A remote island does not necessarily need to be thousands of miles from civilization to be nearly impossible to reach. Distance, weather, rough seas, sea ice, military restrictions and dangerous shorelines can all make an island extraordinarily difficult to access. Curiosity Dude‘s newest video explores some of the most difficult islands to reach on Earth before identifying a candidate where there is no known record of a successful human landing.
From Military Ranges to Active Volcanoes
The search begins with islands that are inaccessible because of human restrictions. Farallon de Medinilla in the Western Pacific sits inside an active U.S. military training range where live-fire exercises have taken place. Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean presents another example, with access tightly controlled because of its military facilities.
The video then examines Home Reef in Tonga, where volcanic eruptions have repeatedly created and reshaped land above the Pacific Ocean. Even when the volcano is quiet, changing conditions make access difficult.
The challenges become more extreme at Tristan da Cunha, one of the world’s most isolated inhabited islands. The community has no airport and relies on infrequent ships from Cape Town. In 2026, an emergency even required a British military team to parachute onto the island to deliver medical assistance.
Islands Where Landing Is Rare
Further south, the video examines Janette Island in the Arctic, Sturge Island in Antarctica and the tiny Bishop and Clerk Islets. Bishop and Clerk are particularly remarkable because documented landings have occurred only three times, in 1965, 1976 and 1993.
The search ultimately reaches the Judge and Clerk Islets in the Southern Ocean. These exposed rocks have been mapped and surveyed for generations, yet Australian records contain no known successful landing.
That makes the Judge and Clerk Islets a compelling answer to the question of which island is hardest to reach. The challenge is not just getting to their coordinate, it’s completing the final few meters from the surrounding ocean to land.
