10 ms·

Obscure islands I find interesting

552 points by venusgirdle 2y ago

closewith 2y ago
Wonderful site in mobile.
- rozap 2y ago
  We don't need apps. We just need site to behave like this one.
Applejinx 2y ago
[flagged]
mrbluecoat 2y ago
Palmyra Atoll looks beautiful. Smooth zoom animation on my Android mobile
achillesheels 2y ago
What about the Pitcairn Islands?
- BeetleB 2y ago
  Pitcairn is anything but obscure. It's very famous (and notorious in the 90's).
1970-01-01 2y ago
Author should also find the Alaskan archipelagos interesting. The city of Unalaska is ancient. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unalaska,_Alaska https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unalaska,_Alaska https://web.archive.org/web/20090930132651/http://www.unalaska.info/history.htm/ https://web.archive.org/web/20090930132651/http://www.unalas...
kmoser 2y ago
The "Cosmic Zoom" [1] style animations are really well done. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgfwCrKe_Fk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgfwCrKe_Fk
mojomark 2y ago
Well, I enjoyed my last 20 minutes perusing such hidden gems as "christmas island", "just room enough island", and my personal favorite - "the world's most recursive island" in Canada. Well done - saved and shared :)
- ncruces 2y ago
  Yeah, totally: recursive wins.
- mkl 2y ago
  You might like this article involving another recursive island: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/moose-boulder-debunked https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/moose-boulder-debunked, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22674342 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22674342 (103 comments in 2020, including by the subject of the article)
  - mojomark 2y ago
    That's great, thanks for the read. I feel like there should be a bounty for finding Moose Boulder now (at the end of the story the adventurer is headed back at some point just to be sure he didn't miss it on his first go-round where he was undoubtedly pre-occupied with being terribly lost). I'm sure that bounty would never be claimed... but never say never.
jusujusu 2y ago
My favorite, not on the list, is Fakaofo atoll. It even has a shipwreck, visible on google maps.
mmanfrin 2y ago
Adding a fact to Midway island: it is part of the Hawaiian archipelago, and all the islands in the chain both before it and after it are part of the Hawaiian state, but Midway is not. It is considered an 'insular area'.
anotheryou 2y ago
really needs a "back to all islands" button :)
- skrebbel 2y ago
  scroll the map a bit
  - anotheryou 2y ago
    I tried, mabe a firefox issue
physhster 2y ago
Johnston Atoll belongs there https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnston_Atoll https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnston_Atoll
Mistletoe 2y ago
That huge volcano on Tristan da Cunha makes me nervous. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Mary%27s_Peak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Mary%27s_Peak
doodlebugging 2y ago
When they mention the Sentinelese who inhabit North Sentinel Island in the Indian Ocean as being uncontacted they have to ignore the shipwreck in the inlet on the northwest end of the island. I'm guessing that the mariners who found themselves on the island did not make a very good first impression as representatives of the larger outside world and that this contributed to the hostility towards outsiders that the Sentinelese exhibit. I know there was a bible-thumper a few years back who found himself skewered while trying to help the North Sentinelese find Jesus. That seems like a predictable outcome when you consider that the inhabitants have to be closer to everything that is real and important on their island than we modern people will ever be and likely have their constructs about how the world works so they don't need someone else's Jesus to keep them grounded. Interestingly enough, the only place where I saw any clear indication that the island was inhabited was on the north end of the island near the inlet where the ship is run aground and sunk. Just north of the tree line you can clearly see a well-worn path leading from the woods east of the wreck to the inlet. I'll bet they keep a weather eye out for any new contraptions not of their own making.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- davidw 2y ago
  Path on North Sentinel island: https://www.google.com/maps/@11.5920005,92.2195112,225a,35y,317.44h,23.27t/data=!3m1!1e3!5m1!1e4?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDIwNS4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D https://www.google.com/maps/@11.5920005,92.2195112,225a,35y,...
  - doodlebugging 2y ago
    Thanks for doing something I should've done myself. Popping out to Google Maps gives a higher resolution view of the island and with that one can easily pick out a network of trails around the island though I haven't seen clear indications of settlements yet. I think you can even see on the east side of the island at least one man-made fish trap similar to those found in other parts of the world. It's clear that they travel all over the island making use of the resources available. I wonder whether anyone has reported seeing them swim. Some of the trails lead to small inlets and across to small islets on the perimeter which are now isolated from the main island. Anyway, thanks for this post. It enhances the comment above.
CarVac 2y ago
The recursive island in lake pin is not quite in the right spot, the real one is to the east. That said, this is the first online satellite map I've seen that actually has enough detail to resolve said island.
kilroy123 2y ago
I love it. This is so my thing! I've spent hours and hours on the map virtually, hopping around weird random islands and atolls. I'm obsessed with weird Islands, and I've been to many: in the Caribbean, Mauritius, Cannarys, Madeiras, Malta, Antarctica, Svalbard, and many across SE Asia. My wish list: - Midway Atoll - Pitcairn Islands - Easter Island - Faroe Islands - Wrangel Island - Sao Tome - Chatham Island I could go on for a long time.
- leptons 2y ago
  Same, Google Earth has been a rabbit hole for me. One of my favorites is Caroline Island in Kiribati (no, never been there) https://www.google.com/maps/place/Caroline+Island/@-9.95855,-150.2932798,21526m https://www.google.com/maps/place/Caroline+Island/@-9.95855,... If I were a billionaire, I'd be on my boat headed there just to see what it's like. There's nothing there, but it looks amazing from above. I've seen a few videos of people visiting it, but I still want to go there.
  - ghosty141 2y ago
    I also kinda love the thought of seeing untouched nature, like there have probably only been a handful of people there.
  - spoonfeeder006 2y ago
    Try millionaire. If you were a billionaire your whole conscience would have been snuffed into lifelessness from all the economic exploitation you've engaged in to get there, and thus you wouldn't be able to find any deep meaning in the experience No one deserves or can benefit from $1B beyond the shimmera of delusional self-aggrandizement
- 0xEF 2y ago
  Do you keep a blog? I'd love to read it, if so.
- morphle 2y ago
  Bouvet island Gravett Island [1] Rottum Rottumerplaat [2,3] Mysterious Island [4] Lost Island [5,6] [1] https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Gravett_Island https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Gravett_Island [2] Dutch writers visit deserted island https://nos.nl/nieuwsuur/artikel/2308321-terug-naar-rottumerplaat-jan-wolkers-rende-naakt-over-het-eiland https://nos.nl/nieuwsuur/artikel/2308321-terug-naar-rottumer... [3] https://www.staatsbosbeheer.nl/wat-we-doen/nieuws/2021/07/rottumerplaat-50-jaar-later https://www.staatsbosbeheer.nl/wat-we-doen/nieuws/2021/07/ro... [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mysterious_Island https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mysterious_Island [5] https://store.steampowered.com/app/1691800/Lost_Island__ARK_Expansion_Map/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/1691800/Lost_Island__ARK_... [6] https://lostpedia.fandom.com/wiki/The_Island https://lostpedia.fandom.com/wiki/The_Island
adolph 2y ago
In the notes about St Tristan de Cunha, “youngest English accent” does that mean the most recently split from England accents? Does that exclude Antarctic English? Tristan's isolation is also the reason it has the world's youngest English accent, which is notably distinct from standard British English. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Atlantic_English https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Atlantic_English https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_English https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_English
spacecadet 2y ago
If you like this stuff, this is a great little book for the coffee table or bathroom: https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2016/01/08/fifty-islands-i-have-not-visited/ https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2016/01/08/fifty-islands...
- Blahah 2y ago
  A dear friend sent me this years ago and, more than any other book (maybe tied with https://ldngraffiti.co.uk/media/street-fonts https://ldngraffiti.co.uk/media/street-fonts) it has brought me and many visitors great joy and inspiration.
sponaugle 2y ago
The wikipedia page for the Tristan da Cuhna island is really interesting. It is amazing that a small population was able to survive there over such a large period of time with just occasional ship access (sometimes years apart). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan_da_Cunha https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan_da_Cunha The entire population was evacuated in 1961 due to the eruption of the mountain on the island, but most people made it back to the island in 1963. Also interesting that just recently got Starlink internet. Very cool.
- ilamont 2y ago
  These isolated populations have higher incidence of genetic diseases. From the Wikipedia page you cited: There are instances of health problems attributed to endogamy, including glaucoma. In addition, there is a very high (42%) incidence of asthma among the population, and research by Noe Zamel of the University of Toronto has led to discoveries about the genetic nature of the disease. Three of the original settlers of the island had asthma.
karaterobot 2y ago
A related, really excellent book: Atlas of Remote Islands by Judith Schalansky. I see that the hardcover is now $66, which is unfortunate because that's the way to read it. It's beautiful!
- Plankaluel 2y ago
  Thank you for the tip! I just bought the (german) original which is fortunately still in print and very affordable as a hard cover.
  - karaterobot 2y ago
    Awesome, hope you like it!
- ttepasse 2y ago
  I came here to recommend it – I also got it in German. One of those beautiful books, where you're thankful for the printing industry.
- run_rock 2y ago
  Worth a try to see if your local library has it. Thanks fully mine does, placed a hold.
- paulcapewell 2y ago
  came here to say this. It's a wonderful book!
kneel 2y ago
20°37'34.0"S 166°18'20.1"E
- gavin_gee 2y ago
  well done
- doodlebugging 2y ago
  A long time ago I encountered someone that I didn't fancy who was looking for this. I wish I had known that it existed. Many thanks.
  - defrost 2y ago
    Might be Pen Island?
speckx 2y ago
Regarding Tristan da Cunha. I've been meaning to read “Three years in Tristan da Cunha by Katherine Mary Barrow”, see https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/8213 https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/8213. It's a first-hand account, written in a diary format with dated entries, providing a look at life in this remote British settlement during the early 1900s.
Pedro_Ribeiro 2y ago
Incredible site! Thanks for posting.
Neuronaut 2y ago
The island of Socotra in Yemen is also a unique island with endemic species. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socotra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socotra
- Ruarl 2y ago
  Glad to see someone else giving Socotra a shout. Fascinating place.
  - Neuronaut 2y ago
    You bet, here's a quote from Wiki: > Due to the island's unusual geography, it has been described as “the most alien-looking place on Earth”.
BerislavLopac 2y ago
One of my favourites is missing from the list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deception_Island https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deception_Island
contingencies 2y ago
I discovered a natural, tropical island which really exists, has good height above water and is available for purchase but is not visible on Google Maps satellite view.
dieantwoord 2y ago
Tokelau https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokelau https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokelau One of my favourite obscure islands (haven't been there). Very remote. If you've ever seen a .tk domain, this TLD is from this island.
somishere 2y ago
Inchconnachan is one of the more interesting desert islands I came across while living in Scotland. My introduction to its local inhabitants, expat Antipodeans like myself, was wildly unexpected. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inchconnachan https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inchconnachan
- naves 2y ago
  Truly unexpected. Thanks for sharing!
Jun8 2y ago
This was very interesting info and the site design is awesome. We always dream of going to distant planets and stars but Earth itself has so many weird, beautiful, and interesting places. I’ve added “living for an extended period of time, eg a year on Devon Island” to my list of To Do Someday list! Sure, it drops to -50C, but living there alone would be closest to being The Martian. Is there any way to live there self sufficiently you think? Assume you have money to buy latest tech and bring it there: a few m^2 of solar cells, battery, small hut made of highly insulating material. What else?
- defrost 2y ago
  It's not clear that anyone ever lived there in a self sufficient manner: An outpost was established at Dundas Harbour in 1924, and it was leased to Hudson's Bay Company nine years later. The collapse of fur prices led to the dispersal of 52 Baffin Island Inuit families on the island in 1934. It was considered a disaster due to wind conditions and the much colder climate, and the Inuit chose to leave in 1936. Dundas Harbour was populated again in the late 1940s, but it was closed again in 1951. Only the ruins of a few buildings remain today. ~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devon_Island https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devon_Island The fur trapping may have been sustained by barrels of pickled fish and the Inuit families that remained left within 24 months following economic collapse. Today, with a cash injection, training for Mars, Moon, Asteroids, it's been attempted a few times (see Wikipedia). You'd want energy storage for the long dark, well insulated greenhouses for the short growing season, small animals for company and perhaps heat and food, it's a tough environment. A big challenge to living there indefinitely with no resupply is growing food during the dark times. You might get by with enough wind turbines to power artifical grow lights. Until you need parts.
dinkumthinkum 2y ago
This is a nice example of using maps to tell a kind of story. Many people try but over-complicate it.
suzzer99 2y ago
Here's a question I have that maybe one of the random experts we have on HN can answer: In Castaway, Tom Hanks estimates that for the searchers to find him, they'd have to be searching an area the size of Texas. I think later Helen Hunt says he was even farther out of their search zone than he thought. But let's just say it's the size of Texas or even twice the size of Texas. Are there so many tiny islands in that part of the Pacific that you can't just do a quick fly-by of all of them to see if someone has written HELP on the beach? Are there islands that size that we're on any maps in 2000? Seems unlikely with satellite imagery.
- jandrewrogers 2y ago
  Parts of the Pacific are littered with uninhabited atolls. Even a few decades ago, it was plausible to find yourself on one unlikely to be visited for many years. An issue with satellite imagery is that it is focused on areas where people want to take pictures. Vast regions of the Pacific rarely if ever have satellite photographs taken at sufficient resolution to see anything a castaway does for the simple reason that nothing is there that would incentivize anyone to expend the cost of taking a picture. I used to have a global model of satellite imagery coverage based on actual imagery catalogs and much of the Pacific was barren.
ttepasse 2y ago
Some years ago in a very idle moment I was searching for a place on Earth where you could anchor an hypothetical space elevator. You'd need a place near the equator, preferably unsettled but still politically stable. A mountain would be nice to shorten the length, but mountains are difficult. For my internal fantasy I settled on Ascension Island, part of a British Overseas Territory, at 7.5° South. It's not natively settled, the only people there are for work, military, spooks, space agencies for tracking and telecommunications. With the arrival of European explorers there was an ecological extinction, mostly the island seems to be barren. And the name, of course, is perfect for a space elevator fantasy.
- necubi 2y ago
  "In Ascension" is really wonderful sci-fi novel set partially on Ascension Island. Recommended if you like Ted Chiang or Jeff VanderMeer style weird, meditative sci-fi.
  - darknavi 2y ago
    It must be common due to its space lineage. Near future sci-fi books "Delta-V" and "Critical Mass" by Daniel Suarez also feature it!
- bell-cot 2y ago
  Looking at both Wikipedia and Google Maps (for Ascension Island), I'm not seeing anything that might pass for either a harbor, or a port facility. Seems like you'd want cheap all-weather shipping, at scale, to & from the Ground end of your space elevator.
  - mkl 2y ago
    Building a big deep water harbour is a piece of cake compared to building a space elevator, and has been done for centuries, e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherbourg_Harbour https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherbourg_Harbour.
    - 2y ago
lisper 2y ago
Palmyra Atoll was also the scene of a rather horrific murder documented in a book by Vincent Bugliosi, the same person who prosecuted Charles Manson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_the_Sea_Will_Tell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_the_Sea_Will_Tell It makes an interesting read. Also, the Diomede islands are not the only ones in close proximity but on opposite sides of the International Date Line. Samoa (UTC+13) and American Samoa (UTC-11) are even more extreme, being 24 hours apart, i.e. in the "same" time zone but on different days.
smitelli 2y ago
Not a real island, but named like one anyway: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Null_Island https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Null_Island
- mkl 2y ago
  Yes, that's in the list.
gennarro 2y ago
Thank you for this. I too am a lover of islands. It seems like a strange thing to be fascinated with, but glad to see there there are others out there! Fun read if you have a chance: Atlas of Remote Islands https://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Remote-Islands-Fifty-Never/dp/014311820X https://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Remote-Islands-Fifty-Never/dp/0...
kdamica 2y ago
Does not disappoint. Very interesting islands indeed. Well done.
dhosek 2y ago
When I was a kid, we had an old Reader’s Digest atlas with historical world maps on the endpapers (Australia was connected to Antarctica on this map). There was an island in the southern Indian Ocean labeled “Los Romeros” which I decided must be the floating island from Doctor Doolittle and I became obsessed with it, finding an island in approximately the same location now named Kerguellen Island. I used to dream of creating a Utopian colony there with its own constructed language, university and socialist economy. If you look at the Wikipedia article for Kerguellen Island, you will see that I never fulfilled that dream.
- jefurii 2y ago
  Here's a really interesting sort-of-blog about a trip across the Indian Ocean in 2002. Kerguellen Island is one of the stops. https://www.farvoyager.com/siov/ https://www.farvoyager.com/siov/
ggm 2y ago
Is Ailsa Craig "obscure"? Every Glaswegian, many Irish, aficionados of curling the world over would know of it. It's probably been passed by more people than most of the others. Like Bass Rock on the east coast the temptation to use it as a prison was too much to resist.
soared 2y ago
Another very interesting one, the only Hawaiian island no one can visit. Barely inhabited, funded by a wealthy family, with weird military connections. Also had a weird WW2 death https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niihau https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niihau
blahlabs 2y ago
A fascinating story is Middle Percy Island [0] off the coast of Far North Queensland. A family friend knew the man that acquired the island in 2001 for $10, under murky circumstances to say the least [1]. I believe the family of the original caretaker successfully got a court to intervene, but I'm not sure what the state of any of it is today. Most of the saga is chronicled here [2]. Everything else aside, seems like owning an island is _hard_. [0] -21.659825, 150.263186 [1] https://www.thecoastalpassage.com/Andy%27s_storytcp6.html https://www.thecoastalpassage.com/Andy%27s_storytcp6.html [2] https://www.thecoastalpassage.com/thepercystory.html https://www.thecoastalpassage.com/thepercystory.html
BrenBarn 2y ago
I'm also fascinated by remote islands. Tristan da Cunha is one of my favorites.
aquafox 2y ago
When I read the title, what first came to mind was Clipperton island: A big ring (~3km in diameter), 1000km of the coast of Mexico.
aqueueaqueue 2y ago
What about Greenland?
DrBazza 2y ago
I find Ball's Pyramid fascinating for rediscovering the tree lobster. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball%27s_Pyramid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball%27s_Pyramid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dryococelus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dryococelus
senorqa 2y ago
This book might appeal to people interested in remote islands :) Atlas of Remote Islands: Fifty Islands I Have Never Set Foot On and Never Will by Judith Schalansky https://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Remote-Islands-Fifty-Never/dp/014311820X https://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Remote-Islands-Fifty-Never/dp/0...
amanda99 2y ago
Fun fact: in Gilbertese (the language of Kiribati), an "s" sound is written "ti". So Kiritimati is pronounced Kirismas (close to "Christmas"). On my journey there I met a fellow called "Simeon" and people would call him "Tim"...
technimad 2y ago
Vulcan point in the Taal Crater is my favorite recursive island. It’s an island in a lake on an island in a lake on a big island in the ocean (the Philippines). [1] https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=14.009722&mlon=120.998333&zoom=15#map=18/14.009058/120.996071 https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=14.009722&mlon=120.99833...
surfingdino 2y ago
This is a great site! I feel it's missing one important island, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilha_da_Queimada_Grande https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilha_da_Queimada_Grande
naves 2y ago
Cabrera is also an interesting one. With a sinister history in the XIX Century though: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabrera,_Balearic_Islands https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabrera,_Balearic_Islands
throwaway127482 2y ago
It would be cool if you added a Wikipedia link for each of these. I find myself wanting to learn more about some of them
- spoonfeeder006 2y ago
  Another slight UI suggestion is a button to fully zoom out
realsharkymark 2y ago
Nice, good job. I second the idea of wikipedia URLs for each. I went down a rabbit hole about Palmyra Atoll a year ago. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmyra_Atoll https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmyra_Atoll https://www.fws.gov/refuge/palmyra-atoll https://www.fws.gov/refuge/palmyra-atoll Part of the Line Islands. Scientists did live on it for a period of time and there's photographs of the building structures and an old tractor. The lagoon is full of sharks. And in 1974, a couple was murdered on their sailing yacht and they captured the murderer who sailed, docked and repainted the vessel in Hawaii. One of the victims remains were years later discussed on the island which led to the murder trial. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_the_Sea_Will_Tell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_the_Sea_Will_Tell Nice clear dredged entrance from WWII era https://www.google.com/maps/place/Palmyra+Atoll/@5.8756935,-162.1199393,4981m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x7a3ea440cc386595:0xeeb4000b2a8ea3bf!8m2!3d5.8885026!4d-162.0786656!16zL20vMDV0dmo?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDIwNS4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D https://www.google.com/maps/place/Palmyra+Atoll/@5.8756935,-... Good archival photos from this link https://palmyraarchive.org/ https://palmyraarchive.org/ Another cool island, which I discovered when watching episode #89 of SV Delos on Youtube, is Salomon Atoll in the Chagos Archipelago. It is a British Indian Ocean Territory, and near the Diego Garcia military facility run by USGOV. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2mSsQ4Smyg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2mSsQ4Smyg https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ile+Anglaise/@-5.3351196,72.2176025,9988m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x2495cf3ae618a373:0x8e696d10d703fc9f!8m2!3d-5.3246425!4d72.2237947!16zL20vMDRfdDJ3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDIwNS4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ile+Anglaise/@-5.3351196,7...
morphle 2y ago
I went to Paris around 1992 to visit an ancient library where they had centuries old maps of obscure, remote and 'lost' islands. The experience of searching through the old Atlasses and roaming the buildings was almost as interesting as hunting down the maps of the remote islands themselves. This was all pre-internet. Years later I used early versions of online and Google maps and researched the islands again. A Dutch writer[1] wrote 5 books on obscure remote islands[2] he was fascinated by. Later he made lots of documentairies[3] visiting the islands. There must be translations and subtitles by now but I didn't search for them. Later Dutch and British documentairy makers followed in Büch's footsteps and visited almost all of these remote islands. I collected at least 200 hours of these. Noteworthy are Ben Fogle and Floortje Dessing, even some by David Attenborough. Since I build the first public internet provider I got involved in building cheap fiber optic submarine cables to several of these remote islands. I developed a technique orders of magnitudes cheaper than regular submarine cables because island can't afford the hunderds of millions they cost. My techniques only cost around a million or less. Only Starlink and it successors can compete with my cheap solutions but only just, as they also cost several millions per island to sustain. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boudewijn_Büch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boudewijn_Büch [2] https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boudewijn_Büch https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boudewijn_Büch The island books have the Dutch word 'eiland' in the title so you can find all 5 if you search the wikipedia page. You can then download the books with the 5 ISBN codes from Anna's Archive. The books are mostly based on historical library materials, not on actual visits. [3] https://www.youtube.com/@DaveBleeker/search?query=island https://www.youtube.com/@DaveBleeker/search?query=island

552 points by venusgirdle 2y ago

closewith 2y ago

Wonderful site in mobile.

rozap 2y ago
We don't need apps. We just need site to behave like this one.

Applejinx 2y ago

[flagged]

mrbluecoat 2y ago

Palmyra Atoll looks beautiful. Smooth zoom animation on my Android mobile

achillesheels 2y ago

What about the Pitcairn Islands?

BeetleB 2y ago
Pitcairn is anything but obscure. It's very famous (and notorious in the 90's).

1970-01-01 2y ago

Author should also find the Alaskan archipelagos interesting. The city of Unalaska is ancient. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unalaska,_Alaska https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unalaska,_Alaska https://web.archive.org/web/20090930132651/http://www.unalaska.info/history.htm/ https://web.archive.org/web/20090930132651/http://www.unalas...

kmoser 2y ago

The "Cosmic Zoom" [1] style animations are really well done. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgfwCrKe_Fk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgfwCrKe_Fk

mojomark 2y ago

Well, I enjoyed my last 20 minutes perusing such hidden gems as "christmas island", "just room enough island", and my personal favorite - "the world's most recursive island" in Canada. Well done - saved and shared :)

ncruces 2y ago
Yeah, totally: recursive wins.
mkl 2y ago
You might like this article involving another recursive island: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/moose-boulder-debunked https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/moose-boulder-debunked, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22674342 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22674342 (103 comments in 2020, including by the subject of the article)
- mojomark 2y ago
  That's great, thanks for the read. I feel like there should be a bounty for finding Moose Boulder now (at the end of the story the adventurer is headed back at some point just to be sure he didn't miss it on his first go-round where he was undoubtedly pre-occupied with being terribly lost). I'm sure that bounty would never be claimed... but never say never.

jusujusu 2y ago

My favorite, not on the list, is Fakaofo atoll. It even has a shipwreck, visible on google maps.

mmanfrin 2y ago

Adding a fact to Midway island: it is part of the Hawaiian archipelago, and all the islands in the chain both before it and after it are part of the Hawaiian state, but Midway is not. It is considered an 'insular area'.

anotheryou 2y ago

really needs a "back to all islands" button :)

skrebbel 2y ago
scroll the map a bit
- anotheryou 2y ago
  I tried, mabe a firefox issue

physhster 2y ago

Johnston Atoll belongs there https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnston_Atoll https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnston_Atoll

Mistletoe 2y ago

That huge volcano on Tristan da Cunha makes me nervous. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Mary%27s_Peak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Mary%27s_Peak

doodlebugging 2y ago

When they mention the Sentinelese who inhabit North Sentinel Island in the Indian Ocean as being uncontacted they have to ignore the shipwreck in the inlet on the northwest end of the island. I'm guessing that the mariners who found themselves on the island did not make a very good first impression as representatives of the larger outside world and that this contributed to the hostility towards outsiders that the Sentinelese exhibit. I know there was a bible-thumper a few years back who found himself skewered while trying to help the North Sentinelese find Jesus. That seems like a predictable outcome when you consider that the inhabitants have to be closer to everything that is real and important on their island than we modern people will ever be and likely have their constructs about how the world works so they don't need someone else's Jesus to keep them grounded. Interestingly enough, the only place where I saw any clear indication that the island was inhabited was on the north end of the island near the inlet where the ship is run aground and sunk. Just north of the tree line you can clearly see a well-worn path leading from the woods east of the wreck to the inlet. I'll bet they keep a weather eye out for any new contraptions not of their own making.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
davidw 2y ago
Path on North Sentinel island: https://www.google.com/maps/@11.5920005,92.2195112,225a,35y,317.44h,23.27t/data=!3m1!1e3!5m1!1e4?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDIwNS4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D https://www.google.com/maps/@11.5920005,92.2195112,225a,35y,...
- doodlebugging 2y ago
  Thanks for doing something I should've done myself. Popping out to Google Maps gives a higher resolution view of the island and with that one can easily pick out a network of trails around the island though I haven't seen clear indications of settlements yet. I think you can even see on the east side of the island at least one man-made fish trap similar to those found in other parts of the world. It's clear that they travel all over the island making use of the resources available. I wonder whether anyone has reported seeing them swim. Some of the trails lead to small inlets and across to small islets on the perimeter which are now isolated from the main island. Anyway, thanks for this post. It enhances the comment above.

CarVac 2y ago

The recursive island in lake pin is not quite in the right spot, the real one is to the east. That said, this is the first online satellite map I've seen that actually has enough detail to resolve said island.

kilroy123 2y ago

I love it. This is so my thing! I've spent hours and hours on the map virtually, hopping around weird random islands and atolls. I'm obsessed with weird Islands, and I've been to many: in the Caribbean, Mauritius, Cannarys, Madeiras, Malta, Antarctica, Svalbard, and many across SE Asia. My wish list: - Midway Atoll - Pitcairn Islands - Easter Island - Faroe Islands - Wrangel Island - Sao Tome - Chatham Island I could go on for a long time.

leptons 2y ago
Same, Google Earth has been a rabbit hole for me. One of my favorites is Caroline Island in Kiribati (no, never been there) https://www.google.com/maps/place/Caroline+Island/@-9.95855,-150.2932798,21526m https://www.google.com/maps/place/Caroline+Island/@-9.95855,... If I were a billionaire, I'd be on my boat headed there just to see what it's like. There's nothing there, but it looks amazing from above. I've seen a few videos of people visiting it, but I still want to go there.
- ghosty141 2y ago
  I also kinda love the thought of seeing untouched nature, like there have probably only been a handful of people there.
- spoonfeeder006 2y ago
  Try millionaire. If you were a billionaire your whole conscience would have been snuffed into lifelessness from all the economic exploitation you've engaged in to get there, and thus you wouldn't be able to find any deep meaning in the experience No one deserves or can benefit from $1B beyond the shimmera of delusional self-aggrandizement
0xEF 2y ago
Do you keep a blog? I'd love to read it, if so.
morphle 2y ago
Bouvet island Gravett Island [1] Rottum Rottumerplaat [2,3] Mysterious Island [4] Lost Island [5,6] [1] https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Gravett_Island https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Gravett_Island [2] Dutch writers visit deserted island https://nos.nl/nieuwsuur/artikel/2308321-terug-naar-rottumerplaat-jan-wolkers-rende-naakt-over-het-eiland https://nos.nl/nieuwsuur/artikel/2308321-terug-naar-rottumer... [3] https://www.staatsbosbeheer.nl/wat-we-doen/nieuws/2021/07/rottumerplaat-50-jaar-later https://www.staatsbosbeheer.nl/wat-we-doen/nieuws/2021/07/ro... [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mysterious_Island https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mysterious_Island [5] https://store.steampowered.com/app/1691800/Lost_Island__ARK_Expansion_Map/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/1691800/Lost_Island__ARK_... [6] https://lostpedia.fandom.com/wiki/The_Island https://lostpedia.fandom.com/wiki/The_Island

adolph 2y ago

In the notes about St Tristan de Cunha, “youngest English accent” does that mean the most recently split from England accents? Does that exclude Antarctic English? Tristan's isolation is also the reason it has the world's youngest English accent, which is notably distinct from standard British English. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Atlantic_English https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Atlantic_English https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_English https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_English

spacecadet 2y ago

If you like this stuff, this is a great little book for the coffee table or bathroom: https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2016/01/08/fifty-islands-i-have-not-visited/ https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2016/01/08/fifty-islands...

Blahah 2y ago
A dear friend sent me this years ago and, more than any other book (maybe tied with https://ldngraffiti.co.uk/media/street-fonts https://ldngraffiti.co.uk/media/street-fonts) it has brought me and many visitors great joy and inspiration.

sponaugle 2y ago

The wikipedia page for the Tristan da Cuhna island is really interesting. It is amazing that a small population was able to survive there over such a large period of time with just occasional ship access (sometimes years apart). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan_da_Cunha https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan_da_Cunha The entire population was evacuated in 1961 due to the eruption of the mountain on the island, but most people made it back to the island in 1963. Also interesting that just recently got Starlink internet. Very cool.

ilamont 2y ago
These isolated populations have higher incidence of genetic diseases. From the Wikipedia page you cited: There are instances of health problems attributed to endogamy, including glaucoma. In addition, there is a very high (42%) incidence of asthma among the population, and research by Noe Zamel of the University of Toronto has led to discoveries about the genetic nature of the disease. Three of the original settlers of the island had asthma.

karaterobot 2y ago

A related, really excellent book: Atlas of Remote Islands by Judith Schalansky. I see that the hardcover is now $66, which is unfortunate because that's the way to read it. It's beautiful!

Plankaluel 2y ago
Thank you for the tip! I just bought the (german) original which is fortunately still in print and very affordable as a hard cover.
- karaterobot 2y ago
  Awesome, hope you like it!
ttepasse 2y ago
I came here to recommend it – I also got it in German. One of those beautiful books, where you're thankful for the printing industry.
run_rock 2y ago
Worth a try to see if your local library has it. Thanks fully mine does, placed a hold.
paulcapewell 2y ago
came here to say this. It's a wonderful book!

kneel 2y ago

20°37'34.0"S 166°18'20.1"E

gavin_gee 2y ago
well done
doodlebugging 2y ago
A long time ago I encountered someone that I didn't fancy who was looking for this. I wish I had known that it existed. Many thanks.
- defrost 2y ago
  Might be Pen Island?

speckx 2y ago

Regarding Tristan da Cunha. I've been meaning to read “Three years in Tristan da Cunha by Katherine Mary Barrow”, see https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/8213 https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/8213. It's a first-hand account, written in a diary format with dated entries, providing a look at life in this remote British settlement during the early 1900s.

Pedro_Ribeiro 2y ago

Incredible site! Thanks for posting.

Neuronaut 2y ago

The island of Socotra in Yemen is also a unique island with endemic species. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socotra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socotra

Ruarl 2y ago
Glad to see someone else giving Socotra a shout. Fascinating place.
- Neuronaut 2y ago
  You bet, here's a quote from Wiki: > Due to the island's unusual geography, it has been described as “the most alien-looking place on Earth”.

BerislavLopac 2y ago

One of my favourites is missing from the list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deception_Island https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deception_Island

contingencies 2y ago

I discovered a natural, tropical island which really exists, has good height above water and is available for purchase but is not visible on Google Maps satellite view.

dieantwoord 2y ago

Tokelau https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokelau https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokelau One of my favourite obscure islands (haven't been there). Very remote. If you've ever seen a .tk domain, this TLD is from this island.

somishere 2y ago

Inchconnachan is one of the more interesting desert islands I came across while living in Scotland. My introduction to its local inhabitants, expat Antipodeans like myself, was wildly unexpected. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inchconnachan https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inchconnachan

naves 2y ago
Truly unexpected. Thanks for sharing!

Jun8 2y ago

This was very interesting info and the site design is awesome. We always dream of going to distant planets and stars but Earth itself has so many weird, beautiful, and interesting places. I’ve added “living for an extended period of time, eg a year on Devon Island” to my list of To Do Someday list! Sure, it drops to -50C, but living there alone would be closest to being The Martian. Is there any way to live there self sufficiently you think? Assume you have money to buy latest tech and bring it there: a few m^2 of solar cells, battery, small hut made of highly insulating material. What else?

defrost 2y ago
It's not clear that anyone ever lived there in a self sufficient manner: An outpost was established at Dundas Harbour in 1924, and it was leased to Hudson's Bay Company nine years later. The collapse of fur prices led to the dispersal of 52 Baffin Island Inuit families on the island in 1934. It was considered a disaster due to wind conditions and the much colder climate, and the Inuit chose to leave in 1936. Dundas Harbour was populated again in the late 1940s, but it was closed again in 1951. Only the ruins of a few buildings remain today. ~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devon_Island https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devon_Island The fur trapping may have been sustained by barrels of pickled fish and the Inuit families that remained left within 24 months following economic collapse. Today, with a cash injection, training for Mars, Moon, Asteroids, it's been attempted a few times (see Wikipedia). You'd want energy storage for the long dark, well insulated greenhouses for the short growing season, small animals for company and perhaps heat and food, it's a tough environment. A big challenge to living there indefinitely with no resupply is growing food during the dark times. You might get by with enough wind turbines to power artifical grow lights. Until you need parts.

dinkumthinkum 2y ago

This is a nice example of using maps to tell a kind of story. Many people try but over-complicate it.

suzzer99 2y ago

Here's a question I have that maybe one of the random experts we have on HN can answer: In Castaway, Tom Hanks estimates that for the searchers to find him, they'd have to be searching an area the size of Texas. I think later Helen Hunt says he was even farther out of their search zone than he thought. But let's just say it's the size of Texas or even twice the size of Texas. Are there so many tiny islands in that part of the Pacific that you can't just do a quick fly-by of all of them to see if someone has written HELP on the beach? Are there islands that size that we're on any maps in 2000? Seems unlikely with satellite imagery.

jandrewrogers 2y ago
Parts of the Pacific are littered with uninhabited atolls. Even a few decades ago, it was plausible to find yourself on one unlikely to be visited for many years. An issue with satellite imagery is that it is focused on areas where people want to take pictures. Vast regions of the Pacific rarely if ever have satellite photographs taken at sufficient resolution to see anything a castaway does for the simple reason that nothing is there that would incentivize anyone to expend the cost of taking a picture. I used to have a global model of satellite imagery coverage based on actual imagery catalogs and much of the Pacific was barren.

ttepasse 2y ago

Some years ago in a very idle moment I was searching for a place on Earth where you could anchor an hypothetical space elevator. You'd need a place near the equator, preferably unsettled but still politically stable. A mountain would be nice to shorten the length, but mountains are difficult. For my internal fantasy I settled on Ascension Island, part of a British Overseas Territory, at 7.5° South. It's not natively settled, the only people there are for work, military, spooks, space agencies for tracking and telecommunications. With the arrival of European explorers there was an ecological extinction, mostly the island seems to be barren. And the name, of course, is perfect for a space elevator fantasy.

necubi 2y ago
"In Ascension" is really wonderful sci-fi novel set partially on Ascension Island. Recommended if you like Ted Chiang or Jeff VanderMeer style weird, meditative sci-fi.
- darknavi 2y ago
  It must be common due to its space lineage. Near future sci-fi books "Delta-V" and "Critical Mass" by Daniel Suarez also feature it!
bell-cot 2y ago
Looking at both Wikipedia and Google Maps (for Ascension Island), I'm not seeing anything that might pass for either a harbor, or a port facility. Seems like you'd want cheap all-weather shipping, at scale, to & from the Ground end of your space elevator.
- mkl 2y ago
  Building a big deep water harbour is a piece of cake compared to building a space elevator, and has been done for centuries, e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherbourg_Harbour https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherbourg_Harbour.
  - 2y ago

lisper 2y ago

Palmyra Atoll was also the scene of a rather horrific murder documented in a book by Vincent Bugliosi, the same person who prosecuted Charles Manson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_the_Sea_Will_Tell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_the_Sea_Will_Tell It makes an interesting read. Also, the Diomede islands are not the only ones in close proximity but on opposite sides of the International Date Line. Samoa (UTC+13) and American Samoa (UTC-11) are even more extreme, being 24 hours apart, i.e. in the "same" time zone but on different days.

smitelli 2y ago

Not a real island, but named like one anyway: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Null_Island https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Null_Island

mkl 2y ago
Yes, that's in the list.

gennarro 2y ago

Thank you for this. I too am a lover of islands. It seems like a strange thing to be fascinated with, but glad to see there there are others out there! Fun read if you have a chance: Atlas of Remote Islands https://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Remote-Islands-Fifty-Never/dp/014311820X https://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Remote-Islands-Fifty-Never/dp/0...

kdamica 2y ago

Does not disappoint. Very interesting islands indeed. Well done.

dhosek 2y ago

When I was a kid, we had an old Reader’s Digest atlas with historical world maps on the endpapers (Australia was connected to Antarctica on this map). There was an island in the southern Indian Ocean labeled “Los Romeros” which I decided must be the floating island from Doctor Doolittle and I became obsessed with it, finding an island in approximately the same location now named Kerguellen Island. I used to dream of creating a Utopian colony there with its own constructed language, university and socialist economy. If you look at the Wikipedia article for Kerguellen Island, you will see that I never fulfilled that dream.

jefurii 2y ago
Here's a really interesting sort-of-blog about a trip across the Indian Ocean in 2002. Kerguellen Island is one of the stops. https://www.farvoyager.com/siov/ https://www.farvoyager.com/siov/

ggm 2y ago

Is Ailsa Craig "obscure"? Every Glaswegian, many Irish, aficionados of curling the world over would know of it. It's probably been passed by more people than most of the others. Like Bass Rock on the east coast the temptation to use it as a prison was too much to resist.

soared 2y ago

Another very interesting one, the only Hawaiian island no one can visit. Barely inhabited, funded by a wealthy family, with weird military connections. Also had a weird WW2 death https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niihau https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niihau

blahlabs 2y ago

A fascinating story is Middle Percy Island [0] off the coast of Far North Queensland. A family friend knew the man that acquired the island in 2001 for $10, under murky circumstances to say the least [1]. I believe the family of the original caretaker successfully got a court to intervene, but I'm not sure what the state of any of it is today. Most of the saga is chronicled here [2]. Everything else aside, seems like owning an island is _hard_. [0] -21.659825, 150.263186 [1] https://www.thecoastalpassage.com/Andy%27s_storytcp6.html https://www.thecoastalpassage.com/Andy%27s_storytcp6.html [2] https://www.thecoastalpassage.com/thepercystory.html https://www.thecoastalpassage.com/thepercystory.html

BrenBarn 2y ago

I'm also fascinated by remote islands. Tristan da Cunha is one of my favorites.

aquafox 2y ago

When I read the title, what first came to mind was Clipperton island: A big ring (~3km in diameter), 1000km of the coast of Mexico.

aqueueaqueue 2y ago

What about Greenland?

DrBazza 2y ago

I find Ball's Pyramid fascinating for rediscovering the tree lobster. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball%27s_Pyramid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball%27s_Pyramid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dryococelus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dryococelus

senorqa 2y ago

This book might appeal to people interested in remote islands :) Atlas of Remote Islands: Fifty Islands I Have Never Set Foot On and Never Will by Judith Schalansky https://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Remote-Islands-Fifty-Never/dp/014311820X https://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Remote-Islands-Fifty-Never/dp/0...

amanda99 2y ago

Fun fact: in Gilbertese (the language of Kiribati), an "s" sound is written "ti". So Kiritimati is pronounced Kirismas (close to "Christmas"). On my journey there I met a fellow called "Simeon" and people would call him "Tim"...

technimad 2y ago

Vulcan point in the Taal Crater is my favorite recursive island. It’s an island in a lake on an island in a lake on a big island in the ocean (the Philippines). [1] https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=14.009722&mlon=120.998333&zoom=15#map=18/14.009058/120.996071 https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=14.009722&mlon=120.99833...

surfingdino 2y ago

This is a great site! I feel it's missing one important island, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilha_da_Queimada_Grande https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilha_da_Queimada_Grande

naves 2y ago

Cabrera is also an interesting one. With a sinister history in the XIX Century though: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabrera,_Balearic_Islands https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabrera,_Balearic_Islands

throwaway127482 2y ago

It would be cool if you added a Wikipedia link for each of these. I find myself wanting to learn more about some of them

spoonfeeder006 2y ago
Another slight UI suggestion is a button to fully zoom out

realsharkymark 2y ago

Nice, good job. I second the idea of wikipedia URLs for each. I went down a rabbit hole about Palmyra Atoll a year ago. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmyra_Atoll https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmyra_Atoll https://www.fws.gov/refuge/palmyra-atoll https://www.fws.gov/refuge/palmyra-atoll Part of the Line Islands. Scientists did live on it for a period of time and there's photographs of the building structures and an old tractor. The lagoon is full of sharks. And in 1974, a couple was murdered on their sailing yacht and they captured the murderer who sailed, docked and repainted the vessel in Hawaii. One of the victims remains were years later discussed on the island which led to the murder trial. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_the_Sea_Will_Tell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_the_Sea_Will_Tell Nice clear dredged entrance from WWII era https://www.google.com/maps/place/Palmyra+Atoll/@5.8756935,-162.1199393,4981m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x7a3ea440cc386595:0xeeb4000b2a8ea3bf!8m2!3d5.8885026!4d-162.0786656!16zL20vMDV0dmo?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDIwNS4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D https://www.google.com/maps/place/Palmyra+Atoll/@5.8756935,-... Good archival photos from this link https://palmyraarchive.org/ https://palmyraarchive.org/ Another cool island, which I discovered when watching episode #89 of SV Delos on Youtube, is Salomon Atoll in the Chagos Archipelago. It is a British Indian Ocean Territory, and near the Diego Garcia military facility run by USGOV. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2mSsQ4Smyg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2mSsQ4Smyg https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ile+Anglaise/@-5.3351196,72.2176025,9988m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x2495cf3ae618a373:0x8e696d10d703fc9f!8m2!3d-5.3246425!4d72.2237947!16zL20vMDRfdDJ3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDIwNS4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ile+Anglaise/@-5.3351196,7...

morphle 2y ago

I went to Paris around 1992 to visit an ancient library where they had centuries old maps of obscure, remote and 'lost' islands. The experience of searching through the old Atlasses and roaming the buildings was almost as interesting as hunting down the maps of the remote islands themselves. This was all pre-internet. Years later I used early versions of online and Google maps and researched the islands again. A Dutch writer[1] wrote 5 books on obscure remote islands[2] he was fascinated by. Later he made lots of documentairies[3] visiting the islands. There must be translations and subtitles by now but I didn't search for them. Later Dutch and British documentairy makers followed in Büch's footsteps and visited almost all of these remote islands. I collected at least 200 hours of these. Noteworthy are Ben Fogle and Floortje Dessing, even some by David Attenborough. Since I build the first public internet provider I got involved in building cheap fiber optic submarine cables to several of these remote islands. I developed a technique orders of magnitudes cheaper than regular submarine cables because island can't afford the hunderds of millions they cost. My techniques only cost around a million or less. Only Starlink and it successors can compete with my cheap solutions but only just, as they also cost several millions per island to sustain. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boudewijn_Büch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boudewijn_Büch [2] https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boudewijn_Büch https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boudewijn_Büch The island books have the Dutch word 'eiland' in the title so you can find all 5 if you search the wikipedia page. You can then download the books with the 5 ISBN codes from Anna's Archive. The books are mostly based on historical library materials, not on actual visits. [3] https://www.youtube.com/@DaveBleeker/search?query=island https://www.youtube.com/@DaveBleeker/search?query=island