Bouvetøya lies some 1,600 km south west of the Cape of Good Hope, on the southern extremity of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. As with the other islands on this feature, it is volcanic and numerous eruptions are known to have taken place here. Other islands are reputed to have been sighted in the vicinity, such as Lindsay and Thompson. The latter is now believed to have been destroyed by a volcanic explosion in 1895.

Nevertheless, Bouvetøya can be considered the most remote island on the planet: now that sealing and whaling have ceased in the Southern Ocean, it is only rarely visited by man.

I shall stopover en route to Inaccessible Island.

blog comments powered by Disqus