Point Nemo – Antarctica - Atlas Obscura

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Point Nemo

At the point of oceanic inaccessibility, you can't get farther from dry land without leaving the planet. 

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Sometimes you just wish you could get the hell away from everyone and everything, and there may be no more effective spot to do so on the entire planet than Point Nemo, the spot that is farther from a landmass than any other spot in the seas.

Technically, the spot, which is located far out into the Pacific Ocean, is known as the “Oceanic Point of Inaccessibility.” Its nickname is taken from the Jules Verne character Captain Nemo, a Latin name which itself translates to “no one.” The far-flung oceanic spot can be found over 1,450 nautical miles from the nearest landfall, which is one of three spots.

Since the Earth is spherical, deciding on the most remote oceanic location required three equidistant points of measurement. They are Ducie Island, which is itself a barren and incredibly remote atoll belonging to the Pitcairn Island chain; the rocky Motu Nui of Chile; and Antarctica’s Maher Island, which is so small and remote it wasn’t even discovered until the 1940s.

Point Nemo was first discovered in 1992 thanks to the use of geotargeting software. There are no commercial ways to access the most remote point in the ocean, and with good reason. There is nothing there. No beacon or anchored marker. Just vast expanses of open ocean. The only thing a visitor will find at Point Nemo is the honor of being harder to reach than just about anyone else on the planet.

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