Midway Island
Pacific Ocean, between California and Japan
Description:
The Midway Islands are an atoll between California and Japan. This location explains the name of the island, which can literally be translated as “halfway”. Midway consists of two large islands - Sand and Eastern and very small sandy areas of land. It is surrounded by a ring of coral reefs. The islands are inhabited by huge white albatrosses, but there are practically no people.
The Midway Islands have a rich military past. It was off the coast of this atoll that the Americans managed to defeat the Japanese flotilla, thereby avenging Pearl Harbor. After the end of the war, a military base was located here for some time, which was engaged in tracking Russian submarines. After the end of the Cold War, only a group of scientists remained on the island to monitor the runway and fuel supply. Just in case.
You can get to the island as part of the annual expedition Oceanic Society, which studies the population of seabirds. Tourists are brought in just during the nesting period, when about three million albatrosses gather here alone.