15 Most Remote Islands on Earth!

15 Most remote islands, miles away from civilization!

In a world where everything seems to be on the internet, captured by google maps or watched by the numerous satellites up in space, it seems hard to imagine that there still exist remote and dangerous places where people don’t travel to or live. Our planet seems to be getting smaller all the time but there remain countless locations which are just as untameable today as they were hundreds of years ago when people set out to explore the unknown. In addition to our limited knowledge of what lies at the bottom of our vast oceans, there are still more than a few islands scattered about these massive bodies of water which remain mysterious to us.

Of all the dangerous and remote locations on earth, islands stand out thanks to the fact they are not attached to any significant landmass. Furthermore, in the great expanses of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, islands can be hundreds if not thousands of kilometers from the nearest population center. From islands populated by the descendants of mutineers to islands so tiny their inhabitants reside in boats nearby, the world is studded with thousands of beautiful islands that are remote, rare, and unique. Here are 13 remarkable examples of breathtaking atolls, islands within lakes within islands, and other captivating and unusual islands that humans have managed to call home without using a house boat.

1. Bear Island/Bjørnøya (Norway) 

Bear Island is the southernmost island of the Norwegian Svalbard archipelago. The island is located in the western part of the Barents Sea, approximately halfway between Spitsbergen and the North Cape. Despite its remote location and barren nature, the island has seen commercial activities in past centuries, such as coal mining, fishing and whaling. However, no settlements have lasted more than a few years, and Bear Island is now uninhabited except for personnel working at the island's meteorological station Herwighamna. Along with the adjacent waters, it was declared a nature reserve in 2002.

2. Hirta, St Kilda (United Kingdom)

Hirta is the largest island in the St Kilda archipelago, on the western edge of Scotland. The names "Hiort" and "Hirta" have also been applied to the entire archipelago. The only real landing place is in the shelter of Village Bay on the southeast side of the island. The island slopes gently down to the sea at Glen Bay (at the western end of the north coast), but the rocks go straight into the sea at a shallow angle and landing here is not easy if there is any swell at all. Apart from these two places, the cliffs rise sheer out of deep water. St Kilda is probably the core of a Tertiary volcano, but, besides volcanic rocks, it contains hills of sandstone in which the stratification is distinct.

3.Tristan da Cunha (United Kingdom)

Tristan da Cunha, colloquially Tristan, is the name of both a remote group of volcanic islands in the south Atlantic Ocean and the main island of that group. The territory consists of the main island, named Tristan da Cunha, which has a north–south length of 11.27 kilometres (7.00 mi) and an area of 98 square kilometres (38 sq mi), along with the smaller, uninhabited Nightingale Islands and the wildlife reserves of Inaccessible and Gough islands. As of May 2016, the main island has 266 permanent inhabitants.Meanwhile, the other islands are uninhabited, except for the personnel of a weather station on Gough Island.

4. South Keeling/Cocos Islands (Australia)

The Territory of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, also called Cocos Islands and Keeling Islands, is a territory of Australia, located in the Indian Ocean, southwest of Christmas Island and approximately midway between Australia and Sri Lanka. The territory consists of two atolls and 27 coral islands, of which two, West Island and Home Island, are inhabited with a total population of approximately 600.

5. Tromelin (France)

Tromelin Island is a low, flat, uninhabited island in the Indian Ocean, about 450 kilometres east of Madagascar. The island is administered as a French overseas territory. The island has been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because of its significance as a seabird breeding site. Both masked (with up to 250 pairs) and red-footed boobies (up to 180 pairs) nesting there. Sulidae populations have seriously declined in the western Indian Ocean with those on Tromelin among the healthiest remaining. The island’s masked boobies are of the western Indian Ocean subspecies (Sula dactylatra melanops), of which Tromelin is a stronghold. The red-footed boobies constitute the only polymorphic population in the region, indicating its biogeographical isolation. Both great and lesser frigatebirds used to nest on the island. The breeding populations of both birds have since been extirpated, although they continue to use the island for roosting. There are no resident landbirds.

6. Easter Island (Chile)

Easter Island, a Chilean territory, is a remote volcanic island in Polynesia. It’s famed for its archaeological sites, including some 900 monumental statues, called moai, created by its early Rapa Nui inhabitants during the 10th-16th centuries. The moai are carved human figures with oversize heads, often resting on massive rock altars called ahus. Ahu Tongariki has the largest group of upright moai.

7. Pitcairn Islands (United Kingdom)

The islands are inhabited mostly by descendants of the Bounty mutineers and the Tahitians (or Polynesians) who accompanied them, an event retold in numerous books and films. This history is still apparent in the surnames of many of the islanders. With only about 56 inhabitants, originating from four main families, Pitcairn is the least populous national jurisdiction in the world. The United Nations Committee on Decolonization includes the Pitcairn Islands on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories.

8.Raoul Island (New Zealand)

Anvil-shaped Raoul Island (Sunday Island), the largest and northernmost of the main Kermadec Islands, 900 km (560 mi) south south-west of 'Ata Island of Tonga and 1,100 km (680 mi) north north-east of New Zealand's North Island, has been the source of vigorous volcanic activity during the past several thousand years that was dominated by dacitic explosive eruptions.

Although Raoul is the only island in the Kermadec group large enough to support settlement, it lacks a safe harbour, and landings from small boats can only be made in calm weather. The island consists of two mountainous areas, one with summits of 516m and 498m, and the other with a summit of 465m, the two separated by a depression which is the caldera of the Raoul volcano.

9. Floreana (Ecuador)

Floreana Island is an island of the Galápagos Islands. It was named after Juan José Flores, the first president of Ecuador, during whose administration the government of Ecuador took possession of the archipelago.

A favorite dive and snorkeling site, “Devil's Crown”, located off the northeast point of the island, is an underwater volcanic cone, offering the opportunity to snorkel with schools of fish, sea turtles, sharks and sea lions, which are abundant amongst the many coral formations found here.

At Punta Cormorant, there is a green olivine beach to see sea lions and a short walk past a lagoon to see flamingos, rays, sea turtles, and Grapsus grapsus (Sally Lightfoot) crabs. Pink flamingos and green sea turtles nest from December to May on this island. The "joint footed" petrel is found here, a nocturnal sea bird which spends most of its life away from land. Post Office Bay provides visitors the opportunity to send post cards home without a stamp via the over 200-year-old post barrel and other travelers.

10. Macquarie Island (Australia)

Macquarie Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, lies in the southwest Pacific Ocean. Politically a part of Tasmania, Australia, since 1900, it became a Tasmanian State Reserve in 1978 and was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1997. The island is home to the entire royal penguin population during their annual nesting season. Ecologically, the island is part of the Antipodes Subantarctic Islands tundra ecoregion.

Since 1948 the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) has maintained a permanent base, the Macquarie Island Station, on the isthmus at the northern end of the island at the foot of Wireless Hill. The population of the base, the island's only human inhabitants, usually varies from 20 to 40 people over the year.

11. Takuu (Papua New Guinea)

Takuu, pronounced, known also as Takuu Mortlock or Marqueen Islands, is a small, isolated atoll off the east coast of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea.

The islands in the atoll are very low-lying, about a meter above the high tide mark. Local rise in sea level has been noticed by the people of Takuu and by Richard Moyle, an anthropologist who has been visiting for the last decade. It is, however, much lower than the publicised 20 centimeters a year. Two scientists (Scott Smithers and John Hunter) who visited the atoll in November and December 2008 say it does not appear to be sinking due to tectonic activity.

While the atoll is likely to persist physically for some time, a variety of problems due to apparent climate-change related phenomena and the political situation are making life on Takuu very difficult.

12. St George Island (United States)

St. George Island is an island off the Florida Panhandle in the northern Gulf of Mexico. It is in Franklin County, Florida, United States. The island is known for being quiet and tranquil due to its small size. Many occupants of the island rent out their homes during the spring and summer months. As of 2008, the island has no central sewage system and receives very little funding for road and infrastructure improvements, leading some to believe the island should form its own special taxing district. Saint George Island is said to be one of the most expensive islands on the Gulf to rent or own, and many purchase land on the island as an investment.

13. Niue

Niue is a small island nation in the South Pacific Ocean. It’s known for its limestone cliffs and coral-reef dive sites. Migrating whales swim in Niue's waters between July and October. In the southeast is the Huvalu Forest Conservation Area, where trails through fossilized coral forests lead to the Togo and Vaikona chasms. The northwest is home to the rock pools of Avaiki Cave and the naturally formed Talava Arches.

14.Petit Tabac,Tobago Cays

 

While on Bequia, be sure to charter a sailboat to Petit Tabac, a small, uninhabited island that’s part of Tobago Cays Marine Park. This was the very isle on which Johnny Depp’s character, Captain Jack Sparrow, was marooned with Elizabeth Swan, played by Kiera Knightly.

15.Flores Island, Azores

The island of Flores is the westernmost point of the Azores Archipelago, and of the European continent.  It takes its name, literally “flowers,” from its abundance of wildflowers, particularly hydrangeas. It’s also noted for tranquil lagoons, cliffs carved by grottoes, hot springs and volcanic remains.