe because of another hour
of time change – a "lost" hour – last night.
But then
all of a sudden there was a lot of chatting onboard. Our Chinese guests were
eagerly awaiting our first landing: Jan Mayen.
Steffen
gave an introduction to the volcanic island, and when the passengers saw the
first few photographs of erupting volcanoes they were a kind of cheerful.
Jan Mayen
is regarded being active, even though there are no eruptions at the moment,
giving us the chance for a landing. Which is in general a rare event, to be
able to land on Jan Mayen.
When we
came closer it turned out that the East coast showed too much swell for small
boats. So we chose plan B which was at landing at the western side at Walrus
Bay.
The head of
the Norwegian Station on Jan Mayen had been driving over to our landing site to
welcome us very friendly.
From a hill
and a ridge behind the bay and a few Norwegian shelter buildings there was a
great view on this volcanic landscape. Volcanic ashes all over the place. But
since the last eruption dates back to the 70s there were also extended green
areas with moss and grass and some flowering plants. From time to time all this
disappeared in dense very low clouds that were blown across the bay. That way
we didn't get to see the highest volcano of the island, named Beerenberg, which
is 2277 m high.
Still, we
had an afternoon with lots of fascinating impressions. Including lots of
Fulmars and Puffins, that were nesting on a cliff and a high slope above the
bay.
After four
hours we left to head for Svalbard.
