This article traces the main threads of the professional life of a geographer, who has spent over 25 years on islands and archipelagos in France and abroad. Beyond their scientific interest, these places have played a key role in shaping the ways the author apprehends and understands the world, becoming landmarks in his life, both as a researcher and as a person. The island may be limited by its shores, but there seems to be no such limit to the number of ways it may be approached.