- Tiny, hard to reach, or home to strange people, these islands sure are unique.
Strange islands are a staple of seafaring literature. You never know what shipwrecked sailors, treasure-hiding pirates, and other salty sea dogs might find upon landing on an unknown island.
As bizarre as those tales might be, they’re not always all that far from reality. There are some truly weird islands out there on the seven seas.
Here’s a sampler of eight of the oddest islands in the world.
1. Tristan da Cunha
If you wanted to get away as far as possible from everything, Tristan da Cunha might be it. This small island, governed by the U.K., is the remotest permanently inhabited island in the world.
This round island, only 6.8 miles in diameter, is located more than 1,500 miles from the nearest continent (which is southern Africa). There’s no air connection on Tristan da Cunha, and the only way to get there is a six-day trip aboard a ship.
However, you can’t run away to the island to escape everything. The 250 residents of Tristan da Cunha do not allow outsiders to settle on the island to protect their isolated, entirely self-sufficient lifestyle.
2. Inaccessible Island
As odd as Tristan da Cunha is, there’s an even more curious island roughly 20 miles southwest. It’s called the Inaccessible Island, and its name is no joke.
This volcanic scrap of land juts out of the ocean, kind of like a mesa in the middle of the sea. Its edges form almost vertical sheer cliffs, with only a couple of tiny, rocky beaches between them.
With all that, landing on Inaccessible Island is easier said than done. For centuries, sailors have feared approaching it, wary of the ship-smashing cliffs.
3. Sable Island
Inaccessible Island might be dangerous, but it hasn’t actually claimed all that many ships. You can’t say the same of Sable Island, located 95 nautical miles southeast of Nova Scotia.
This thin strip of sand carries the eerie nickname of the Graveyard of the Atlantic, being responsible for wrecking more than 350 ships. This region of the ocean is prone to thick fog, which can easily conceal the low-lying island.
Despite its small size, Sable Island is home to a unique population of wild horses. They were introduced to the island in the 18th century as their owner figured he could just come pick up a few horses for sale every now and then. This harebrained plan worked as well as you’d expect, and the horses got left to their own devices.
4. Hashima Island
Hashima Island, lying near Japan’s southern coast, is also known as Gunkanjima or Battleship Island. Indeed, from a distance, this densely constructed island does resemble an enormous ship.
Those buildings are the remnants of a coal mining operation. In addition to the mining facilities, the tiny island has housing for the miners and their families, a hospital, school, movie theater, swimming pool, and other buildings.
However, the mines were shuttered in 1974, and its residents immediately abandoned Hashima. Today, Battleship Island is a creepy but popular tourist attraction.
5. Tanna
There’s nothing that weird about the island of Tanna itself, being one of the many tropical islands that make up the Republic of Vanuatu. However, the religion of its residents is decidedly unusual.
Tanna’s residents venerate the U.K.’s late Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth II’s husband, as a god. Philip happened to match a figure from a local folk tale, and so the people of Tanna began worshiping him as divine.
With Prince Philip’s death in 2021, the Tanna residents mourned his death over several weeks. The future of their strange faith is not certain, but they may have shifted their worship to Prince Charles, or current King Charles III.
Read more about the Prince Philip Cult here.
6. Just Room Enough Island
Just Room Enough Island is located in New York’s Thousand Islands chain. Its name is quite literal, as it has just enough room for a house.
The tiny rock measures a mere 3,300 square feet in area. It has a house, a single tree, a couple of bushes, and a minuscule beach.
With all that, Just Room Enough Island is generally recognized as the world’s smallest inhabited island.
7. Surtsey
Surtsey, off the coast of Iceland, is an island in the making. This volcanic island was born in 1963 as a result of an underwater eruption that deposited fresh rock material above the ocean surface.
As such, Surtsey has given scientists a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to watch in real time how life arrives on newly formed land. To prevent anyone from disrupting the natural process, access to Surtsey has been officially forbidden (with mixed results).
Want to know more about Surtsey? Check out our list of 7 strange forbidden places on Earth.
8. Socotra
Socotra is located in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Yemen. It’s probably the closest you can get to visiting a foreign planet.
At least that’s what you might think looking at the plant life. More than a third of Socotra’s plants are not found anywhere else on the planet.
Combine the bizarre flora with Socotra’s craggy, unusual geography, and you really might think you’ve left Earth.