Vostok Island

Vostok Island, also known as Staver Island, is an uninhabited coral island in the central Pacific Ocean, part of the Line Islands belonging to Kiribati. Other names for the island include "Anne Island", "Bostock Island", "Leavitts Island", "Reaper Island", "Wostock Island" or "Wostok Island". The island was first sighted in 1820 by the Russian explorer Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, who named the island for his ship Vostok (the name means "East" in Russian).

Geography, flora and fauna

Vostok is located at 10°06′S 152°23′W / 10.100°S 152.383°W / -10.100; -152.383Coordinates: 10°06′S 152°23′W / 10.100°S 152.383°W / -10.100; -152.383 and covers a land area of 24 hectares. Its nearest neighbors are Flint Island, 158 km south-southeast; Caroline Atoll, 230 km to the east; and Malden Island, 709 km north-northwest. It is 1.3 km in length, and is triangular-shaped.

Beaches on the island range between 25 and 50 meters wide, composed of coral sand and rubble. There is no lagoon or fresh water on the island, and no known freshwater lens. Vostok's major portion is covered with a pure stand of Pisonia trees rooted in moist peat soil one meter thick. These trees, with heights of up to 30 meters, grow so densely that no other plants can grow beneath them. The herbs Boerhavia repens and Sesuvium portulac astrum round out the known vegetation.