Say the word “island” and many of us dream of strolling along gorgeous white sand beaches while palm trees sway gently overhead. But there are plenty of islands in this world that you probably don’t want to visit. Here are fifteen sixteen of them.
Disappointment Island, New Zealand
Part of the Auckland Islands off the south coast of New Zealand, Disappointment Island is home to the largest Albatross colony in the world. There have also been several shipwrecks off the islands, leading to food depots cached on the islands for survivors. You can actually visit here, although it must be with DOC permits.
Poverty Island, Michigan
Located off the shores of Lake Michigan, Poverty Island is home to an abandoned lighthouse and a persistent lost treasure story. It’s said that back in 1863, a French ship sunk on its way to deliver monetary support to the Confederate states in the US Civil War. Who knows? But the story also says that every ship that tries to search for the treasure ends up sinking as well, in some of the treacherous storms that slam across the lake, so, I’ll pass.
Deception Island, Antarctica
I actually very much want to go here. Never mind that it’s an active volcano caldera and otherwise chilly, since it’s an Antarctic island. It was home to whaling stations over the 19th century but is now a tourist destination and scientific station base.
Mistaken Island, Australia
Located in King George Sound, of the coast of Western Australia, Mistaken Island is 12 hectares of nature reserve. The area adjacent to the island is used for cultivating mussels on long lines. The beach looks quite lovely, actually.
Little Hope Island, Nova Scotia, Canada
No more than a pile of rocks marking a dangerous shoal, Little Hope Island was only home to a lighthouse. Sadly, that fell to nature in the fall of 2003. Of course, prior to the last lighthouse, keepers had to live on a pile of rocks in the middle of the ocean with not much more than the four walls surrounding them and a pitying inept seawall between them and the nor’easters that crashed through each winter. Hence the name.
Crying Child Island, Florida
The story is that this island was named for the cry of a cougar. The guy behind Green Wend blog couldn’t find much more information, and apparently when he went out looking for the island, couldn’t find that either. It is – if google maps is correct – in the intercoastal waters off Atlantic Beach, Florida.
Grief Island, Alaska
There is nothing out there about this island. I can, however, tell you a little bit about where it is. It’s in Duncan Canal, between Mitkof Island and Kupreanof Island, both of which are in the Inside Passage of Southeast Alaska. Grief Island appears on the Petersburg topography maps from 1948 onwards.
Devastation Island, British Columbia, Canada
Another island I have apparently been past. This one is off the Canadian coast on the far side of Prince Rupert. Since that area is rather… remote, I can’t imagine what else is here. No word on who named it, but I bet bears play a role in the devastation?
Nowhere Island, Ontario, Canada
(Not be to confused with Nowhereisland… while technically a high Arctic island, Nowhereisland was dragged across the seas to the southwest of England in the summer of 2012, as part of an art project, before the London Olympic Games.) Nowhere Island, Canada is in the lake area between the US and Canada.
Agony Island, Marshall Islands
Agony is an island in the Marshall Island chain, a republic in the Pacific Ocean. It’s one of the islands that make up the Likiep Atoll on the southern edge. Looks pretty.
Murder Island, Nova Scotia, Canada
This lovely island in the Tusket Island chain gets its name from one of two weird stories. The first story is that of a massacre between Indian tribes. Apparently some French missionary went and told the two tribes (both war-hungry) that there was gold on the island; when the tribes went looking for it, they attacked each other, lending the island the name I’sle du Massacre. There may actually be gold on the island…. The second story is that of a bloody ship full of dead crew that arrived on shore. One lone woman disembarked… and disappeared. Not in my top ten list of places to go anytime soon.
Dead Dog Island, Ontario, Canada and Killarney, Australia
Not one, but two islands get the name Dead Dog Island. Let’s not mistake that with the news that Puerto Rico is quickly becoming the same due to all the dead dogs on the beaches there.
Mistake Island, Maine
Home to the Moose Point Lighthouse, Mistake Island, Maine is southeast of Jonesport. Since 2013, the lighthouse has been in private hands. Too bad, since despite its name, it looks like my kind of island.
Sorrow Islands, British Columbia, Canada
In researching this island chain, I actually came across Destruction Island in Washington state, which was also named Island of the Sorrows due to a massacre of the French by Indians in 1775. But these, no information.
Massacre Island, Ontario, Canada
Massacre Island is a small island in the middle of Lake of the Woods between the US and Canada, and the possible site where twenty French and Cree Indian traders were beheaded on June 6, 1736 by the Dakota trube. The site is marked by a large wooden cross in the middle of the island. This incident sparked decades of war between the Dakota and the Ojibwe, allies of both the French and the Cree.
Island of the Dolls, Mexico
This one goes on my “nope!” list with a creep factor of about one million. Basically, a legend goes that a girl drowned under mysterious circumstances (okay, just that word “circumstances” screams “mysterious!”) and the dolls are possessed by her spirit. Even worse, these dolls supposedly move, and locals have heard them whispering to each other. Again, this one is definitely on my “hell no” list.
Have you been to any of these islands? Would you visit? What about the doll island? And can we discuss how most of these are in Canada?