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Lying 90 km southeast of Taitung City and 48 km east of Green Island, Orchid Island is the largest of Taiwan's eastern offshore islands, with an area of 44.6 square kilometers The island itself was formerly known as Red Head Island because of an unusually-colored hill, but the name was later changed to Orchid Island with the discovery that the island was home to large numbers of these beautiful white flowers. Like Green Island, Orchid Island is surrounded by extensive coral reefs, reckoned by experts as providing some of the best scuba diving to be found anywhere. Orchid Island is the home of the Yami, an aboriginal group whose language and customs are very similar to that of the inhabitants of the Philippines' northern Batan Island.
