Bering Island

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Bering Island from space, March 1992

Bering Island (Russian: о́стров Бе́ринга) is located off the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Bering Sea (55°0′N 166°15′E). At 90 kilometers (55 miles) long by 24 kilometers (15 miles) wide, it is the largest of the Komandorski Islands.

It is desolate and experiences severe weather, but is inhabited—the village of Nikolskoye is home to 800 people, roughly 300 of them Aleuts. Bering Island is a treeless island with hills. The island is foggy and is prone to earthquakes. The scant population on the island is involved mostly in fishing.

Vitus Bering, sailing in Sviatoi Petr (St. Peter), was shipwrecked and died of an illness on Bering Island, along with 28 of his men.

This island is also less commonly known as the "Floating Island" simply because it "floats" on the International Date Line.

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