Talk:Cana Island

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A photograph of Cana Island came up as the screensaver on my laptop. I thought how beautiful and quaint it looked, complete with its lighthouse. I decided to look at the Wikipedia entry for it, and in doing so, I looked at the information box to see the size of the island, and I knew that wasn't even remotely within the ballpark of being right. Right now, the infobox says that Cana Island is 8.7 square miles. If Cana Island is only that little island (which Google maps seemed to indicate) that looks like its length and/or width is maybe 10 times the height of its lighthouse (which is 89 feet), that means it is roughly 1000 feet long or wide, probably somewhat less (850-900 feet?). That means that not only is Cana Island not even 1/10th of its stated size, it is more like 1/100th of its stated size, because 1000 feet is less than 1/5 of a mile (5280 feet), and 1/5 of a mile squared is 1/25 of a mile. 1/25 of a mile, expressed in decimal form, is .04 a mile, which is less than 1/200th of its stated size. Actually, in just now looking at Google Maps, I brought up Cana Island, zoomed into the level to where the distance key in the lower-right-hand corner is set to 500 feet, and dragged Cana Island down to it, and it looks like Cana Island is just under 750 feet at its largest dimension, which means that it is only about half as large as what I just estimated.

Are there any locals who know the island who can correct this information? QuakerIlK (talk) 15:18, 24 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The confusion likely stems from a misread of this website, which says that the island is 8.7 acres. At some point, someone put "8.7 miles" instead. The 8.7 acres is closer to your estimation of the island's area in square miles, but still off. Regardless, it was a good job in spotting that error. Benicio2020 (talk) 19:41, 30 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]