Issue 01 July/August 2024
Treasured islands
Taking the plunge into paradise?
by Nielsen Dinwoodie

Culture

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Azure skies, white waves lapping, palm fronds swaying in the cooling breeze – an easy dreamscape ever since travel agents’ posters planted such idylls in our heads. But can you imagine putting down roots on a sandy shore?

Anyone who’s holidayed on a tropical island knows how strong the allure of serenity and sundowners under the parasol. And, when the plane lands you back in your own backyard, how that local liqueur brought home in the suitcase tastes different under pale winter skies.

For others, islands present a more permanent proposition. They’ve weighed up life options, measured pros and cons and taken the plunge into paradise. They’ve emigrated from Berlin to the Bahamas, moved lock stock from Montréal to Maui. A whole lifestyle shift begun. 

So what draws people from the multi-layered conveniences of modern urban living to relocate into the middle of a sea? What message in a bottle does full-time island living send?

Measures

One well trotted-out notion is that exotic islands exert the pull of those two fabled certainties in life: sunshine and taxes. More of one, less of the other. Naturally it’s the glowing orb that most folks steer the rowing boat towards. As to the other, see how haven becomes heaven in an eyeblink.

In search of splendid isolation? Pack a hat and a sense of adventure. (Getty Images)

“Year-round warmth and a climate of financial encouragement were certainly incentives,” says one expat islander, who left Norway for Turks and Caicos in 2012. “But that’s not enough. You really must want to embrace the culture you’re arriving into. Be ready to reframe any unexpected downsides you experience against the negatives you decided to leave behind.”

What are you giving up? If your private opera box and monogrammed cushions at La Scala in Milan is your favorite Tuesday routine, other locations may be found wanting. Calculate your sacrifices. You’re already aware, of course, that the Louvre provides only a limited number of traveling exhibitions on Cézanne and the Post-impressionists every year, but have you measured how much you’ll really miss Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Islands by numbers

  • Of the world’s 8 billion people, around 730 million live on islands – about 9%.
  • Most highly populated? Java, home to one fifth of island dwellers worldwide.
  • Most densely? Manhattan, where close to 29,000 individuals cram each square kilometer.
  • Contrast Australia, where each sq km averages not even four human souls.

Treasures

On the other hand, a lower count of high-culture extravaganzas is the very reason some take the plunge. A simpler life is a better life. Yet it won’t take a satellite map to remind you that, island or mainland, the same human socializing gene prevails. Native islanders have always coalesced in numbers along the coastlines of a landmass, in sight of the shimmering horizon enabling trade and other treasures. It takes the resolve of the recluse to broach the often-challenging inner terrain.

The edge of the world: for some, island life is all about the possibilities of the endless horizon. (iStock)

One thing newcomers can expect is that their island will imprint its own cultural characteristics on them. The smaller the spot, the truer that is. One ex-Londoner who made St Lucia his home 20 years ago advises: “It can take a while to become accustomed to what’s in front of you. Presumably you didn’t decide to emigrate anywhere in search of a Full English breakfast. It’s important for expats to remember that we’re guests in someone else’s homeland. How welcome we’re made can depend on how well we respect that.”

Worth remembering too that, unsurprisingly, islands contain a kaleidoscopic mix of cultures. Adventurers arrive from many compass points. Integrating into any brave new world means keeping a mind open to a greater variety of views.

A different pace of life

  • On Guernsey off the west coast of France, drivers need to tame their Maseratis to the 56kmph (35mph) limit. Strange sight, all those iridescent Porsches and Lamborghinis slowly snaking the narrow roads.
  • On tiny Caye Caulker off Belize, golf carts are the only four-wheelers. Signs read “Go Slow – We Have Two Cemeteries But No Hospital.”
  • So laid back is the vibe on many coral suntraps that it seems the clock extends to 26 hours. In restaurants and cafés, service often comes eventually. If almost always also with a smile. No option but to set your watch accordingly.

Colorful Caye Caulker Island, Belize: not a skyscraper – or a traffic jam – in sight. (Alamy)

Pleasures

But more critically, before the thrall of palm fronds begins to mesmerize the decision-making faculties, budding relocators should make research their friend. Research of the geo-meteorological kind. NASA are not alone in documenting that rising sea levels and coastal erosion are an imminent threat for areas of the Maldives, the Marshall Islands, the Seychelles too. On the other side of the globe, halfway between Hawaii and Australia, on the islands of Tuvalu, sea levels are expected to rise 20cm (8 inches) by 2050 and more than double that again by the end of the century. To many Tuvaluans, reports crisis agency OCHA, storm surges this Spring that wrecked the island’s one main road are making those dates look optimistic.

Traffic control in Caye Caulker Island, Belize. (QArts/iStock)

And a final word of caution for those who would throw caution to the balmy zephyrs: remember the Lotus Eaters. That mythological tribe of island dwellers, whom Odysseus bumped into in The Odyssey, became so addicted to ingesting the local lotus plant for its transcendental pleasures that they ended up forever stranded. For modern-day captives similarly lulled, escaping back to “the real world” may become impossible too. The moral is simple: islands are an eternal joy in the realm of dreamscapes. But if you intend to dwell awhile in paradise, better you get to know how everything works on the ground.

Three island properties currently on the market with Forbes Global Properties
Check out what life’s like under the palms.

Big Island, Hawaii
Cayman Islands, Caribbean
Mallorca, Spain

Main image: Hoodh Ahmed/Unsplash 

Topics in this article

  • Reporter: Nielsen Dinwoodie
  • Nielsen Dinwoodie is co-editor of Storied.