Islands Less Than Three Miles Apart Have A 20-Hour Time Difference

A TikTok user has explained how there are two islands in the world which are separated by two miles of ocean but there's a 20-hour time difference:

The video was posted by Content Dropped with the caption: "There are some weird places on the world."

The islands are called Big Diomede and Little Diomede. Fascinatingly, Big Diomede (the larger of the two) is the easternmost point in Russia. Then the smaller island - Little Diomede - is within the United States' border.

Because the International Date Line (IDL) separates the two islands Big Diomedes is 21 hours ahead of Little Diomede - so they have become known as Tomorrow Island (Big Diomede) and Yesterday Isle (Little Diomede).

According to Geography Realm, the islands were named after the Greek saint Diomede by Danish-Russian navigator Vitus Bering who spotted them on 16 August, 1728.

TikTok/contentdropped

Since the TikTok clip was posted, the video has been watched over 580,000 times and has more than 36,000 likes.

A voiceover that is explaining the video says: "There are some weird places in the world. These are the Diomede Islands, they sit on the Date Line. They have a 20 hour time difference, even though they are only 2.5 miles apart."

In the comments section, one person explained: "Most winters you can walk from one to the other on the ice," while someone else said: "Imagine working on both islands, you could do 2 8 hour shifts in the same day."

A third wrote: "You could be on one island on New Years and go back a year," to which someone replied: "Double NYE, imagine the hangover."

If you're one of them people that can get lost in Google Maps for hours on end it's probably worth having a read about an ancient ruin which kept its history a secret until recent times.

Nan Madol is located just off the coast of Micronesia, a tiny island nation made up of over 600 islands.

Google Earth

Researchers from The Science Channel series What on Earth? have shed light on this historic spot on the island of Pohnpei in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Nan Madol, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016, is bordered by stone walls and is constructed on top of a lagoon and consists of a series of small islands linked by a network of canals.

Researchers have said that the stone monuments at the site are likely to have been constructed between around 1180 and 1200.

Topics: News, Weird

Rebecca Shepherd

I'm Becky - a journalist at LADbible. I graduated with a First Class BA in Journalism before going on to cover criminal court cases, medical tribunals and breaking news for the national media - which inevitably and eventually became as glum as it sounds. Can often be found rocking a bag for life - which I made a 'thing' way before Rihanna. You can contact me at [email protected]

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