At some point, most of us have probably thought we just wanted to get away from it all. But typically when we say this, what we mean is a staycation from work where we hibernate and catch up on our show, and not sailing to an area where we’re surrounded by over 1,000 miles of ocean in any direction. We’re talking about Point Nemo, the actual middle of nowhere.
Touch the Butt
Okay, we would be lying if we said we didn’t think of the hit Pixar film Finding Nemo when we first heard about this island, but alas, Nemo is Latin for “no one”, and the name is actually a reference to Jules Verne’s Captain Nemo, the submarine captain from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
Is There Anybody Out There?
If you were to sail to Point Nemo, the closest humans to you would be the ones on the International Space Station. We simply can’t imagine being that far from civilization. Or a coffee shop.
Just a Little Guy
Point Nemo has only been around since about 1992 when a Croatian-Canadian survey engineer by the name of Hrjove Lukatela used a special geo-spacial computer program to figure it all out. The craziest part is that he didn’t even have to go there to figure it out, all he had to do was use technology to calculate the exact location. Easy, right?
RIP, Spacecraft(s)
Because this area is so remote, it makes for the perfect crash site for decommissioned satellites, space stations, and other space crafts reentering the atmosphere. The International Space station, as well as the European and Japanese space agencies, have used Point Nemo as a spacecraft cemetery for quite some time, in fact, there are over one hundred crafts laid to rest here currently.
The Bloooop
In 1997 there was a mysterious sound recorded near Point Nemo and because it’s been described as the least biologically active region in the world, scientists got pretty excited about it. The noise was exceptionally loud and recorded all over the Pacific so the thought was that it could be some creature. In 2005 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that the bloop heard ‘round the world was actually the sound of icebergs cracking and fracturing.
Vacancy
As you can imagine, Point Nemo doesn’t get a lot of visitors. In fact, the only visitors this area sees are participants in the Ocean Race, a yacht race around the world that happens every three to four years.