When patchy was asked if the others could come & go as they pleased, he said something like Leave - yes, but they cant ever find their way back, 'cause the EMP destroyed their homing beacon.

So!...Wouldn't they be able to get back by knowing the latitude & longitude? IF the island remains in a fixed position! What if the island is somehow MOVABLE, and the only way to find it is with the beacon?

Hey Thomas,

That's a possibility. The Island could also be out of phase somehow in either time or dimension. Either way, I think that longitude/latitude would go out the door.

Long/Lat. doesn't seem to work with the island. Why it doesn't is unclear, but it's probably the same reason why the governments of the world and the UN don't seem to know about an uninhabited island 40-50 miles across in the south-western Pacific not too far from Tahiti. The island is somehow unreachable from the outside world except under certain circumstances.

I don't think it's a case of latitude and longitude not applying. I think the clue from Alvar Hanso says it all. Only a few key people know its exact location. But I think we can deduce that it is highly likely that the sub was programmed to autopilot to the island and the homing beacon was part of it.

I'd say whoever was controlling access to the island post-DI decided to keep the location equally secret.

Now that the hatch has blown, perhaps Sayid's compass will work again???

If not, Eko's stick would guide them back.