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Sandy Point, Tristan da Cunha


Sandy Point is the easternmost extremity of the island of Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a distance of about 7 miles (12 km) by sea from the island's only settlement, Edinburgh of the Seven Seas. There is a beach of black volcanic sand fringed by low cliffs and a sloping plateau leading up to Tristan's mountainous interior. Its climate is warmer and drier than that of the Settlement, being in the lee of the island's prevailing winds.

A farm was established in the 1950s, and although attempts to grow vegetables were abandoned, the pine plantation and fruit trees of apple, pear, plum and peach make the area unique. The grassy slopes above the cliffs are grazed by sheep and a herd of about 15 beef cattle.

There is a colony of Northern rockhopper penguins (known on the island as pinnamins) at the east end of Sandy Point. The penguins come onshore to breed between August and December, and again for moulting between January and March. Harvesting penguin eggs is a tradition on Tristan da Cunha, but the northern rockhopper is now listed as an endangered species and eggs are no longer collected on the main island.

In 1882 the American schooner Henry B. Paul was wrecked on the beach at Sandy Point, and black rats came ashore. Within three years they had spread to the entire island, devastating the native birdlife as well as islanders' crops.


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