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The Diomede Islands: where you can see tomorrow and visit yesterday [1]
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Date: 2025-09-05
The Diomede Islands — two craggy specks in the middle of the Bering Strait—sit two and a half miles apart but live in different days.
Little Diomede, U.S. territory, and Big Diomede, Russian, are split by the International Date Line. After local time-zone quirks are applied, Big Diomede is 21 hours ahead in winter, 20 in summer—hence their nicknames, Tomorrow Island and Yesterday Island.
The idea is irresistible: row east and hit reset on a lousy day, or paddle west and buy yourself another twenty-four hours.
Fantasy aside, Little Diomede is home to approximately 100 Iñupiat people, living in a cluster of houses that cling to the island's rocky western shore. Daily life here revolves around subsistence hunting and fishing, with residents relying on traditional knowledge passed down for generations to survive in this harsh landscape.
Global warming threatens the existence of the community. Without reliable winter ice, supply planes can't land and hunters struggle to reach their traditional grounds.
Despite these challenges, the residents of Little Diomede exhibit remarkable resilience. As tribal president Robert Soolook explains, "Like all animals, or any human who lives on Earth, [we] are adaptable."
Previously:
• A travel diary about getting lost on the most isolated island in Japan
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