Sunday 5th September comments:

Highlights: Great crested Grebe – one on sea off Brownsman, the first islands record since 12 September 2007! White-tailed Eagle immature still present, Kestrel, Whinchat 2 Wheatear 2, Willow Warbler 5, Sedge Warbler, Garden Warbler, Pied Flycatcher 2, Lapland Bunting 4.

Monday 23rd August comments:

There are plenty of islands coming on the market in Panama right now and many of them present both excellent value and development opportunities. One of my favorite islands is Isla Buena Vista.

Isla Buena Vista is located in the famed Pearl Islands Archipelago off the Pacific coast of Panama. With beautiful sandy beaches and lush vegetation, this island is a fantastic development opportunity.

A few facts about Isla Buena Vista:

-The island is 700m in length

-The beach is more than 200m long

-The red stones visible from the beach are more than 15m high.

-The highest point of the island is 26m

-The tallest trees are more than 40m high

The nearest village, San Miguel, is 8km away. It has approximately 1000 inhabitants, and is easily accessible by boat. The island is also just 5km away is Viveros Island, which is currently being developed into a 5 star resort, featuring a marina and an airport.

For more information on this property visit Private Islands Online.

Everyone knows that luxury living is synonmous with private islands. Therefore it comes as no surprise that two of the worlds leading luxury lifestyle magazines have joined forces to promote their high-end brands. In a joint press release they note that  this strategic partnership brings together the best for affluent consumers looking to live the good life in paradise and sellers and owners across the globe. Private Islands Magazine’s catalog of exclusive island listings and information will now be available to Luxury Living International’s readers online at http://www.luxurylivingint.com.

“We are very excited about working with Luxury Living International, it’s such a natural fit for us. LLI is a wonderful platform to distribute private island information outside of our own publication Private Islands Magazine,” added Chris Krolow, CEO and principle of Private Islands Inc. “This partnership strongly supports our goal of providing engaging luxury real estate information for our adventurous and affluent readership.”

To read the full press release visit prweb

The internet is buzzing with news that high-end fashion designer Giorgio Armani recently purchased Skorpios one of the world’s most beautiful and expensive private islands. In closing the deal, said to be worth about $190 million according to reports in the European press, the designer faced stiff competition from rival bidders including Bill Gates, Roman Abramovich and Madonna. 

Located in the Ionian Sea off the Western coast of Greece, the  island formerly belonged to famed Greek shipping billionaire Aristotle Onassis and was the site of his wedding to Jackie Kennedy. It was sold to Armani by his granddaughter and heiress, Athina Onassis Roussel. There is a lavish villa on the island known as the Pink House which Onassis built for Jackie, along with tennis courts and plush gardens, though most of the island remains undeveloped and pristinely beautiful.

I am hearing more and more reports that Armani did indeed purchase the island, however I suspect that the rumours of Gates and Madonna in the bidding process are just gossip. More to come!

The Taj Exotica, located in the Maldives is an island no visitor could ever forget. Recently a journalist with the Hindu explored this private island paradise and here is what they had to say.

We are welcomed with tender coconut water by the friendly staff before our private butler drives us to our villas and we realise that from one side of the island you can see the other, just a few feet away. And then it hits you that you are stranded on a narrow patch of land, with the man-made Water Villas arranged around a bell-shaped wooden pathway over the lagoon. It looks like a colony built over water and the huge swimming pool in the middle is the ocean with harmless sharks and assorted fish swimming around. There are no railings, just don’t take kids along especially if they can’t swim and love to jump around mischievously.  

To read more about this exquisite resort visit the Hindu.

Part floating island and part floating home, architect Daniel Andersson has envisioned a nouveau lake house that lets guests sleep with the fish — where the living space sits directly below the water’s surface and from above emerges an expansive roof deck. Andersson’s design came about when he was approached by his client, Ålands Hotell & Restaurangskola, to create a fresh concept able to attract more guests to a resort located on the Aland Islands in the Baltic Sea. What resulted was  this incredible iceberg like building that sits beautifully on the waterscape and provokes onlookers to consider new, unconventional forms for living.

Read more: Iceberg on the Baltic is a Brilliant Summer Cabin | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

For most people islands are haven’s of peace, where families can relax and celebrate together, however sometimes people can’t play nice, conflict happen and families are divided. Recently the New York Times interviewed Millicent Monks a descendent of Thomas Carnegie about the conflict that has engulfed the families private island which is shared by 42 families all of which are loosely related.

The New York Times hates when anybody uses any of there text, but it’s a fascinating story so check it out at the New York Times.

photo credit: Craig Dilger for The New York Times

Like the Caribbean, Panama is warm and the waters are tropical. The main advantage to buying Panama though is the islands are typically considerably more affordable than their Caribbean counterparts. One of the newest islands in Panama to come on the market is Bocas Island.

This breezy 4 Acre island near San Cristobal Island has coral reefs for snorkeling with up to 90-foot depths for diving, the 90-foot shelf is at the edge of the coral reef, so it’s perfect for a resort, or just your own private playground!

Less than 10 minutes from Bocas, there’s a storage building that can be used as living quarters, a covered 4-slip boat dock made of concrete, steel and nisporo, with 2 covered boat lifts and a rancho at the end of the dock.

Minimum of 8-foot water depths right off shore with protection for sail boats. 20 barge loads of rock were brought in and 3 years of work with rocks and soil to create walkways and over 200 coconut palms have been planted to reclaim part of the land.

According to the listing resort development plans have been drafted that include drawings for over the water bungalows.  For more information on this property and it’s development opportunities visit Private Islands Online.

The Montreal Gazette recently took an different perspective to island vacations that is rarely seen in mainstream journalism.  In the article the author along with his family explores affordable private island rentals, and I mean really affordable island rentals.  Here is what they had to say:

The dream of a private island paradise vacation seems impossibly remote, a whim reserved for the annoyingly wealthy blessed with too much leisure time. But it turns out the dream can be yours for $22 a night, just a two-and-a-half-hour drive and a short paddle from Montreal.

Early this summer, my wife, sons Matthew, 6, and Owen, 4, paddled to a small island we had all to ourselves for the weekend at the Saranac Lake Islands Public Campground in New York state. It’s one of the few camping sites in this part of the continent that is water access only - you need a boat to get to its 87 camping spots. 

The author adds

Many of the islands are large and have two to five campsites spread far apart. But there are 10 islands that you can have completely to yourself, and we had the good fortune to find one that wasn’t booked - Hocum Point Island.

To read the full article visit the Montreal Gazette.

This is the question asked by Honalulu’s Star Advertiser as journalist Floyd K Takeuchi discovers private islands are more than desserted islands. Here is what he had to say.

There are plenty of islands on the market right now, but Bart Island might be the most desirable of the bunch. Offering all the sanctuary of a private island, this one acre retreat is actually connected to the mainland by a 180 ft by 4 ft steel walkway bridge. A great feature for transporting materials to your island!!

A main house with guest quarters is located on the front side of the island. House: 1,250 Square Feet, custom built in 2000. Covered in-deck hottub, kitchen/dining/living/den/laundry room, vaulted ceilings, wood flooring, tiled baths with in-floor radiant heat, wood stove, electric baseboard heat, stove, refrigerator, dishwasher, microwave, wood planked lighted walkway, waste water septic system to outfall, city water & power, phone & cable.

Guest quarters Suite: 700 Square Feet, custom built in 2003. 2 bed/2 bath, vaulted ceilings, carpeting with slate flooring in baths, wood decking, city water & power, waste water to septic system. Native art décor, custom hickory furnishings, washer/dryer, China and linens offered seperately.

For more information on this highly desirable property visit Private Islands Online.