Island Hopping Trivia Quiz

Answer: north

According to the island's official website, National Geographic magazine voted Skye "Fourth Best Island in the World". It is one of the Inner Hebrides and is part of Scotland.

Answer: west

Bali H'ai, a tune from the musical "South Pacific", is not actually based on the Indonesian island of Bali, but on the island of Aoba, or Ambae. Aoba is located in the New Hebrides, now known as Vanuatu.

Answer: south

The Four Preps wrote and recorded "Twenty-Six Miles Across the Sea" in 1958. Santa Catalina is actually 26 miles from Long Beach, and 39 miles from LAX.

Answer: west

Prior to the Battle of Attu, the Japanese had bombed Dutch Harbor and occupied Kiska. By the time the Allied forces reached Kiska after the battle on Attu, however, the Japanese had abandoned it.

Answer: southwest

The Canaries lie off the coast of Africa. The Spanish named the islands for the dogs they found there. The Latin word for "dog" is "canis," from which we also get "canine".

Answer: north

By the mid-1800s, Zanzibar was the world's largest source of cloves, and the largest slave trade center of East Africa. A century later Zanzibar gained its independence from European control in 1964. Later that year, Zanzibar joined with Tanganyika to form the modern state of Tanzania.

Answer: west

Although Thor Heyerdahl sought to prove Easter Island was settled by South Americans, DNA evidence has confirmed that it was settled by Polynesians. Along with the famous moai statues, there are three extinct volcanoes on the island.

Answer: northwest

Every year at the end of the dry season, millions of Christmas Island red crabs migrate to the sea for spawning. From 120 to 150 million crabs migrate over a period of almost two months to lay their eggs in the sea. This is ironic because this species of crab is a land crab, spending most of its life in a burrow in the Christmas Island forest.

Answer: Angola

St. Helena is pretty isolated in the South Atlantic. It is about 1200 miles west of Africa. In 1676 Edmund Halley traveled to St. Helena to observe Mercury and Venus from an observatory on a ridge there now called Mount Halley.

Answer: north

The island was named Santorini in the 13th Century, referring St. Irene, the abbess of a Greek monastery who had the gifts of foresight and exorcism. In earlier times it was called Kalliste. Some sources say it is still called Thera, or Thira, today.