Contest #792 – Howland Island, Middle of nowhere, United States Minor Outlying Islands

Because of the politically derived eccentricities of the International Date Line, Howland island is the westernmost land situated east of the IDL. This puts this island and nearby Baker Island into a timezone by themselves that is 12 full hours *behind* UTC. This time zone is somethimes referred to as “Anywhere On Earth” or “AOW” — a reference to the fact that a date ends “anywhere on earth” when it ends on Howland Island (or Baker Island). The other implication of this is that when 2022 ended last Saturday at midnight on that island, it ended “anywhere on earth”.

In the mid 1930’s it was proposed to make the island a stopover for trans-pacific flights, and the US Works Progress Administration built a runway on which Amelia Erhart and Fred Noonan were scheduled to land on the day they disappeared. The navigational beacon in the picture above was built after their loss and is named the “Erhart Light”

The island remains uninhabited and is protected as a Wildlife Refuge since the 1970s.

Those who didn’t miss the island before the hint:

  • Paul Voestermans
  • Garfield
  • Martin de Bock
  • hhgygy
  • Graham Hedley
  • Eloy Cano
  • Lighthouse
  • CuriousJM
  • Andreas Meister
  • Phil Ower
  • Gillian B

and after the hint:

  • Ashwini Agrawal
  • Bas van Limpt

Contest #791 – Hotel Marrakech Le Sangho Privilege, Marrakech, Morocco

Nearby some of Marrakech’s main attractions (the football stadium, the water museum, the cactus garden, etc) this hotel exists. Yeah, honestly, that’s about all we could find out about this spot. It was chosen because we were stressed with time and looking for a spot that looked good. Sorry, sometimes we just can’t be all that informative, and this is one of those times.

Those who found it before the hint were:

  • Garfield
  • Martin de Bock
  • Paul Voestermans
  • Lighthouse
  • Eloy Cano
  • Phil Ower

And after the hint:

  • hhgygy
  • Graham Hedley
  • Andy McConnell
  • Gillian B
  • Robin

Contest #788 – Amguid Crater, 100 KM from Amguel, Algeria

Located in the Sahara, a very long way from anything resembling a town or even a road, this impact crater was created less than 100,000 years ago, making it a relatively new blemish on the face of the earth. An indication of just how remote it is is that the first mention of it in scientific literature was a note about it being seen from a plane in 1948. The first documented visit to the crater was 21 years later in 1969.

The crater is striking in that it is almost perfectly circular.

Those who found it before the hint were:

  • Paul Voestermans
  • Glenmorren
  • Garfield
  • Graham Hedley
  • Steve Jaycocks
  • Martin de Bock
  • hhgygy
  • Eloy Cano
  • Lighthouse
  • Phil Ower
  • Tamas Ny
  • Zorro the Fox

And after the hint:

  • Andreas Meister
  • Gillian B
  • CuriousJM