Wailoaloa Beach at Nadi, Fiji, is for flashpackers what Denarau Island is for tourists on upscale South Pacific package tours. A half dozen reasonably priced places to stay grace Wailoaloa’s brown sands.

Like other high end hotel chains around the world, Four Seasons resorts has been expanding its holdings to include a number of private islands around the world.

Four Seasons recently developed a Robinson Crusoe experience in purchasing a private island near their five star resort in Langkawi. Guests of Four Seasons Resort Langkawi can slip away to their very own secret island, where they will be “marooned” in Four Seasons style. For couples looking for a romantic retreat or groups of friends and family wanting a playground all to themselves, it’s a perfect day in paradise.

Dotting the horizon in the near distance directly across from the Resort’s tranquil beach are three emerald islands that provide the seclusion and privacy so rarely discovered. Pulau Pasir, or Sand Island, is a natural sanctuary with a soft sand beach that can be reached only by boat or kayak, a quiet haven to hide away and enjoy some unhurried, private couple or family time.
The Robinson Crusoe Experience

Before arrival, staff will prepare a picnic spot with shade umbrella and blanket, or chairs and table if preferred. For a truly luxe experience, guests may also book a server, photographer and musician at extra cost.

To get to one’s own desert island, guests may choose to do as traditional islanders do, and paddle 30 minutes by kayak. Alternately, guests can be piloted on the Resort’s speed boat, arriving a world away in just five minutes, for an additional charge. A mobile phone is provided so that guests may call for transportation when they are ready to return to the Resort.

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A private island vacation doesn’t need to break the bank, there are literally dozens of affordable private island resorts located around the world that are affordable and offer a unique holiday opportunity. I want sun.uk recently featured a number of properties that wont leave you feeling the pinch. Here is a couple of islands they featured.

Chapwani Island Resort, Tanzania

Chapwani Island Resort is located a mile to the west of the Tanzanian spice island of Zanzibar. For as little as £99 a night you can share the whole 5 hectare island with just 19 other guests in this fantastic eco resort. Surrounded by a beautiful coral reef and crystal blue waters, the beaches are wide and deserted. The 10 rooms are colourfully decorated in African prints and the restaurant serves fresh seafood like squid and clawless lobsters. Ask at reception to take a spice tour or a sailing trip with a local fisherman.

Cooper Island Beach Club, British Virgin Islands
While the British Virgin Islands are a haven for millionaires and billionaires, it may come as a surprise to learn that beds on the islands start at £123! Cooper Island Beach Club is based on one of around 60 islands in this Caribbean archipelago, which only measures one and half miles by one and a half miles. There are only 11 rooms in the resort, and with no clubs, cars or shops on the island, you literally can have a slice of this paradise all to yourself. Sip the notorious Painkiller cocktail invented here, or spend your days scuba diving on the off-shore reefs.

According to People Magazine, choosing the location came just as easily for the couple

“We love to travel and we love Necker Island,” Lachey, 37, tells People. “We’ve vacationed there multiple times, and when we got engaged, we both immediately thought of the island as the perfect place to have our wedding.”

Adds Minnillo, 30: “We were on a boat, on vacation, passing the island and we both looked at each other and he said, ‘Yes!’ I was so glad he said what I was thinking. Nick saw it in my eyes.”

The 74-acre island was the picture perfect backdrop for their intimate nuptials, which were filmed for a TLC special.

“We used a lot of what the island had,” says Minnillo. “It was timeless, beautiful and romantic.”

The province of British Columbia Canada is home to a temperate climate, stunning scenery and an abundance of big, beautiful islands.

In addition to being their bountiful size, BC islands are also relatively easy to purchase weather you are a local or foreign buyer. One of the newest islands to come on the market is West Ballenas Island. Over 100 acres in size, West Ballenas Island is the northernmost of the two magnificent Ballenas Islands located in the Strait of Georgia. Situated off of Vancouver Island’s beautiful east coast and only 10 km northwest of the city of Nanaimo, this spectacular private island provides a breathtaking setting. Easily accessible by boat and floatplane, this island is only minutes away from services and amenities and is well priced at less than $20,000 per acre!

For more information on this property visit Private Islands Online.

Ontario Canada has seen an explorsion in it’s island market recently, making it an excellent time to buy if you are looking to purchaser an island property in Canada or Northern US.  One of the newest island to come on the international island market is Golden Island a beautiful 2 acre island located in the Lake of the Woods an area world for renowned for it’s beautiful scenery.

The island comes complete with newly renovated main cabin and comfortable guest cabin. The main cabin has had extensive work completed including kitchen cabinets, flooring, walls and ceilings throughout, decks, water pump and filtration and more.

The guest cabin provides plenty of extra room for guests with a sleeping loft and two bedrooms. The low profile property makes it easy to get around. Great protected harbour at both docking areas. Fantastic long sunset views over Whitefish Bay. Regular mainland electricity and phone service on the island and great cell phone signal strength. Island is located about a five minute boat ride from Sioux Narrows.

For more information on this property including listing price visit Private Islands Online.

The Irish Times is reporting that the price of islands in their small but beautiful corner of the world is coming down. The times is reporting that some islands are available for less than €200,000, making private island ownership highly accessible to the average European. Here is what the Irish Times had to say. 

 The island of Ireland is surrounded by hundreds of islands - from large inhabited islands to tiny uninhabitable ones. Private Irish islands don’t come up for sale too often but this year there’s a handful on the market, with asking prices much reduced since their peak.

Dominic Daly, a Cork estate agent, has been selling islands for over 40 years and currently has islands on his books in west Cork, the Shannon Estuary and in Donegal.

Daly says that some islands are owned by tradition, by farmers, others have been bought as a luxury item.

“The trend is for international businessmen to buy them. They have the funds,” he says. Enquiries are mainly from overseas - he even had an African chief looking at an island a few years ago.”

To read the full article visit the Irish Times

 Steele Island is a pristine .23 acre island located in the beautiful Georgian Bay Ontario Canada. This three bedroom cottage truly is a jewel. It offers sunrises and sunsets, attractive granite shoreline, close proximity to the Ojibway Club and deep water for swimming and boating. It was recently renovated and is the perfect blend of old cottage charm with a new modern kitchen, bathroom and décor.

The cottage is surrounded by generous decks and the interior of the cottage boasts a stone fireplace, tongue and grove pine ceilings, a modern kitchen with a dishwasher and stainless steel appliances and ample windows to capture the multi- directional views.

The deep water approach to the island greets you with two floating docks, a wharf dock with ample storage sheds and a small beach.

Stewart Metcalfe, Broker of Record. (416) 274-8987. For more information visit Private islands Online

It is no secret that celebrities love private islands, but they are also the playground of the world’s super rich. Along with yachts and private jets, private islands are among the ultimate status symbols for those with whom money is no object. Forbes.com recently featured a number of private islands that have been attatched to some of the world’s most prolific billionaires. Here is what they had to say.

 Sir Richard Branson’s Necker Island, the first of many highly publicized private island resorts. Branson built Necker as his own home but you can be a paying house guest. Things may have changed, but for many years it regularly lost money, and I doubt profit is high on his list of motives for keeping Necker as an awesome escape, since he spends so much time there. Likewise, Julian Robertson, of Tiger Fund fame, the original mega-rich hedge fund guy, turned his New Zealand dream home into a posh boutique resort – you can even stay in his actual house.

I’ve never been to Necker Island, but know lots of people who have, and the charm is obvious: your own private Caribbean island with an excessively huge staff. I’ve been to other Branson “resorts” and can vouch that the record retailer/airline founder/space traveler/rail magnate knows how to put on the show. I’m including this because it is a famous and longstanding example of the theme. There are plenty of competing private islands out there these days, most notably Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz’s newer Laucala in Fiji. (Necker is almost always rented for ‘exclusive use’ meaning to one party of up to 28. Rates for this are $54,500 or $56,000 per night – around $2000 a head if you fill it! – and includes everything, from booze to boat transfers to the airport to a staff of 60 that indulges your every whim.

To read the full article visit Forbes.com

Canadians have a knack for giving their islands unique names and they don’t disappoint with Bustard Island.

However there is much more to this property than its unusual name. This rare listing offers the ultimate in privacy and beautiful surroundings. The Bustard island group is well known as one of the most scenic and unspoiled island groups of Georgian Bay.

The main cottage is of cedar log construction with pine floors. It features a living room with a stone fireplace, a sun room with scenic south view, a spacious kitchen with a propane stove and fridge, a 2-piece washroom, and a large bedroom.

There are 2 cedar log cabins, well spaced apart on the island.

The island is located in a sheltered bay, ideal for float planes to land, even on windy days, and has deep water docking for sailboats and cruisers. The Bustard Islands are a dream come true to explore the countless islets and bays by kayak or canoe…

For more information on this property visit Private Islands Online.

On islands like Manhattan space comes at a premium and often large recreational centres like public swimming pools are the first things to be sacrificed. However if everything goes “swimmingly” Manhattan could soon become home to one of the worlds first floating swimming pools. Part swimming pool, part man made island, this floating pool concept could be providing summer respite to heat weary New Yorkers as soon as next summer pending final approvals. The best part of the project is it is completely sustainable taking dirty east river water and purifying it, making it safe for swimming.

The Pool team still needs funding to make it a reality. Specifically, they need to raise $25,000 to begin physical tests of the filtration materials and methods by July 15th. With even more funding they can test and develop even more, and they expect it’ll take $500,000 to build a full-scale mockup of one of the parts of the swimming pool. As with any Kickstarter donation, the team will reward you with various goodies based on the size of your gift. More donations mean the faster this concept has a chance of becoming a reality.

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