How To Buy A Private Island
. . . for less than you might think

EVAN McGLINN / Lands' End Catalog 15apr2005

Mindfully.org note: ? ? ? ? ? ? ! ! !

Want your own private island? Give [deleted] a call. Chances are he'll have what you are looking for. His [deleted], [deleted] based company has sold more than 1,200 islands over the past 30 years and his client list includes well-known movers and shakers as well as those simply seeking refuge from the rat race. While many of his company's offerings cost millions, some of the islands, particularly off the splendid coast of eastern Canada, are truly affordable.

Take tiny Peter Island, for example. It costs just $265,000 Canadian — or about $216,415 U.S. That sort of price tag gets you a two-acre island located just 450 feet off the Nova Scotia coast complete with a 2,000 square foot house with two bedrooms and one-and-a-half baths. Better yet, it's only an hour-and-a-half commute from the Halifax airport. If you want less of a commute, [deleted] also has Inner Sambro Island for sale as well. This 42-acre island, complete with 3,900 feet of ocean frontage, is just 30 minutes from Halifax. Asking price? $275,000 Canadian (approximately $226,000 U.S.). And believe it or not, Nova Scotia is not as chilly as you might think. Because the province is close to the Gulf Stream, the air temperature is warmer than other parts of eastern Canada.

But then again, it's not the Caribbean. For those seeking more tropical settings, [deleted] has dozens of listings including islands in the Bahamas, Central America, as well as the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean. Some of them even come with existing buildings, docks and other amenities. Spanish Water Cay, located just off the coast of Curacao has a three-building villa complete with telephone and internet connections and satellite TV. Of course you pay dearly to be this close to the equator. Spanish Water Cay will set you back $1.98 million (U.S.). But you can rent it as well. Price? $5,950 a week for up to 8 guests. That's just $743 a week per person. Not bad.

Contact: [deleted]

OUR ADVICE:
Buyer Beware

Before you write the check for your own private island, consider some of these common pitfalls.

• Access — Make sure you are a good swimmer because various town restrictions and easements might prohibit you from building a dock. Conservation restrictions stating the island be "forever wild" are another hurdle to development.
• Building Restrictions — These restrictions can be thorny as well. Some towns have "minimum setbacks" from the shoreline for building and could minimize the size of the house you want to build.
• Mainland Car and Boat Storage — An easy issue to overlook. Where are you going to park your car or moor your boat while you are kicking back on your island?

• Mother Nature — Buy an island in the tropics and you'll have to worry about hurricanes. Buy in the north and you better enjoy your island while you can. Weather and ice flows can make winter travel impossible.

• Power — Running power from the mainland might be impossible. Generators work great, but need gas to work. Who's going to bring the gas over?

• Soil Composition — Some islands, like those in Maine, are predominately made of solid rock making septic systems impossible.

• Water — Many islands have a limited amount of fresh water. Make sure yours has enough to support the number of dwellings you intend to build for you and your guests. Also, make sure you get it tested.

end of article

Mindfully.org note: 
        While you're considering the purchase of your own private island with the great wealth you've accumulated, most of the rest of the world languishes in poverty. As if you can live isolated from the rest of the world, these the islands are purchased with the money you've hoarded at the expense of 99% of the planet. It's no mystery that you didn't get this rich by being nice. But is your biggest challenge making sure you get listed on Forbes magazine list of the world's wealthiest people?
        Oh, all your friends think you're really swell. The mayor loves you. You're on the board of any number of charitable organizations. But you're not really a member of planet Earth. And if you go outside of your circle of influence, you're a nobody. In fact, you're at a level significantly lower than the lowest because your wealth has come to you by siphoning it off of everyone else. While you're making millions each year, a significant number of people are lucky to be earning $1 per day. 
        These people who did the work for you are not limited to those in your own community who live at or below the poverty level, but also to those who have no face, no voice and no possible method of dealing with you deceit and trickery. Through the policies of the many free trade agreements, you've prospered at the expense of subsistence farmers in India and the Indigenous Peoples in the highlands of Oaxaca. How do you think your Wal-Mart stock made you so much money? The examples are all in front of your face but you are in complete denial.
        Many like you get their money through inheritance, but few of them have anything close to a conscience and are off living on the coast of France, while at the same time owning a house in Berkeley, another in Tahoe and a condo in Florida, each valued well over US$1 million. They are such wonderful people and give lots to charities. But they've forgotten that no matter where they live, they're still on planet Earth and subject to all the same environmental elements that the lowest paid individual is subject to. 
        One great element to point out here is that the climate is warming and the sea level along with it. In other words, their island is going to do a disappearing act. They don't worry about their children's inheritance because they are wealthy already. The incredibly selfish thing about this is that their children very well may not be able to have their own children because of the pollution created by the corporation by which they got wealthy. But that's the nature of wealth, those who have it are blinded from the truth in an effort to avoid thinking the reality of how they are making all that money.
      While you're tallying up the costs of island life, you should consider security. In the U.S., Cadillacs are being armor-plated in droves. At an auto show in Los Angeles, David Ransom, Cadillac manager of professional vehicles said, "If you are going to go global you need to address armoring." (source: AP article 8jan02) Of course on a tiny island one doesn't need a car. But having a spare one on the mainland is a good idea. You'll need secure storage for that car don't forget, as well as a way to get to it — a boat — that has some heavy armor as well. 
        The way the U.S. is producing depleted uranium (DU), it'll be no time at all before DU shells, which are used to penetrate tank armor in Iraq, are on the open market. As far as we know, they are most likely there already. The list of security and protection required by the mega-wealthy has no end — no end whatsoever. Perhaps all you need is a vacation at a 5-billion-star hotel. Go ahead, you deserve it, right? 
        Whatever your answer might be, the bottom line is that it's going to be quite lonely on your island. And remember, there'll be no oil left. Even if you can grow your own crops, the lack of oil nixes your desalinization plant too, old boy. Find a solution for that and there'll be an infinite number of subsequent problems that will come at you so fast that your head will spin. 
        Eventually you might even come to the difficult conclusion that your own corporate mentality has been the root cause of your problems in the first place. You just can't deal with reality so you continually created your own. Oh well. . . 

Photos:  East, Material World; West, shower advertisement of US origin; Contrasting Values, composite image at right by Paul Goettlich from car advertisement and unknown image source for homeless man with shopping cart. Note: Shopping carts are known to many homeless people as "Cadillacs."