Sydney to Hawaii

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Sydney
Australia

Sydney, Australia's historic city

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New
Caledonia

New Caledonia

2hrs 35mins
1,950km
Vanuatu

Vanuatu

3hrs 30mins 2,461km
Tuvalu

Tuvalu

6 hours
4,013km
Phoenix Is.
Kiribati

Phoenix Islands, Republic of Kiribati

7hrs 10mins
5,165km
The
Equator

The Equator

7hrs 30mins
5,477km
Line Islands
USA/Kiribati

Line Islands, United States of America and Republic of Kiribati

8 hours
6,625km
Hawaii
USA

Hawaii, USA

9hrs 45mins
8,180km

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Phoenix Islands, Republic of Kiribati

The Phoenix Islands are the central island group of the Republic of Kiribati, comprised of eight coral atolls and two submerged reefs.

In 2008, the Phoenix Island Protected Area (PIPA) was founded to protect the coral archipelago’s vital land and sea habitats.

PIPA covers an area of 410,000km², equivalent to the size of the state of California; this is the largest marine protected area in the Pacific.

Only around 40 people live in the Phoenix Islands, on the island of Kanton. Limited human access to the islands is vital in order to preserve this healthy ecosystem.

In 1937, famed American aviatrix Amelia Earhart disappeared during her round-the-world flight somewhere in the vicinity of the Phoenix Islands.

One theory suggests that Earhart landed at Nikumaroro, or Gardner Island; though some evidence has been found, there is no conclusive proof to support the theory.

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Flying at 13,000m - Islands in demand

Labelled map showing the Phoenix Islands. These largely uninhabited islands are part of the Republic of Kiribati, and are some of the most remote islands in the world.

The island of Manra has a hypersaline lagoon at its centre and no source of freshwater, making it unsuitable for human habitation.

1884 - American advertisement advocating the benefits of guano as a fertilizer for both corn and cotton.

The view over the central lagoon of Nikumaroro, or Gardner Island, one of the Phoenix Islands.

In the 19th century, American whaling ships came to the Phoenix Islands to hunt the abundant sperm whales that lived in the area.

It is possible to see evidence of recent settlement of the Phoenix Islands on Kanton, which is still dotted with mostly ruined buildings from the 1930's American and British occupation.

The buildings on Kanton are relics of the British and American attempts to settle the islands in the 1930s.

This map shows planned settlements on some of the Phoenix Islands during the British Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme in the 1930s.

The beach of Birnie Island is indicative of the flat, low-lying nature of the coral Phoenix Islands.

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Flying at 3,000m - Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA)

This map shows the three island groups of Kiribati. The Phoenix Islands are the central group and the least inhabited, with only around 40 residents.

A healthy reef of Hydnophora rigida corals grow in the Phoenix Islands Protected Area.

Manra, or Sydney Island, was mined for guano and turned into a copra (coconut) plantation in the early 20th century. It was abandoned in 1963 and has since remained uninhabited.

Enderbury Island is one of the smaller Phoenix Islands, though it was heavily mined for guano during the 19th century.

The reefs of PIPA are among the healthiest in the world, having almost totally avoided human contact.

Orona, or Hull Island, is the largest of the Phoenix Islands after Kanton.

Orona, or Hull Island, contains evidence of prehistoric Polynesian settlement. The island was abandoned due to lack of freshwater or suitable land.

Kanton Island is the only inhabited part of the Phoenix Islands. Around 40 people live here as caretakers of the Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA).

Topographic map showing the boundary of PIPA and the seamounts and atolls that contain the all-important protected reefs.

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Flying at sea level - The mystery of Amelia Earhart

1937 - Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan photographed together before their fateful round-the-world flight.

The "Earhart Light" beacon on Howland Island commemorates the lost Electra and its crew, which disappeared before it was due to land here in 1937.

1936 - Earhart in the cockpit of the Electra the year before the plane's disappearance over the Phoenix Islands.

1937 - Amelia pictured shortly before her round-the-world attempt. Fred Noonan, Earhart's navigator who also disappeared, can be seen on the right in the dark suit.

The specially built Lockheed Electra airplane flown by Earhart on her round-the-world flight. The plane has never been recovered after Earhart's disappearance.

c. 1937 - Earhart with the Lockheed Electra plane which she flew in her round-the-world attempt.

c. 1935 - Earhart posing with her plane "Old Bessie".

1928 - Earhart greeting the Mayor of Southampton, England, after her first trans-Atlantic flight.

This plaque commemorates Amelia Earhart at Valhalla Memorial Park in California.

c. 1928 - Her success as one of the world's only female aviators made Amelia Earhart a household name, often featuring in news publications.

Earhart was one of the world's first aviators. She is pictured here in 1921 on the right of the plane, with Neta Snook, a fellow female pioneer aviator.

Amelia Earhart, pictured a few years before her fateful around-the-world flight.

A monument to Amelia Earhart stands in front of the Spirit of Harbour Grace in Newfoundland, Canada, from where Earhart set of on her first solo trans-Atlantic flight in 1932.

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© 2013 Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)