Questions about the Diomede Islands

About 2.4 miles (3.8 km) at their closest points.¹ The U.S.–Russia border and the International Date Line run through the water between them.²

At the closest points of the mainlands, Cape Dezhnev in Russia and Cape Prince of Wales in Alaska, about 51 miles (82 km).¹ But the islands are much closer: Big Diomede (Russia) and Little Diomede (USA) are 2.4 miles (3.8 km) apart.¹

Yes. From Little Diomede you can see Big Diomede, which is Russian, less than 2.5 miles away, whenever the fog lifts.³ From the village, on clear days, you can see the Russian mainland too.¹ From high ground on the Alaskan mainland near Cape Prince of Wales, Siberian mountains are visible on some days.³

Because the International Date Line runs between them. Big Diomede keeps Chukotka time, UTC+12, all year; Little Diomede keeps Alaska time, UTC−9 in winter and UTC−8 in summer. So the gap is 21 hours in winter and 20 in summer.² See how the date line works.

Big Diomede, on the Russian side, is Tomorrow Island: it is always nearly a day ahead. Little Diomede, in Alaska, is Yesterday Island.¹ See every name they have had.

No. Big Diomede is a closed Russian border zone with no civilian residents.⁴ People who have crossed outside an official port of entry have been detained: in 2006 two adventurers who walked across the frozen strait were held near Uelen for about 54 days.⁵

It is possible but not easy. The usual way in is the weekly helicopter from Nome, and lodging on the island is very limited.^6,7

Little Diomede has one village, Diomede, with 83 people at the 2020 census.⁸ Big Diomede has no civilians, only Russian border guards and a weather station.⁴ Its last residents were moved to the mainland in 1948.⁴ See the families the line divided.

Vitus Bering sighted them on August 16, 1728 (Julian calendar), the feast day of St Diomedes, and named them after him.¹² Diomedes of Tarsus was a physician, remembered by the Orthodox Church as a healer who refused payment, who was killed around the start of the fourth century.¹³ See every name they have had.

Big Diomede (Ratmanov Island) belongs to Russia. Little Diomede (Kruzenshtern Island) became part of the United States with the purchase of Alaska in 1867; the treaty drew the border midway between the two.⁹

Kiribati's Line Islands, at UTC+14, are among the first places on Earth to reach each new year.² Big Diomede, at UTC+12, sees the new year 21 hours before Little Diomede, 2.4 miles away. The main story marks it live on New Year's Eve.

Yes. During the last ice age the sea fell about 400 feet (120 to 130 m), and the shallow Bering Strait became dry land, part of Beringia. It flooded again about 11,000 years ago.¹⁰ See the land bridge.

Lynne Cox swam from Little Diomede to Big Diomede on August 7, 1987, in water around 38–42 °F, in about two hours.¹¹ See swimming into tomorrow.