When the sea stretches out like a massive, blue bowl and you’re clinging to a splintered plank, the idea of 10 islands you might be forced to call home can send a shiver down your spine. You stare desperately for any speck of land, hoping the next rise out of the waves is a friendly shore and not a trap waiting to claim you.
Why 10 islands you should steer clear of
10 The Farallon Islands
Imagine you’ve been tossed off the San Francisco coast and the nearest solid ground is a cluster of craggy outcrops. Those are the Farallon Islands, sometimes called the Farrallones, perched just off the Golden Gate.
The catch? Between 1946 and 1970, over 47,800 drums of radioactive waste were dumped into the surrounding waters. Those drums are still lurking beneath the surface, potentially leaching contaminants into the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary.
The upside is that the islands themselves aren’t known to be contaminated, and the surrounding sea is teeming with fish—though you might wonder whether those fish have been tinged with a hint of radioactivity.
9 Isla De Las Munecas
If you somehow find yourself adrift in the canals of Xochimilco, south of Mexico City, you might stumble upon a tiny island that looks like a refuge. The sight that greets you, however, is far from comforting.
Everywhere you look, dolls—some whole, some missing limbs, some just heads perched on sticks—hang from trees like macabre ornaments. The eerie display stems from a tragic tale.
In the mid‑20th century, caretaker Don Julian Santana Barrera discovered a drowned little girl in the canal and, unable to save her, was devastated. To honor her memory, he hung a floating doll on a nearby tree. Over time, more dolls appeared, each meant to appease what he believed was the girl’s restless spirit.
Half a century later, Barrera himself was found drowned in the same spot. Legend says the dolls whisper, watch, and even drive visitors mad. Still, the island’s shoreline is probably safer than the haunted toys suggest.
8 Isola Della Gaiola
Picture being shipwrecked in the Gulf of Naples and washing ashore on a tiny pair of islets linked by a stone arch. The place looks like a postcard—just 30 meters from the mainland and boasting a deserted villa perfect for a quick nap.
But beneath the Instagram‑worthy façade lies a curse that has plagued owners for a century. Since the 1920s, a string of tragedies has befallen those who possessed the island.
Owners have met mysterious ends: Hans Braun was murdered and wrapped in a rug, his wife drowned, Otto Grunback died of a heart attack, Maurice‑Yves Sandoz committed suicide, Baron Karl Paul Langheim went bankrupt, Gianni Agnelli lost his son to suicide and his nephew to cancer, Paul Getty’s grandson was kidnapped, and Gianpasquale Grappone was jailed shortly after purchase.
So, while the view is stunning, the island’s dark legacy might make you think twice before settling in for the night.
7 Bikini Atoll
Bikini Atoll dazzles with white sand, swaying palms, and crystal‑clear water. If your boat capsizes nearby, you might think you’ve hit paradise—at least for a brief moment.
Between 1946 and 1958, the United States detonated 23 nuclear weapons on the atoll, including the massive Castle Bravo hydrogen bomb, which was a thousand times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The native Bikinians were forcibly relocated to nearby Kili Island.
Today, the surrounding sea still supports fish that appear safe to eat, but any attempt to supplement your diet with coconuts, breadfruit, or other local vegetation would expose you to dangerous levels of residual radioactivity.
6 Ilha Da Queimada Grande
Imagine being stranded on a Brazilian island that’s home to up to 4,000 golden lancehead vipers—snakes that exist nowhere else on Earth and are classified as endangered.
Local lore tells of a lighthouse keeper whose family was allegedly attacked by snakes that slipped through the windows, forcing the entire household to flee into the jungle only to be bitten on the beach. The Brazilian government now requires any visitor to be accompanied by a medical professional.
If you ever find yourself washed ashore on this serpentine paradise, the wisest move is probably to paddle back out to open water before the vipers get a chance to strike.
5 Plum Island
Landing on Plum Island off Long Island’s coast might feel like stepping into a Dr. Evil lair—or, more mundanely, a research facility. The island houses the Plum Island Animal Disease Center, a U.S. government lab that studies animal pathogens.
Over the years, the island has attracted conspiracy theories, from rumors about secret bioweapon experiments to the legendary “Montauk Monster,” an unidentified carcass that washed ashore in 2008 and was later identified as a raccoon.
Efforts to sell the island have been blocked by environmental groups, and the grounds remain home to foot‑and‑mouth disease research. Stranded there, you might hope for a rescue, but you could also end up sharing a campsite with a few very curious, possibly radioactive, spiders.
4 North Sentinel Island
Sailing through the Bay of Bengal, you spot a mangrove‑covered speck of land with pristine white sand. Before you can even set foot, a voice erupts from the jungle, and you realize you’ve stumbled onto North Sentinel Island.
The island is home to the Sentinelese, one of the world’s last uncontacted peoples. Any outsider who lands there is met with lethal force; the tribe has a long history of killing intruders.
The Indian government has enforced a 4.8‑kilometer (3‑mile) exclusion zone around the island to protect both the tribe and would‑be visitors. Encroaching on this protected area could introduce disease to the Sentinelese or result in a violent encounter.
3 Miyakejima
If you happen to crash near Miyakejima, a volcanic island south of Tokyo, you’ll quickly discover that a gas mask is more vital than a life‑raft.
The island’s volcano constantly belches sulfuric fumes, making the air hazardous. Residents are legally required to carry a gas mask at all times, and on days when emissions spike, the entire population may be evacuated.
Visitors are forced to bring a mask as well; without one, you’d be breathing toxic gases that could prove fatal in a matter of minutes.
2 Gruinard Island
Landing on the barren, treeless Scottish outcrop of Gruinard Island might seem like an invitation to a quiet day with the local sheep—if those sheep weren’t part of a grim anthrax experiment.
During World War II, the British military dropped “dirty bombs” loaded with the virulent Vollum 14578 anthrax strain onto flocks of sheep to test biological warfare capabilities. The island became heavily contaminated and was abandoned.
In the 1980s, activists known as Operation Dark Harvest scattered contaminated soil to pressure the government into decontaminating the island. By 1990, Gruinard was declared safe, and no anthrax cases have been recorded among its sheep since 2007.
1 Ramree Island
Picture yourself in the Bay of Bengal during World War II, your ship bombed, and you scrambling for the nearest land. Your map tells you you’ve reached Ramree Island, a sizable stretch off Burma’s coast.
While the island appears tame today, 1945 saw a horrific episode where nearly a thousand Japanese soldiers, fleeing Allied fire, became trapped in mangrove swamps. Exhausted, dehydrated, and plagued by mosquitoes, they were devoured by massive saltwater crocodiles.
Survivor accounts claim only about twenty soldiers lived to be captured, their minds scarred by the gruesome carnage. If you were to find yourself shipwrecked on Ramree during that period, the best course of action would be to hop into a time machine and head home.