- Cruise ships now offer themed voyages to the fictional Null Island at 0° latitude and longitude
- Null Island is a made-up location where the Equator meets the Prime Meridian in the Atlantic Ocean
- The site became famous due to GPS errors placing many incorrect locations there online
Cruise ships are now taking tourists to a place that technically doesn't exist on any official world map and that mystery is exactly what is attracting travellers.
There is an unusual destination called “Null Island," which is a fictional location in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean where the Equator and Prime Meridian meet at coordinates 0 degrees latitude and 0 degrees longitude, about 380 miles off West Africa. In reality, there is no actual island there.
The spot has become popular online over the years because of GPS errors and mapping glitches. Now, some cruise companies are cashing in by offering themed voyages around the mysterious location.
Passengers gather on deck as ships approach the coordinates, watching their phone GPS systems count down to “0,0”. Tourists click selfies, celebrate the moment and even receive certificates marking their “visit” to Null Island, CNN reported.
Null Island began as an internet joke among mapping and technology experts around 2008. Over time, thousands of incorrect locations, from hotels and jogging routes to photos and businesses, accidentally appeared at that point in the ocean.
Because of this repeated error, online users jokingly created the fictional “Null Island”. Later, mapping experts even designed a fake island image, a flag and a fictional history for the place.
In 2010, Mike Migurski, a mapping expert, added a tiny fake island symbol at the 0,0 coordinates while working on digital maps for a company called GeoIQ. Soon, the fake island became popular among tech and mapping experts. It started appearing on T-shirts, conference items and online maps.
Software developer Steve Pellegrin expanded the joke further by creating a humorous website about Null Island. The website treated it like a real country with its own flag, economy, language and population.
The website invited tourists to visit the destination, calling it “like no place on Earth.” According to the website, Null Island has 4,000 residents, speaks a language called “Nullish” and even has the world's highest number of Segways per person.
“The Republic of Null Island is one of the smallest and least-visited nations on Earth. Situated where the Prime Meridian crosses the Equator, Null Island sits 1600 kilometres off the western coast of Africa,” the website read.
Cruise companies have started turning the internet myth into a real travel attraction. Holland America recently announced that its 2028 world cruise will include a stop at Null Island. Viking cruise ships also visited the coordinates during world voyages in 2024 and 2025.
