The Pacific Ocean borders some of the world's largest ports, including Los Angeles, Seattle, Hong Kong, Manila and Sydney. The International Date Line passes through the Pacific Ocean and is the mythical point that separates one day from the other. Some of the world's deepest trenches are located in the Pacific Ocean, including the Marianas Trench that, at 6.9 miles deep, is deeper than Mt. Everest is tall. Nearly the entire rim of the Pacific Ocean is lined with volcanoes and fault lines, which account for much of the world's seismic activity.
On September 25, 1513, Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa was the first European to visit the Pacific Ocean. The name "Pacific" means "peaceful" and was given by Ferdinand Magellan, one of the earliest explorers of the ocean, who found its winds and climate much calmer than the other oceans he had explored. The earthquakes generated in the Pacific often cause tsunamis and tidal waves that kill thousands of people (such as the one that occurred on March 11, 2011, in Japan). Volcanic eruptions in the Pacific are equally destructive, such as the 1883 eruption on the island of Krakatoa in Indonesia that killed more than 36,000 people.
The Pacific Ocean is home to thousands of islands, including large islands, such as Taiwan and New Guinea; and small islands, such as Micronesia and Polynesia. By translation, Polynesia means many islands. Many small coral islands, known as atolls, are found throughout the South Pacific. An atoll forms on the top of a submerged volcano and, because its coral grows on the ocean side and dies in the center, grows outward in a ring shape. Midway Island, site of one of the decisive battles of World War II, is one of the most famous atolls in the Pacific. The Great Barrier Reef, the largest reef in the world, is located in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Australia.
A variety of travel destinations within reasonable distances of Utah are located in or along the Pacific Ocean, including the sun-drenched beaches of Mexico and southern California, and the tropical settings of Hawaii. If cooler environs are more to your liking, consider heading for the ice-packed regions in Alaska and Canada. If you want to keep it closer to Utah, there's always Disneyland, which is located less than half an hour from the Pacific. Southern California also offers island destinations, such as Catalina Island and the Channel Islands, both just miles from the California coast.
