The Strait of Hormuz gets a bad rap. Sandwiched between Iran, Oman and the United Arab Emirates in the Persian Gulf, this narrow channel sees a third of global oil trade pass through its waters every day, making it a site of recurring geopolitical tension.
But headlines only tell one side of the story. This busy meander of sea is also home to a happier accident of geography: a string of islands boasting turquoise-blue waters, jaw-dropping landscapes and a diversity of rich cultures. The jewel among them is Hormuz—a sixteen-square-mile island that can be reached by a thirty-minute ferry ride from Bandar Abbas, a port city on the southern coast of mainland Iran.
Originally published in Kinfolk Islands in September 2022, pgs. 74-85.
