Sealand
Sealand is this teensy tiny country. It is about 4 km^2. That is reeeeally small. Sealand is what we call a micronation. This is not just because of it's small size, but also because it isn't really recognized as a country by anybody. It has kind of been recognized by England and Germany, but not really. Sealand was once a British fort. It was abandoned in 1956. A pirate radio broadcaster, Roy Bates, took over the fort on Christmas Eve 1966. Roy declared himself prime minister, and declared Sealand to be independent (not necessarily in that order). For his wife's birthday, he gave her a princessship and she is now known as Princess Joan. Aaawwwwww! Sealand has a population of approximately 27.
The best part is that you (Yes! You!) can pay money to become a Lord, Lady, Baron, Baroness, Count, Countess, or Knight of Sealand. Officially. Actually, there is an anime called Hetalia that explains it very comically and concisely.
Hashima Island
Hashima Island is actually a large battleship with buildings on the top. However, as you can see, the buildings have fallen into disarray, because of problems with the wind and other such natural occurrences. Basically, nobody lives there anymore. It literally has a population of zero. Actually, journalists have only recently been allowed onto the island.
Aberdeen Harbour
Aberdeen Harbour is cool because, as you can see, the city is made up entirely of boats. Boats! Can you imagine you and all of your neighbors living in boathouses. It's like Jimmy Buffet organized the largest boat to boat party in history! It's so jokes!
Pacific Garbage Island
Okay. This one is kind of depressing. Basically, there is a gigantic island that some people estimate may be twice the size of the United States. It is just floating out there in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. All of this floating trash sort of melted together and is pretty much just a pile of crap too big for anybody to actually measure. :(
Spiral Island
This one is a lot more upbeat. This fabulous island is made up of a bunch of floating recycled water bottles. How groovy is that?!! And it looks so beautiful. Problem is, it is off the coast of Mexico, so it was destroyed by Hurricane Emily in 2005. Fortunately, the guy just finished rebuilding it, so it is there again, today.
Dubai Islands
In Dubai, they are all about buildings that are incredibly technologically advanced. They have figured out a way to build islands for people to buy. They are very expensive, but they are kind of cool. As you can see, they make the islands in all sorts of shapes. They have a palm tree, and the countries of the world, and the solar system. Unfortunately, the world islands are sinking, and Dubai (probably as a result of spending so much money on extraneous islands) is going bankrupt.
That's pretty much it for Things That Float. If you have ever wanted to live on a floating island, these are some interesting choices.
Let me just say, every time I say the phrase, Things that Float, I think of this song from the Muppets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK5KnJbyOgI
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