Sala y Gómez Island (
Spanish Isla Sala y Gómez) is a small uninhabited
Chilean island in the
Pacific Ocean. It is the easternmost point in the
Polynesian Triangle.
Isla Sala y Gómez is located at 26°28'S, 105°28'W, 3,220 km west of the Chilean mainland, 2,500 km west of Chile's Desventuradas Islands, and 415 km east-northeast of Easter Island, the closest landmass. Sala y Gómez consists of two rocks, a smaller one in the west measuring 4 hectare in area (270 meters north-south, 200 meters east-west), and a larger one in the east measuring 11 ha (500 meters north-south, 270 meters east-west), which are connected by a narrow isthmus in the north, averaging approximately 30 meters in width. The total area is approximately 15 hectares (0.15 km²), and the total length northwest-southeast is 770 meters. Its highest point, 30 meters above sea level, is in the south of the eastern rock, less than 30 meters from the shore, above a 10 meters high cliff. The highest elevation on the western rock is 26 meters.
The island is showered with saltwater, and the shoreline is dotted with countless tidepools. Because the shoreline consists primarily of cliffs, landing on the island is difficult in all but the calmest of conditions.
There are no permanent sources of freshwater on the island, but there is an intermittent rainwater pool in a depression on the eastern rock, which often forms a cache of freshwater 75 meters in diameter. This is essential for the survival of the large population of seabirds.
