Tristan and its uninhabited neighbours - Inaccessible, Nightingale, Stoltenhoff and Middle islands - are tips of a gigantic underwater volcano which erupted to break the surface of the Atlantic one million years ago. Situated on the island's only low-lying flat plateau, lies Edinburgh, the island's only settlement: home to 7 families, numbering some 300 people. Jammed between the constant stormy sea and the steep sloping side of the 2000 m high (6,760 feet) volcano, it's no surprise that there is neither an airport nor a harbor. Indeed the only way to get to the island, is when in calmer seas, Tristan's fishing boats are able to approach one of the few container or ice-breaking ships that pass during the course of the year, bring much needed food and medical supplies.