Comment by notsuoh | Hacker News Reader

Comment by notsuoh | Hacker News Reader

I've always been really interested in these far flung places and used to spend hours on Google Earth scanning the middles of the oceans for islands like this and think about how to visit them.

In particular I've always been fascinated by Tristan da Cunha which has a village and is livable if you can get there:

https://wikitravel.org/en/Tristan_da_Cunha

And Bouvet Island, which is totally uninhabited:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouvet_Island

And for whatever reason, one I discovered by browsing Google Earth directly (as opposed to the others which people mention as far flung places), which I can't remember the names of right now, but I can find them on Google maps though they're not labeled: a series of three islands between NZ and Antarctica, closer to Antarctica. Barren islands only potentially visitable for part of the year. The winds and sea in the Southern Ocean sound terrifying. Here's the pin:

Dropped pin Near South Pacific Ocean https://maps.app.goo.gl/PpsVCzE7LXLrZFZe8

We're lucky to be able to see some videos of these places on youtube. When I was little, there were only satellite images and the occasional grainy photo or two online if one did a deep search.

A short documentary of a place called Kurlis came out recently, you should watch it if you're interested. It's about conservation.

https://youtu.be/kHGarqZFY1k

This documentary is particularly interesting for me because I used to browse satellite imagery of the place and to see people walking around it it's as amazing as I had imagined. A volcano in the middle of a lake in a remote island???! Thinking about this stuff is also what led me to have a tech career that has been related to conservation of these places (Kurlis from satellite):

Dropped pin Near Severo-Kurilsky District, Sakhalin Oblast, Russia, 694550 https://maps.app.goo.gl/6X54ZqdruRgB5KYW7

Those Antarctic islands are the Balleny Islands. I took a cruise a couple of years ago from NZ to Antarctica, and we were able to land on Borradaile island [1], one of the Ballenys. I can't find my notes for the exact figure, but the historian on board said that, including us, only a few hundred people had ever set foot there. Many expeditions pass within sight of them, but landing is treacherous--IIRC, we went onshore for about an hour in the morning, and by lunch it no longer would've been possible to do so.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borradaile_Island

Yes! Balleny! That is a really great story, I'm jealous you got to go there. That aligns with my understanding that it's very difficult to actually land there even if you plan it really well. Sounds like you had the luck of a lifetime, amazing.

If you took pictures please consider adding them to the Wikipedia page. There seem to be relatively few available.

Maybe you’re already aware of it, but the book “Atlas of Remote Islands” may be of interest:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_of_Remote_Islands

At one time you could group Wikipedia articles in “books” that you could have printed. I had collected all the islands listed in the book mentioned above into a sort of companion:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book:A_Companion_Guide_to_At...

I was not! This looks great. I went ahead and ordered the hardcover edition, thank you for the heads up.

Not quite so remote but another thoroughly fascinating island is Miquelon-Langlade, part of St. Pierre et Miquelon.

What's thoroughly fascinating about both St. Pierre and Miquelon is that it's the last remaining French territory in North America, and located right off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

It's the only place in North America where you actually spend Euros and the cars have EU license plates. The supermarkets sell authentic French wine and chocolate and will charge you for grocery bags, just like in Europe.

The vast majority (upwards of 90% I believe) of the 6000ish residents though live on the smaller island of St. Pierre. The nearby much larger island of Miquelon, and the attached island of Langlade to its south, are vastly barren with a very basic settlement that has 1 restaurant and 1 bakery. There are a couple of inns on it, and I managed to rent a bike from the one I stayed at, and used it to bike down to Langlade. A few photos from my trip:

https://dheera.net/photos/places/spm

The road to Langlade is actually very well-paved until the very end. It's a very nice road for biking, although a little terrifying hearing the waves crashing into the island on both sides, some wild horses, and no humans in sight:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.dheera.net/photos/places/spm...

I love exploring these "politically interesting" islands.

Another one I explored is the Matsu Islands which are very close to the coast of China but under control of the ROC (Taiwan) government. It's also a very interesting place. As a part of the ROC, it's littered with 7-Elevens. But due to the history of the place, its signs claim it to be a part of Fujian province, though Fujian under the ROC rather than Fujian under the PRC. (Not here to debate the politics, it's just what the local signs say.)

Facinating. How is it coping with covid? Is there an exception to allow people from the island to go to Canada?

I didn't go there during Covid -- this was several years ago. I'm not sure of the answer to that question.

I think this is more mainstream than the remote places you linked (and, since it's pretty close to the Australian coast, not that remote) but Ball's pyramid is an uninhabited place that gives me strong "hard bonus mini-boss for the completionists" vibes [1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball%27s_Pyramid

Dragon Roost island in Zelda: Wind Waker is based on this feature

Well you definitely couldn't land the Highwind on it. Would make sense that you need a Gold Chocobo.

That is also the last habitat of Lord Howe Island stick insect:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dryococelus_australis

I've always wanted to check out Raoul Island[1] in the Kermadecs, it looks quite lovely apart from the active volcanic lake that killed a ranger, and South Georgia Island[2] - especially after reading about Shackleton's epic feat of endurance[3] where they sailed 1300km in a small boat, then crossed the mountains of South Georgia to reach a whaling station to summon help.

[1]:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raoul_Island

[2]:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Georgia_and_the_South_Sa...

[3]:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Trans-Antarctic_Exped...

I share the same interest. I remember years ago looking on Google Maps at South Georgia and dreaming about going there one day.

Well I decided to make "one day" happen and visited there as part of a two month sailing voyage on a tall ship. We also visited Antarctica and a number of Antarctic islands. Deception Island was a highlight. We approached Tristan da Cunha but couldn't land due to the swell, which was disappointing.

I still dream about visiting these remote places, but the voyage did a great job of satisfying the urge (for now).

The voyage was via barkeuropa.com and it was one of the best experiences of my life.

I have long thought about going on a trip with bark europa. They come around to seattle every few years. Glad it was good for you.

Reminds me of René-Levasseur Island in Canada. It is a nearly circular island within a lake that's not much bigger than itself. And it, in turn, contains lakes, with islands within them.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ren%C3%A9-Levasseur+Island...

That's always one of my favorites to look at. Zoom out a bit and it's really obvious that it was formed by a meteorite impact.

The whole lake is a giant hydroelectric reservoir, too.

I'll admit I had only really been looking into the oceans for places like this. I'm really enjoying reading about René-Levasseur Island, thank you for posting!

Another isolated but inhabited island is North Sentinel Island. Do not visit!

https://www.google.com/search?q=north+sentinel+island

I also routinely wander on google maps in search of remote islands. I always wonder what it’s like to grow up in a place like that. If I wanted to live in New York City or Paris or Beijing, it wouldn’t be too much of a problem. But for those remote islands, living there is only an experience for a small portion of human beings.

I do this as well. Actually what fascinates me much more than remote islands is remote islands with evidence of human settlements.

Remote uninhabited islands are easy to find. It's the ones with like a village of 20 houses and a dirt path that I find super interesting. Who lives in those houses? How do they get their groceries? What do they do on the weekends? How do they make a living? Do they have internet access? How did they get the materials there to build houses? What do the houses look like on the inside?

Tom Neale spent much of his life living on a tiny island in the Cook Islands. His book, "An Island to One's Self" is a great read.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Neale

If you can make it to Svalbard, it's worth it. It's like nothing I have ever seen before or since. Pictures don't do it justice.

I'm definitely interested in making it there! I need to find an excuse to do some research at Ny Alesund though. I've been to the South Pole and I figure Ny Alesund is the northernmost I can reasonably go (My current record for positive latitude is ~72.6 N at Summit Station, Greenland. Ny-Alesund would get me an extra 6 degrees.)

I went to Svalbard in the dead of winter. Very fun experience, not seeing the sun for a week straight.

The downside of Svalbard though is that it's very difficult to randomly explore on your own. There aren't any roads outside the settlements, and you need a rifle and a snowmobile and government registration to go anywhere outside it. Snowmobiles can be bought but are almost impossible to rent; rifles can be rented but if you don't have skills you can't expect to suddenly have them when faced with a polar bear in a life-threatening situation. There is zero infrastructure outside the settlements so it's not a joke.

So ultimately I was mostly confined to the town of Longyearbyen and vinicity but it was fun anyway. I managed to get to Bjorndalen and a couple of other nearby places via some locals who I found on Facebook, but that's about as far as I was able to get.

Don't expect the same level of exploration freedom you could get by, say, renting a car in Canada or whatever.

The thing I found most fascinating about Longyearbyen, ironically, is how normal life was there at a town so close to the north pole. People had gigabit internet access, a couple of bars, and a supermarket. Nothing was out of the ordinary, really, except for the lack of the sun.

> I've always been really interested in these far flung places

This is what keeps me interested in such things regarding the USPS and similar [0]. How are they fed? Funded? Staffed? Otherwise maintained with supplies e.g. mechanically, computationally, electronically, &c?

I do not think my reference video is so far fetched regarding such a question.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhRFaY8A9cA

The USPS doesn't actually deliver everywhere. There are places in NC, CA, and NY that don't get mail delivered.

They definitely don't deliver everywhere and that actually causes further complications. I detail a lot of it in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22988096

I like to do this too. I've tried finding islands without names or county claims on them, but it's fairly difficult to do this–the islands you linked are the only ones I've been able to find.

In an interesting coincidence, Tristan da Cunha and Bouvet Island are both featured in Geoffrey Jenkins' A Grue of Ice (US title The Disappearing Island), along with the fictional Thompson Island.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouvet_Island#In_fiction

St Kilda is another that might interest you – it's somewhere I'd like to visit one day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmf7OZCe63s

No one lives there anymore, but there's still a small abandoned village where people used to live about 100 years ago.

Island on the Edge of the World is a good read about it.

Thanks for sharing that documentary, I really enjoyed it! I myself have been fascinated by South Georgia and Kerguelen recently.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com