Hello Readers,
Let's visit some Amazing Islands around us....
1. Santorini, Greece
Santorini is an island in the southern Aegean
Sea, about 200 km (120 mi) southeast from Greece's mainland. It is the largest
island of a small, circular archipelago which bears the same name and is the
remnant of a volcanic caldera. It forms the southernmost member of the Cyclades group of islands. The municipality of
Santorini comprises the inhabited islands of Santorini and Therasia and
the uninhabited islands of Nea Kameni, Palaia Kameni, Aspronisi, and
Christiana. Santorini is
essentially what remains after an enormous volcanic explosion that destroyed
the earliest settlements on a formerly single island, and created the current
geological caldera. A giant central, rectangular lagoon, which measures about
12 by 7 km, is surrounded by 300 m high, steep cliffs on three sides. The
main island slopes downward to the Aegean Sea. On the fourth side, the lagoon
is separated from the sea by another much smaller island called Therasia; The depth of the caldera, at 400m,
makes it possible for all but the largest ships to anchor anywhere in the
protected bay; there is also a newly built marina at Vlychada, on the
southwestern coast. The island's principal port is Athinias. The capital, Fira,
clings to the top of the cliff looking down on the lagoon.
2. Bora Bora, France
Bora Bora is an island in the Leeward group of the Society Islands of French Polynesia, an overseas
collectivity of France in the Pacific Ocean. The island, located about
230 km northwest of Papeete, is surrounded by a lagoon and a barrier reef. In the centre of the
island are the remnants of an extinct volcano rising to two peaks,
Mount Pahia and Mount Otemanu, the highest point at 727 m. Bora Bora is a major
international tourist destination, famous for its aqua-centric luxury resorts. The major
settlement, Vaitape, is on the western side of the main
island, opposite the main channel into the lagoon. Produce of the island is mostly limited to what can be obtained
from the sea and the plentiful coconut trees, which were
historically of economic importance for copra.
3. Zakynthos, Greece
Zakynthos is a Greek island in
the Ionian Sea. It is the third largest of the Ionian Islands. Zakynthos is a separate regional unit of the Ionian Islands region. It covers an
area of 410 square km and its
coastline is roughly 123 km in length. The island is named after Zakynthos, the son of a legendary Arcadian chief Dardanus. Zakynthos has a thriving tourism
industry.
4. Phi Phi Islands, Thailand
The Phi Phi Islands are
located in Thailand, between the large
island of Phuket and
the western Strait of Malacca coast of the mainland. The islands came to
worldwide prominence when Ko Phi Phi Leh was used as a location for the 2000 British-American film The Beach. The film's release was attributed to an increase in tourism to
the islands. Phi Phi Leh also houses the 'Viking Cave', from which there is a
thriving bird's nest soupindustry.
5. Cook Islands
The Cook Islands is a
parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Oceanin free association with New Zealand. It comprises 15
small islands whose total land area is 240 square kilometres. The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), however, covers
1,800,000 square kilometres of ocean. The Cook Islands' main
population centres are on the island of Rarotonga ,
where there is an international airport. With about 100,000 visitors travelling
to the islands yearly tourism is the country's main
industry, and the leading element of the economy, far ahead of offshore banking, pearls, and marine and fruit
exports.
6. Maldives
Maldive Islands, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean consisting of a double chain of twenty-six atolls, oriented north-south, that lie between Minicoy Island (the southernmost part
of Lakshadweep, India) and the Chagos Archipelago. The Maldives
archipelago is located on top of the Chagos-Maldives-Laccadive
Ridge, a vast submarine mountain range in the Indian Ocean. Maldives
also form a terrestrial ecoregion together with the
Chagos and the Lakshadweep. The Maldives atolls encompass a territory spread over roughly
90,000 square kilometres, making the country one of the world's most
geographically dispersed. Maldives' capital and largest city Malé, located at the southern edge of North Malé Atoll, is one of the Maldives'
administrative divisions and, traditionally, it
was the "King's Island" where the ancient Maldive royal dynasties
were enthroned. The Maldives is the
smallest Asian country in both population and
land area. With an average ground level of 1.5 metres above sea level, it is
the planet's lowest country.
7. Lakshadweep, India
Lakshadweep is a group of islands
in the Laccadive Sea, 200 to 440
kilometres off the south western coast of India. They were also known as Laccadive Islands, although
geographically this is only the name of the central subgroup of the group. Lakshadweep comes from "Lakshadweepa",
which means "one hundred thousand islands" in Sanskrit. The lagoon area covers about
4,200 square kilometres, the territorial waters area 20,000 square
kilometres. Ten of the islands are
inhabited. The islands are served by an airport on the Agatti island.
The main occupation of the people is fishing and coconut
cultivation, with tuna being the main item of
export.
8. Saba Islands, Netherlands
Saba is a Caribbean island and the
smallest special municipality of the Netherlands It consists largely of
the potentially active
volcano Mount Scenery. The island has a land
area of 13 square kilometres. The island of Saba
is relatively new to the tourism industry, with about 25,000 visitors each
year.
9. Canary Islands, Spain
The Canary Islands are
a Spanish archipelago located just off the
northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are one
of Spain's 17 autonomous
communities and are among the outermost region of the European Union proper. The islands
include: Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera, El Hierro, La Graciosa, Alegranza, Isla de Lobos, Montaña Clara, Roque del Este and Roque del Oeste. The archipelago's
beaches, climate and important natural attractions, especially Maspalomas in Gran Canaria and Teide National Park and Mount Teide (the third tallest volcano in the
world measured from its base on the ocean floor), make it a major tourist
destination with over 12 million visitors per year.
10. Fair Isle, Scotland
Fair Isle is an island in northern Scotland, lying around
halfway between mainland Shetland and the Orkney islands. It is famous for its bird observatory and a traditional
style of knitting.
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