bought into the novel Caribbean timeshare, in a deal that was finalized at the beginning of the year.
Last fortnight, founder Marshall Mayer was among the first 20 people to visit the island named Coffee Caye, which sits in the gulf of Honduras, not far from where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are currently conducting a royal tour. It’s been a long journey to get here, says Mayer, who first bought the domain name ‘letsbuyanisland.com’ in 2018.
“We’ve all had this dream of owning an island, and some people never grow out of it,” he says.
Drawing on his partner Gareth Johnson’s background in travel and Mayer’s fintech contacts, they sat down to work out how many people would be needed to buy a tropical island.
“We had asked ourselves: ‘how much can an island possibly cost?'”
Johnson co-founded Young Pioneer Tours in 2008 with Aucklander, Troy Collings. Specialising in edgy itineraries to offbeat destinations including North Korea, Eritrea and Syria. He is no stranger to attention-grabbing trips.
But is Coffee Caye another stunt or a genuine tourism initiative? On first impression the project to found the ‘Principality of Islandia’ comes across as somewhere between a timeshare and an internet meme. Adopting his self-appointed title “HRH Prince Regent” Marshall Meyer’s first trip to the island involved posing with an inflatable unicorn on the beach. However, this did not stop hundreds of people signing up for a share in their ‘Micronation’.
“We were overwhelmed by the enthusiasm,” he said, even before they had begun looking for an ideal isle, they had people signing up for the scheme, “sight unseen”.
They raised a not-insubstantial amount of US$180,000 to buy an island. Any island.
With investors from over 25 different nationalities they were able to use their network to visit candidate islands around the world. They compiled a map of potential island paradises in Ireland, Malaysia, Estonia, Panama, Nicaragua and elsewhere. The final shortlist included a resort in Borneo and a weather beaten Cobb near Graham Norton’s house in Co. Cork.
“We ended up settling on Belize for a number of reasons,” says Mayer.
Price, tropical setting, beachfront and accessibility to an international airport were all factors in landing on the tiny 0.5 ha island. Selling 150 shares at $3250 ($4668), a share equates to roughly a 33 square-metre plot on the half-hectare island. Although that’s not quite how they envision it working, he says.
He further stated that “We’re determined to make it available for people to visit and they have been, In the last few months we’ve taken two groups of visitors, half of whom were investors”
Graham, Marshall and their 148 mates might have bought a private Island in the same neighbourhood as Leonardo DiCaprio, but it’s not quite in the same league. In real terms the island is a fixer-upper.
It is mostly mangroves. The previous owner has put wooden coastal defences around the perimeter to stop further erosion of the tiny atoll. Currently the only accommodation is under tents but there’s plenty of potential.
“We plan to build, effectively, a bed and breakfast. We’ll have four to six rooms which we’ll operate as a boutique hotel,” he says.
Once they’ve got planning permission they hope to invite tourists from around the world, and benefit from the international flights and tourist links through Belize. Although this is easier said than done.
DiCaprio’s Blackadore Caye, which is 50km along the coast, has been waiting to break ground on building an ‘eco resort’ since 2015. It’s still untouched.
Still Graham and Mayer are in no hurry. They have big plans for Coffee Caye, and plenty of time.
It remains a special site for Mayer as the place he got engaged, shortly after the deal was finalised.
