Geography of Taiwan its narrowest. Part of the continental shelf, the Strait is no more than deep, and has become a land bridge during glacial periods. To the south, the island of Taiwan is separated from the Philippine island of Luzon by the -wide Luzon Strait. The South China Sea lies to the southwest, the East China Sea to the north, and the Philippine Sea to the east. Smaller islands of the archipelago include the Penghu islands in the Taiwan Strait west of the main island, with an area of , the tiny islet of Xiaoliuqiu off the southwest coast, and Orchid Island
Island of the Blue Dolphins one of the Channel Islands off the California coast, before being discovered and taken to the mainland in 1853 by sea otter hunter George Nidever and his crew. She is on record under the Christian name Juana Maria, assigned to her by the Santa Barbara Mission where she eventually was brought. No one alive spoke her language. According to Nidever, the Lone Woman lived in a structure supported by whale ribs and stashed useful objects around the island. In 2009, University of Oregon archaeologist Jon Erlandson found two old redwood boxes eroding from an island sea cliff, with a whale