May 3, 2003

• Anyone want to buy an island? Personally, I like the waterway between Vancouver Island and British Columbia in Canada due to proximity to BC, and the moderate climate combined with the shelter from weather provided by Vancouver Island.
  
  Erasmus Island is perfect in many ways (54 acres, great cove, etc.), but is truly isolated. Campbell River (an hour away by boat) is about 120 miles (as the crow flies) from Vancouver. Sadly, that’s probably a bit far. Protection Island is similarly well formed, although a bit smaller, and similarly too far away.
  
  Ring Island is better at only 110 miles from Vancouver, and is well protected, but at only 14 acres, is a bit small.
  
  Now, if we can come up with 1.5 million CAD (about 1.06 million USD), Merry and Franklin Islands sound pretty great. 29 nautical miles from Vancouver (although the provided map makes it look further), fruit trees, a pond, a lighthouse, a couple houses, and 46 acres to the larger of the two islands (the smaller island looks more or less like a 1.4 chunk of rock). Might be a good spot for a couple windmills though.
  
  Or, for about the same price (1.55 mil CAD/1.09 mil USD), but closer to Vancouver island (about 60 miles west from Vancouver), there’s the 100 acre Ballenas Island. Only three miles from a marina on Vancouver Island!
  
  *heh* And if we can come up with a wealthy benefactor, there’s always James Island. Great location, 780 acres, seaplane ramp, runway, dock, six cottages, golf course, etc. Unfortunately, at $50 million (USD), I don’t see it happening.
  
  Anyway, Merry/Franklin Island or Ballenas island appear to be fairly well situated, financially doable (with enough people), and large enough to support a reasonable community.
  
  I’m not sure how much of the area could be converted to grow crops, but if we use 30% as a desirable amount and figure that you need about 1.2 acres per person (not sure if that’s meat or veg only) to provide a complete and diverse diet (somewhat more if you want clothing and fuel as well), then Franklin Island could completely support 11 or 12 people (divided evenly, that’s $92,000 per person to purchase the property) and Ballenas could support 25 people (which would be $43,600/person to purchase). Of course, you’d need boats, maybe a plane, building materials, up link, power, and a bunch of other startup costs as well. I think it might be hard to get 25 people together (at least to start) on this, so it’d probably quite a bit more per person for the initial costs.
  
  Personally, I’m liking Ballenas, even though it is a bit further from Vancouver. At six or seven knots in a sailboat, that’s something like an 8 hour trip. An amphibious plane would make the trip much faster, but that’s some significant additional cost. A powered boat might be more like 20 knots which would cut it down to 2.6 hours. (of course, some boats go MUCH faster, but again, that’s $$$ – both fuel and for the boat). Vancouver Island would be much closer.
  
  Anyway, that’s enough daydreaming for today. Back to work.

  • 1:26 pm
  • 3 Comments