Allow me to tell you about an island near Tonga, about 5,300 miles from Fairfield. Surrounded by beautiful ocean water, it's 8 acres–although that size is a bit fluid. The island 50 feet above sea level, which is higher than Suisun City or Fairfield, so no worry about flooding. And it's a new property!
Very new. Weeks old, as a matter of fact.
New! Room to grow! Cute fixer-upper! The real estate terms flow for the world's latest island.
The new island emerged after a volcano on the Home Reef seamount erupted Sept. 10. Within a day, an unnamed island (more on that later) emerged and began to grow. Soon it was an acre. Then 8 acres.
The island – technically, it's an atoll, but let's call it an island – isn't unique. Smart people point out that islands have been produced during previous submarine volcanoes in that region, the most recent in 2006. Many of the islands gradually disappear, but not all. Some remain. A nearby island lasted from 1995 until 2020, which of course was the year when everything in the world went bad.
But still.
A new island. Eight acres of waterfront land. South Pacific. Near Tonga (to help out, Tonga is between Hawaii and New Zealand. It's southwest of American Samoa, southeast of Fiji. Tonga is actually 170 islands, so maybe the new island could be added without much hassle. Tonga has has about 100,000 residents).
Think of living there! You could build a temporary shelter (I suspect you'd need to bring your own wood), then build a permanent home (again, you probably need to import wood to the new, middle-of-water island). But you've got a house, but then consider this option: You build a small port and begin promoting your island as "the newest landmass on Earth" and "the new Pacific paradise."
This is where the name comes in. If you want to be isolated and don't like tourists, the name doesn't matter. Name the island after yourself or after your favorite musical group ("Welcome to Van Halen," "Welcome to Rascal Flatts").
But . . . if you plan to build it as the world's newest land mass and a holiday dream spot, consider the possibilities.
What about Paradise Island? How about Shangri-La? How about Utopia?
People would flock to your island. It's an island in the Pacific!
Another option is to give it a name that sounds like an existing vacation dream spot. You could call it Mowie. Or Taheetee. Or Cancoon.
Granted, there will be some challenges to this plan. Starting with the soil. It's not sandy. It's not even dirty. It's something else, according to an article in The Washington Post.
“It’s more like a large layer of ash, steam and pumice over the ocean,” Rennie Vaiomounga, a geologist at Tonga Geological Services, told The Post. Apparently, you can't even walk on the island (will you sink in? Fall through? I'm not sure), but it's likely that if and when the island sticks around, it will solidify and you'll be able to walk on it.
Forget all that. This may be the opportunity of a lifetime! A private island in the South Pacific. I'm not sure who owns it, but I suspect you may be able to simply stake a claim if no one is there (I'm not clear on international law, but I've watched old movies), then build paradise for tourists.
One last thought: Stanhope Island sounds good, right? Give me credit for the idea.
Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@outlook.com.
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