Pikelot

Pikelot Island is one of the outer islands of the State of Yap, part of the Federated States of Micronesia. It is a low coral islet, with a wet, tropical climate.[1] It is uninhabited.

Pikelot
A small chapel on Pikelot Island
Pikelot
Location of Pikelot in the Pacific Ocean
Geography
Area0.126 km2 (0.049 sq mi)
Length0.45 km (0.28 mi)
Width0.28 km (0.174 mi)
Highest elevation4 m (13 ft)
Administration
Federated States of Micronesia
StateYap
Demographics
Population0

Flora and fauna

The island is known to have a rich ecosystem, with forest and scrub; and extensive fringing reefs. The islet is also home to a major seabird rookery, turtle nesting area and a few mangroves.

Inhabitants

The islet has no permanent inhabitants, but because of the beautiful wildlife, there are often temporary visitors from surrounding atolls such as Puluwat and Satawal on turtle hunting expeditions. The trip to Pikelot is still carried out in Micronesian style sailing outrigger canoes.

History

The first recorded European sighting was by Spanish naval officer Juan Antonio de Ibargoitia commanding the vessel Filipino in 1801.[2]

In August 2020, three sailors who went missing were found on the island. After being lost for three days, their SOS sign, assembled with palm branches laid out on the beach, was spotted by a US aircraft, which radioed their position to an Australian ship in the area. The men were eventually rescued by a helicopter from HMAS Canberra and returned home in a Micronesian patrol vessel.[3][4][5]

gollark: `_VERSION` can just be randomly picked or depend on the time or something.
gollark: That's horrible.
gollark: Just backport in random backward-compatible 5.4 features! What could go wrong!
gollark: If you're into the heretical way to write >1 fractions.
gollark: =tex 5.1\frac{1}{2}

See also

References
  1. http://www.anchorageworld.com/content/pikelot-island
  2. Robson, R.W. The Pacific Islands Handbook New York 1946. p.142
  3. Defence, Department of (August 3, 2020). "HMAS Canberra assists in search and rescue". defencenews.govcms.gov.au.
  4. Doherty, Ben. "Missing sailors stranded on Pacific island saved by giant SOS in the sand". The Guardian. Judith Nelson Institute for Journalism and Ideas. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  5. "Beach SOS saves men stranded on tiny Micronesian island". BBC News. Retrieved 4 Aug 2020.

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