what is the exact name of the isolated island where the nazis and the french archaeologist open the ark?
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The island is referred to as Geheimhaven, but that’s basically just German for Secret Haven and probably refers to the base rather than the island it sits on.
You can read more about it on the Indiana Jones wiki page for it:
ETA: On the IMDB page for Raiders of the Lost Ark someone made this comment:
The island where the Ark is opened, based on the map used during the sub’s transit, appears to be the island of Christiana in the Aegean Sea.
The more important question is how did Indy manage to get there? Did he hold his breath for hours or days while hanging on to the periscope? Or did he manage to avoid the lookouts if the sub ran on the surface?
I believe there was a conning tower that he suspended our disbelief from.
According to the same wiki site that engineer_comp_geek linked to, the Raiders of the Lost Ark storybook says that he used the whip to tie himself to the periscope.
My guess is that the island was one of the Dodecanese, islands in the eastern Aegean that were under the control of fascist Italy at the time.
Also, how did they get off the island with the Ark at the end?
I would assume that once all the Nazis were dead, they radioed for a rescue.
So the Angel of Death killed everyone on the Island other than Indy and Marian, including the entire submarine base?
I understood everyone at the submarine base went on the walk to the desert for the ritual.
They left an entire secret submarine base completely unguarded?
No wonder they lost the war.
In the book and what was supposed to go on in the movie, Indy tied himself to the periscope and god was supposed to have parted the waters for Indy. In the Blu-Ray editions you can see rather quickly this on the map.
I’ve never understood what’s so hard about the concept, we have a god that can kill almost everyone on the island, take all of their bodies way up in the air, yet can’t help Indy out a bit on the sub.
I’m 38 and never heard that before.
Up until the ceremony at the end, God’s power isn’t shown at all. They’d need to have hinted at it in some way, or somehow shown Indy as benefiting from it first before such a scene could have worked.
Frankly, I think the submarine part was just bad film making, and did nothing to add to the plot. There is no reason a surface ship would not have worked, and likewise gone to an island under Germany’s control.
Well, not QUITE true. The power of God is invoked a few ways prior to der tag.
- The super laser gem thing in the map room seems overpowered.
- The burning out of the nazi emblems in the hold of the ship and so forth. Who knew God was into woodburning? I thought it was just skee ball.
Not huge events, true. But still indicative that the big guy is paying attention.
I’ll give you number 2 (which I forgot happened in the ship’s hold). Number 1 is a stretch. 
Eh, there’s room to argue. It just always struck me that the Death Star powered laser from the crystal was WAY overpowered. It was like God saying, “Here, dumbass! Beat the Nazi’s HERE!”
Anyways, a diesel sub doesn’t fully submerge when it’s underway. It’s very slow and has very little range running on batteries. It wouldn’t dive at all for a long distance cruise unless there was enemy activity in the area.
There’s also the massive storm when Indy and his team is opening the Well of Souls. I’m trying to think of a few other times that it might have happened too.
I will admit that the guy in the sub does look an awful lot like Indy.
Also, I’m not sure how many other people have noticed on the Blu-Ray, but they got rid of the cobra’s reflection when Indy fall in the Well of Souls, however, when Marion falls you can see a reflection now of the cobra.
You guys are terrible, now I’m gonna have to go watch the movie again!