uncharted territory

[noway]

curious if its common to find a small island like the beautiful one from cast away -minus the panicing, southwest of the coast of california or just out there in the ocean away from major continents.

[Pblais]

uncharted territory

As far as I know there are no uncharted territories. Once they find them they become charted. So the only ones left are the ones no one has yet to find. Off the coast of California would not be a place to go looking for one at least not if you expected to find one. The best places to look would be those places no one ever wants to get close to.

[maxingout]

It's not uncommon to find uncharted reefs between Tonga and Fiji. Cruisers usually avoid sailing through this area because it is too risky with uncharted reefs just below the surface. Occasionally a new volcanic island forms in the same area. Rarely in the uncharted expanses of the southern oceans, unfortunate sailors have lost their yacht on an uncharted reef.

Some nautical charts display the lines along which soundings were taken in the construction of depth contours. When I sailed from New Zealand to Fiji, the chart showed that most of the seabed was not sounded in the construction of the chart.

Now that we have satellites surveying the oceans, I suspect that the government knows of even the tiniest pieces of oceanic real estate.

[noway]

Originally Posted by maxingout

Now that we have satellites surveying the oceans, I suspect that the government knows of even the tiniest pieces of oceanic real estate.

aye, I imagine you are correct.

according to the law of the sea. United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
governments only claim land from 2-200 miles away from their shores, I was just guessing there might be small 1 mile by 1 mile islands out there where one could anchor out at and do some taning

[David M]

Given the entire Earth has been mapped by satellite many times over, there is no land left to discover. Even shallow areas in clear waters show up.

[noway]

any free maps online that would show a current perfect satalite image with all land like even the mini ones that are un-inhabited?

[noway]

google.com and yahoo.com maps dont zoom in close enough nor does it appear they include un-inhabited land

[eric the viking]

noway, I am pretty sure if you head for some of the higher lattitudes, you will find some ice masses that are not charted or inhabited. That might be a good place for you to hang out.

[Big Otter]

Here you two are again! Noway, do a search on my little friend Little Otter - I think you and he might have a lot in common.

[perchance]

With global warming and rising sea levels you are more likely to find dissappearing islands as opposed to finding uncharted islands.

[slomotion]

It would be pretty cool to discover an uncharted island. But, I wouldn't want to get too close to anything that's not described in a cruising guide. There are plenty of charted but deserted "no one ever goes there islands" if that’s what you want. My wife and I anchored for 11 days at Samana Cay in the Bahamas and never saw another soul. We were safe from the two northers that came through, and it felt like we owned the place.