Ireland's Rockall Island voted one of the world's most dangerous remote spots

World’s seven most dangerous and remote islands.

Larger Text

Print

E-mail

2 Comments

Ireland's Rockall Island

Photo by Geograph.org.uk

Tweet

Forget golden sandy beaches and swaying palm trees, the reality of solitude is different for some of the worlds most remote islands.

Rockall (Irish: Rocal) is a small uninhabited, remote rocky island 270 miles from Ireland, and is the tip of an extinct volcano reaching 65 feet above sea level, with waves recorded as high as 29 meters (95 feet).

Rockall Island is one of the seven islands that have been voted most dangerous, according to CNN Travel.

Rockall has also been a point of interest for adventurers and amateur radio operators who have variously landed on or occupied the island for up to several months, although fewer than 20 individuals have ever been confirmed to have landed on Rockall.

The ownership of Rockall is disputed as the island is claimed by Denmark (for the Faroe Islands), Iceland, Ireland and the United Kingdom.

All four governments have made submissions to the commission set up under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The issue was included in the provisional agenda of the meeting of the commission to be held in New York from 7 March to 21 April 2011 and recommendations pursuant to Article 76 of the Convention were made.

Other islands included in the votes were Tristan da Cunha, 1, 750 miles away from South Africa is the world's most remote inhabited island chain, according to CNN Travel.

Bear Island is the southernmost island in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, 400 miles north of mainland Europe and has been a nature reserve since 2002.

Bouvet, 1,000 miles from Antarctica and its cliffs are sheer. It's almost entirely covered by a glacier. In winter, its seas are pack ice.

Bishop Rock, 30 miles from England is regarded by Guinness as the world's smallest island with a building on it.

Boreway, 60 miles away from mainland Scotland and is one of Scotland's five World Heritage sites, with a main island that was abandoned in the 1930s.

CNN Travel reports that North Sentinel Island, 400 miles from Myanmar is surrounded by dangerous reefs, but North Sentinel is intimidating because of its inhabitants.

Print

E-mail

Tweet