An almost perfect cone emerges from the mist, so regular you would think it had been drawn. It is Sarychev Peak, 1,496 metres, one of the most active volcanoes in the entire Kuril arc, and it alone occupies the northern half of Matua. The rest of the island, a windswept moor in the centre of the archipelago between the Sea of Okhotsk and the Pacific, only appears later, as the ship draws closer. Here, no one awaits you on a pier. Matua is to be contemplated and earned, and it can only be approached if the weather, the swell and the permits all allow it.

A Port of Call With Conditions

Only rare expedition ships sail these waters, and a landing is never guaranteed. The island has housed a Russian military installation since 2017, and access ashore, when it happens, remains supervised: designated areas, mandatory escort, a program adjusted from day to day. Many passengers will therefore experience this encounter from the deck, binoculars in hand. That is no hardship: few panoramas in the North Pacific compare with this volcano rising from the water, draped in clouds clinging to its crater.

The Volcano Seen Around the World

In June 2009, Sarychev erupted with rare violence: an ash plume rising to some 14 kilometres, pyroclastic flows racing down to the sea. Astronauts photographed the mushroom cloud piercing the cloud layer from space, and the image was published on every continent. Sailing along the coast, you can still read this recent past in the grey slopes, fresh gullies and tongues of rock frozen on contact with the water. Vegetation is reclaiming the ground in patches, with the stubbornness of subarctic lands.

The Fortress Swallowed by Grass

The island's human history reads like a novel. Once inhabited by the Ainu, who gave it its name, the island was turned into a fortress by Japan during the Second World War: a garrison of 7,000 to 8,000 men, an airstrip of about 1,330 metres, underground tunnels, bunkers. In August 1945, the garrison surrendered to Soviet troops. Russian expeditions conducted in 2016 and 2017 identified nearly a hundred structures left by this occupation. Today, these remains belong mostly to the realm of storytelling: visiting them depends entirely on the arrangements in effect at the time, and many port calls are limited to making out their lines from the sea, trenches and embankments highlighted by the low-angled light.

Life at Wave Level

In these cold, rich waters, the wildlife never disappoints. Clouds of seabirds escort the ship, mainly fulmars and kittiwakes, while groups of puffins beat the water as it approaches. With patience, you can spot seals on the rocks and, on some days, the blow of a whale between two whitecaps. The show runs continuously, with no schedule, turning every hour on deck into a wildlife-watching session.

Gearing Up for the Deck

Matua is experienced outdoors, and the Kuril climate is unforgiving: frequent fog, constant wind, cool temperatures even in summer. The essentials can be summed up in a few words — a serious windbreaker, warm layers, binoculars and a camera protected from spray. Those lucky enough to board a Zodiac will add waterproof boots and a dry bag, remembering that the program can change an hour beforehand.

What Remains Offshore

When the island becomes a silhouette again, then a mere shadow under its cap of clouds, everyone keeps a different image: the cone of Sarychev, a grass-covered trench, a flight of puffins skimming the water. Matua belongs to no collection of ordinary ports of call. It is one of a handful of places that very few travellers have seen with their own eyes, and that is exactly what gives it its weight in a travel memory.