Little time had been spent in the water since arriving at the island. We had one failed attempt to swim with a humpback that kept out swimming us (whales are good swimmers), and one occasion we had to swim a rope ashore to ensure a safe landing.
The final day of the final hour before sailing south had arrived. It was time to get the dry suit on, and get into the water. Not the most spectacular dive I have done, but it still satisfied my curiosity of what it would look like under water in this arctic oasis. The water was as warm as it gets in the region, just above 3 degrees Celsius.
My initial thought upon spotting the skeleton on the seabed was that it had to be the one of a sheep. With the closest living sheep being 500 kilometers away in Iceland, I have later revised my theory. It is probably a seal skeleton that is seen lying on the black volcanic sand.
I took the sighting of the skeleton as a sign to turn the scooter around to head east towards Jan Mayen again. I was a happy captain being reunited with Barba after about 40 minutes in the water. We immediately set sail towards Shetland, watching Beerenberg and Jan Mayen disappear in the horizon.
