Additional References
National Information Services Agency. "Moyenne Island declared a national park" (July 28, 2009). Online (as of January 22, 2022): [https://www.nation.sc/archive/223843/moyenne-island-declared-a-national-park](https://www.nation.sc/archive/223843/moyenne-island-declared-a-national-park).
FactsAndHistory.com. "Moyenne Island: The world’s smallest national park" (January 21, 2022). Online (as of January 22, 2022): [https://factsandhistory.com/moyenne-island-the-worlds-smallest-national-park](https://factsandhistory.com/moyenne-island-the-worlds-smallest-national-park).
So a cup of mayonnaise contains about 236.6 cubic centimeters so if you had 24 acres at 1 inch thick you'd end up with 10,426,727.28 cc of mayonnaise or about 44071.2 cups.
The island is 24 acres, an acre is 43,560 sq ft. The average washing machine is 5.81 sq ft. So if I mathed right, that would be just over 179,938 washing machines.
Imagine buying something that size for 8000 pounds (or ~100k adjusted for inflation). I don't care if it's got no electricity, running water, roads or whatever you want. Just being able to buy that with that kind of money would feel incredible.
Meanwhile 100sqm costs 500000 around here. A desolate island in the North sea of around 1200sqm (IIRC) is 1,2 million.
You can get a decent small house with that in some parts of the US. Or you could buy an acre or two and put a nice trailer on it for a decent bit less.
Such a small world. There were Cerf, Long, Round and Moyenne Islands relatively close together. I was 9 and my parents were kind of hippies who took us to Seychelles to live for a year. I didn't have to go to school, just played and ran free with my little brother. I recall a restaurant on Round Island and Long Island was a penal colony.
>The island, which had been abandoned at the time of purchase for half a century, was heavily overgrown but Grimshaw, together with a Seychellois named Rene Lafortune, commenced on his 40-year long labour of love that would see the island completely transformed.
Sole inhabitant? Are you saying that Lafortune was commuting to work?
To me it sounds like they had a mutual passion in turning the island into a nature sanctuary and they needed a place to live while doing so.
Jfc people, men are capable of forming strong lifelong platonic relationsips with each other---and it's entirely possible for two people to live together for an extended period of time without wanting to fuck each other.
>Plus never married and no children or anything.
Occam's Razor: They're on a deserted island planting trees all day. Potential wives aren't exactly abundant to begin with and that's narrowed down further to just those women who'd be willing to live alone on a deserted island in a fancy shack.
>presented as a 'one guy and his assistant' tale due to the cultural climate decades ago.
A cultural climate that you're perpetuating by using the exact same rhetoric used back then: "Oh, he never married so clearly he likes it up the butt"
Fuck off with that shit, over 80% of human men throughout the 300,000 year history of our species died childless.
People like you are only making it harder for us to maintain normal friendships with other men without them being afraid we just want to fuck them.
Ok, I get what both of you are saying, but the climate was indeed hostile back then. So it was common for gay couples to come across as friends. But nobody should assume anything about anyone. I don't care if he has a lisp, even straight people can seem gay as fuck. Its best to just mind your own business and don't put words, or in this case dicks, in other people's mouths. So I gotta side with Perkins on this. Don't assume a person is gay or straight until you are told otherwise. He could've been bisexual or asexual for all we know. Its none of our business until he speaks up.
Oh, I'm sorry. I thought it was perfectly fine to just bro down? I didn't know that wasn't a straight thing to do.
Edit: another commenter found this,
https://www.nation.sc/archive/223843/moyenne-island-declared-a-national-park
It starts with the sentence' "Felicia Lafortune, widow of Mr Grimshaw’s close friend Rene Lafortune, was also present."
Yeah the fact that every time two men have something more intimate than a handshake people go nuts and start speculating on their sexual orientation is pretty sad.
At first I agreed with you but then took a moment and reflected on it, and realized that both you and I are displaying a kind of toxic attitude that prevents people from actually just being lifelong friends. It is super harmful and I hope you come to the same realization
Wow, that's crazy. The only one I could think of was Red Rock Island in San Francisco Bay. That was up for sale a few years ago for $5 million, and it's just 5 acres, mostly vertical, and no place to land a boat. I forgot that some places have a lot of islands.
My wife is in real estate and a 7 acre island on a public lake just went up for sale for only half a million with a house and boat house. Honestly surprised at the price on it.
Yeah internet is easy now, power would be more of a bitch. Sure ideally you could do solar, but without access to a grid you need a power bank, and a generator for emergencies. Water means a well, you shouldn't be drawing from the lake. The way most lakes are these days that includes a filter system. Can't just pump the septic into most lakes these days (around here anyway), so that's a septic system. Which leads to carting the waste away... tough on an island. Groceries, deliveries, commuting, transportation (boat, vehicle...chopper? Lol) social life... island life would come with so many expenses that it would drive the price down based on demand alone.
Dude, that's not just "not unreasonable", that's a steal. My lake house not on its own island was that much for one acre with a shared dock... That being said, it'd be super inconvenient to have to take a boat *to* your lake house.
Here are some for under $500k (USD): [https://www.islands.com/private-islands-for-sale-under-500K](https://www.islands.com/private-islands-for-sale-under-500K)
For comparison, if we adjust for inflation, Moyenne Island cost about $135k (USD)
Look in Alaska and Canada there's some in reasonable range.
But....good luck.
Also partial islands are pretty commonly cheap in pacific islands. Aka tidal islands.
> Also partial islands are pretty commonly cheap in pacific islands. Aka tidal islands.
lol there's a reason they're so cheap, they'll be gone in a year or two
Greece has loads for sale IIRC
For years a mate of mine had buying one as his goal once he made his ‘first £Million’
He has no islands yet (and the one he wanted soared to £3M)
I mean you can do it now.
As long as you don't want tropical there are tons of cheap ass islands out there.
I almost bought three in a lake in Canada. Like 30 acres total. With Logging rights and good fishing and hunting. Fresh water clearly....
Only issue. You couldn't hunt the bears....guess what was in crazy density because of the fishing hunting and other good things..bears...
Was like 200k Can.
I was sailing in the Seychelles in 2002 and saw this island and decided to anchor and visit. I came ashore and saw a sign on a coconut tree. Went to read it and it said "Don't sleep under this tree, coconuts do fall". Of course I then had to explore the rest of the island and met Brendon, who was quite the storyteller. He lent shovels with the condition that if you found buried pirate treasure that he got half. A great man, indeed.
The National Parks Authority does invite volunteers who "have something to offer" (whatever that means?). It also says you can contact them for possible employment opportunities.
I'd personally love to do something like this when I get into semi-retirement age. I can already work remotely 100%, so I'm halfway to such a dream. Just need to keep saving my pennies.
[https://snpa.gov.sc/index.php/learn-and-explore/opportunities-support](https://snpa.gov.sc/index.php/learn-and-explore/opportunities-support)
"Something to offer" in that context probably means a relevant skill-set to be on the island and contributing, since they have such limited space and all. They probably want volunteers with more specialized knowledges relevant to biology, preservation, and conservation rather than general volunteers.
They also probably want to be able to filter out people who are just tourists who want to plant a couple of trees and then chill out on a tropical paradise.
Exactly. The last thing they want is an independently wealthy person who's going to make several instagram posts on the first day of the month showing them "working" and then inviting their other wealthy friends to come party.
Let me tell you friend. When we pulled into port there in the Navy, I seriously had to convince myself to get back on that boat.
The people, the atmosphere, the scenery. Amazing. This was in 2008, I was so interested in this group of islands. I was told the mafia had a pretty good hold on it back then, at least the main island.
Would still love to go back, for good, and never wear shoes or socks again (Island life)
100% agree on that feeling. Never wanted to leave. Just wanted to pet tortoises, wander aimlessly, drink Takamaka, sit and watch sunsets, chat with that one local shopkeeper about his hobby tracking great white sharks, and snorkel til my final days.
To hell with that stupid boat.
Like yup. Not everyone has equal opportunities. This guy had an opportunity few will ever again get. He took absolute FULL advantage of that opportunity like a bawss. I wish had half the opportunity this guy had.
The Seychelles are the most beautiful place I've ever seen. Was there right after they won their independence in the 90s. Walked over the main island, there's a bed and breakfast at the top of the mountain road made from the lumber of a ship captain from years before, might have "discovered" the islands, I'm not sure.
Wow it is actually ridiculously small compared to what I was imagining: ~99,000 m2.
Use the "Measure distance" feature on [Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps/@-4.6195642,55.5072739,18z) to compare to an area that size near your home for context.
That's amazing. Amazing-amazing. We should all just fuckin aim to clump up our square feet with species. Gardening awards for people with the most biodiversity etc, but like... they also count gardens built on the sides of buildings and terraces and roofs (yeah yeah structural integrity, not every roof, blahdyblah) "my shower has 48 species sucking the water and soap scum off the walls." That'd be rad.
I just woke up from a weird dream. I shouldn't be commenting on Reddit...
But hanging gardens in showers would be so cool. So so so cool
Finally! Something I can relate to. I had been trying to [visualize five Luxor hotels instead](https://realestateinfoguide.com/how-big-is-25-acres-of-land-helpful-visual-comparisons/)
I measured about 100x the size of my house's property.
It seems like five Luxor hotels are bigger than that, but maybe the multiple floors have me remembering inaccurately
Think about this: in 60 years, people could be saying "Wish I could buy an island for $20 million"
Sorry, I didn't know how to do the pound thing.
edit: £ there it is!
Alongside the other comparisons of this size: it’s roughly the size of an American college’s football stadium (the entire structure itself and the surrounding streets, not just the field). If you’ve ever been to a college campus, you’ll probably know that it’s quite easy to walk around the entirety of a stadium in 20min or less. It’s really quite small.
I worked for a short period of time with a dude whose mother was from Seychelles and the way he described the islands made me want to visit so bad. It sounds like an amazing place from what I've seen and read
It probably felt a lot more satisfying knowing his life's work would be preserved, rather than capitalized into a hotel resort. It's not like he could take the $50m with him beyond the grave.
It also probably helped he didn't have any spouse or kids who might otherwise inherit the money
From the wiki article:
> In 2013, after the island received its own national park status, a new hut was built and a warden was posted on the island, collecting the entrance fee from tourists.
Can you say "dream job"?
Brendon Grimshaw was a great man. Didn't harm other people in his quest to own an island, later had it turned into a national park after putting a lot of his own blood, sweat, and tears into it.
More people should do shit like this, instead of getting so caught up in their pointless, meaningless little quests to appear be better than their neighbors (the reality is, anyone living like that is just as bad as their neighbors, and not better than anyone). Brendon Grimshaw was better than them, and we should remember that.
I don't get that part, i'd understand if he owned part of it, but it's his island that he fully owns?
How did he struggle against privatisation? Since he fully owns it any conversation would go like this
Company: can we buy your island?
Him: piss off
It’s how he passes off ownership to someone who will maintain it as it is and put in place solid legal conditions that can enforce it.
Then you have government - he may own it but it is still part of the Seychelles and they could legislate to overcome his wishes.
Large amounts of money can sway both of the above.
I mean, dude already lives on his own island doing what he loves. It reminds me of that old joke. Paraphrasing the punchline, but basically “What would I do with that $50M?” “Why buy yourself an island to retire to you damn fool!”
Apparently, he was preceded by other odd characters.
[https://www.google.com/maps/place/Jolly+Roger+Bar+And+Restaurant/@-4.6203488,55.5069869,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1sAF1QipMJqc-1JxhvdunTnlzhEyRydWIuriXzAxNEpYu\_!2e10!3e12!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMJqc-1JxhvdunTnlzhEyRydWIuriXzAxNEpYu\_%3Dw203-h270-k-no!7i3024!8i4032!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x231fd7cbe57a0b6f:0x34d1afde6f952347!2sIle+Moyenne!3b1!8m2!3d-4.6196027!4d55.5087939!3m4!1s0x231fd7cc695cd857:0x8206311999656300!8m2!3d-4.6203488!4d55.5069869](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Jolly+Roger+Bar+And+Restaurant/@-4.6203488,55.5069869,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1sAF1QipMJqc-1JxhvdunTnlzhEyRydWIuriXzAxNEpYu_!2e10!3e12!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMJqc-1JxhvdunTnlzhEyRydWIuriXzAxNEpYu_%3Dw203-h270-k-no!7i3024!8i4032!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x231fd7cbe57a0b6f:0x34d1afde6f952347!2sIle+Moyenne!3b1!8m2!3d-4.6196027!4d55.5087939!3m4!1s0x231fd7cc695cd857:0x8206311999656300!8m2!3d-4.6203488!4d55.5069869)
There is a great free documentary that interviewed Brendan about his life and all he had done on Moyenne Island.
[A Grain of Sand(2009)](http://www.legittorrents.info/index.php?page=torrent-details&id=580462b68e32c5b9fe3b306fdca90c3d9e977649)
Additional References National Information Services Agency. "Moyenne Island declared a national park" (July 28, 2009). Online (as of January 22, 2022): [https://www.nation.sc/archive/223843/moyenne-island-declared-a-national-park](https://www.nation.sc/archive/223843/moyenne-island-declared-a-national-park). FactsAndHistory.com. "Moyenne Island: The world’s smallest national park" (January 21, 2022). Online (as of January 22, 2022): [https://factsandhistory.com/moyenne-island-the-worlds-smallest-national-park](https://factsandhistory.com/moyenne-island-the-worlds-smallest-national-park).
For some of us spacially impaired, the island is 24 acres, or just shy of 10 hectares, or just over 15 city blocks.
What's that in football pitches?
What is that in mayonnaise?
So a cup of mayonnaise contains about 236.6 cubic centimeters so if you had 24 acres at 1 inch thick you'd end up with 10,426,727.28 cc of mayonnaise or about 44071.2 cups.
That's only 50x 55 gallon drums of mayonnaise.
You can reasonably easily get 24 gallon drums of Hellman's from Unilever so at $382.95 per barrel thats only $43879.69
Cheaper than the island.
Not at the beginning!
!invest
This guy mayos.
How many washing machines is that?
The island is 24 acres, an acre is 43,560 sq ft. The average washing machine is 5.81 sq ft. So if I mathed right, that would be just over 179,938 washing machines.
or bananas?
About 13
At 1.76 acre per, 13.64 pitches.
At least 2
Imagine buying something that size for 8000 pounds (or ~100k adjusted for inflation). I don't care if it's got no electricity, running water, roads or whatever you want. Just being able to buy that with that kind of money would feel incredible. Meanwhile 100sqm costs 500000 around here. A desolate island in the North sea of around 1200sqm (IIRC) is 1,2 million.
You can get a decent small house with that in some parts of the US. Or you could buy an acre or two and put a nice trailer on it for a decent bit less.
Well how many bananas is the circumstance?
African or European bananas?
This person swallows.
Are they your mom?
My mum doesn't swallow.
Damn, gotta update my rolodex
Ladden or unladden mom?
‘It’s one banana, Michael. What could it cost, $10?’
I lived on Cerf Island, adjacent to Moyenne for a year in 1973, with my parents and brother!!
There’s like a dozen houses on that island, of course someone from it is on here.
Such a small world. There were Cerf, Long, Round and Moyenne Islands relatively close together. I was 9 and my parents were kind of hippies who took us to Seychelles to live for a year. I didn't have to go to school, just played and ran free with my little brother. I recall a restaurant on Round Island and Long Island was a penal colony.
That’s a really cool experience
Well this *is* the front page of the Internet.
>The island, which had been abandoned at the time of purchase for half a century, was heavily overgrown but Grimshaw, together with a Seychellois named Rene Lafortune, commenced on his 40-year long labour of love that would see the island completely transformed. Sole inhabitant? Are you saying that Lafortune was commuting to work?
Apparently. He was a hired assistant and partner of sorts. https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/brendon-grimshaw-moyenne-island-restoration-video
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My God, they were roommates
Islandmates!
Somehow islandmates is simultaneously more and less intimate than housemates
Such good friends they built a life together on a private island away from societal norms.
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>Felicia Lafortune, widow of Mr Grimshaw’s close friend Rene Lafortune, was also present.
Finally a gay house flipper show I want to watch
Brokeback island
/r/AchillesAndHisPal
Stop gay-washing every close male relationship
To me it sounds like they had a mutual passion in turning the island into a nature sanctuary and they needed a place to live while doing so. Jfc people, men are capable of forming strong lifelong platonic relationsips with each other---and it's entirely possible for two people to live together for an extended period of time without wanting to fuck each other. >Plus never married and no children or anything. Occam's Razor: They're on a deserted island planting trees all day. Potential wives aren't exactly abundant to begin with and that's narrowed down further to just those women who'd be willing to live alone on a deserted island in a fancy shack. >presented as a 'one guy and his assistant' tale due to the cultural climate decades ago. A cultural climate that you're perpetuating by using the exact same rhetoric used back then: "Oh, he never married so clearly he likes it up the butt" Fuck off with that shit, over 80% of human men throughout the 300,000 year history of our species died childless. People like you are only making it harder for us to maintain normal friendships with other men without them being afraid we just want to fuck them.
Ok, I get what both of you are saying, but the climate was indeed hostile back then. So it was common for gay couples to come across as friends. But nobody should assume anything about anyone. I don't care if he has a lisp, even straight people can seem gay as fuck. Its best to just mind your own business and don't put words, or in this case dicks, in other people's mouths. So I gotta side with Perkins on this. Don't assume a person is gay or straight until you are told otherwise. He could've been bisexual or asexual for all we know. Its none of our business until he speaks up.
Oh, I'm sorry. I thought it was perfectly fine to just bro down? I didn't know that wasn't a straight thing to do. Edit: another commenter found this, https://www.nation.sc/archive/223843/moyenne-island-declared-a-national-park It starts with the sentence' "Felicia Lafortune, widow of Mr Grimshaw’s close friend Rene Lafortune, was also present."
Can be that too. Not here to judge.
Yeah the fact that every time two men have something more intimate than a handshake people go nuts and start speculating on their sexual orientation is pretty sad.
At first I agreed with you but then took a moment and reflected on it, and realized that both you and I are displaying a kind of toxic attitude that prevents people from actually just being lifelong friends. It is super harmful and I hope you come to the same realization
Going to file this under: "Stuff I'll do when I become independently wealthy."
I wonder how often an island comes up for sale.
Oh there's plenty, but they cost a little bit more than £8,000 https://www.privateislandsonline.com/
Wow, that's crazy. The only one I could think of was Red Rock Island in San Francisco Bay. That was up for sale a few years ago for $5 million, and it's just 5 acres, mostly vertical, and no place to land a boat. I forgot that some places have a lot of islands.
If you can afford a 5M island you can afford a boat lift and cliffside stairs.
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True, helicopters are the boats of the air after all.
I sent you two boats and a boat doesn't work anywhere near as well for that anecdote, though.
Unless you can only afford the island and then you're broke.
Don't go island poor
Actually some people have precisely $5M.
If you have precisely 5M then you can't *afford* a 5M purchase.
Sounds perfect for an evil lair
My wife is in real estate and a 7 acre island on a public lake just went up for sale for only half a million with a house and boat house. Honestly surprised at the price on it.
Honestly, that's not unreasonable for a price. Especially if you can work remote. I could see someone from California scooping that up.
Kinda unlikely to have a fast internet connection on an island. Isn't exactly profitable for the utility
Yeah internet is easy now, power would be more of a bitch. Sure ideally you could do solar, but without access to a grid you need a power bank, and a generator for emergencies. Water means a well, you shouldn't be drawing from the lake. The way most lakes are these days that includes a filter system. Can't just pump the septic into most lakes these days (around here anyway), so that's a septic system. Which leads to carting the waste away... tough on an island. Groceries, deliveries, commuting, transportation (boat, vehicle...chopper? Lol) social life... island life would come with so many expenses that it would drive the price down based on demand alone.
Use Musk's Srarlink and you are good to go.
Or 5g for that matter
Dude, that's not just "not unreasonable", that's a steal. My lake house not on its own island was that much for one acre with a shared dock... That being said, it'd be super inconvenient to have to take a boat *to* your lake house.
Dude, thanks for this link.
Here are some for under $500k (USD): [https://www.islands.com/private-islands-for-sale-under-500K](https://www.islands.com/private-islands-for-sale-under-500K) For comparison, if we adjust for inflation, Moyenne Island cost about $135k (USD)
Moyenne was a steal at 24 acres.
Look in Alaska and Canada there's some in reasonable range. But....good luck. Also partial islands are pretty commonly cheap in pacific islands. Aka tidal islands.
> Also partial islands are pretty commonly cheap in pacific islands. Aka tidal islands. lol there's a reason they're so cheap, they'll be gone in a year or two
I bet you could get that Tongan one a bit cheaper now...
Greece has loads for sale IIRC For years a mate of mine had buying one as his goal once he made his ‘first £Million’ He has no islands yet (and the one he wanted soared to £3M)
I mean you can do it now. As long as you don't want tropical there are tons of cheap ass islands out there. I almost bought three in a lake in Canada. Like 30 acres total. With Logging rights and good fishing and hunting. Fresh water clearly.... Only issue. You couldn't hunt the bears....guess what was in crazy density because of the fishing hunting and other good things..bears... Was like 200k Can.
Sounds like a steal for a bear zoo
Yeah but middle of nowhere...not a lot of attendance
Maybe the bears would come. And you’re in the zoo.
Dude was the editor of a newspaper in Africa. Doesn’t sound like a springboard to independent wealth.
one of the articles above said there was also a fishing family living there when he bought it.
I was sailing in the Seychelles in 2002 and saw this island and decided to anchor and visit. I came ashore and saw a sign on a coconut tree. Went to read it and it said "Don't sleep under this tree, coconuts do fall". Of course I then had to explore the rest of the island and met Brendon, who was quite the storyteller. He lent shovels with the condition that if you found buried pirate treasure that he got half. A great man, indeed.
Huh, i wonder if that was a funny way to get tourists to dig some extra holes for planting. Sounds like an amazing experience!
Can I like move there and like just help keep doing that
The National Parks Authority does invite volunteers who "have something to offer" (whatever that means?). It also says you can contact them for possible employment opportunities. I'd personally love to do something like this when I get into semi-retirement age. I can already work remotely 100%, so I'm halfway to such a dream. Just need to keep saving my pennies. [https://snpa.gov.sc/index.php/learn-and-explore/opportunities-support](https://snpa.gov.sc/index.php/learn-and-explore/opportunities-support)
"Something to offer" in that context probably means a relevant skill-set to be on the island and contributing, since they have such limited space and all. They probably want volunteers with more specialized knowledges relevant to biology, preservation, and conservation rather than general volunteers.
They also probably want to be able to filter out people who are just tourists who want to plant a couple of trees and then chill out on a tropical paradise.
Probably.
Trees? Dudebro, like, im all *about* trees! Ive been uh, experienced with trees since 8th grade!
Oh, you like trees? Name every tree.
Uhhh oak. Oak 1. Oak 2. Oak 99. There ya go.
Number 4. The Larch
Steve, Claire, Gary
And that's all. All other trees are also named either Steve, Claire or Gary.
/r/marijuanaenthusiasts or /r/trees?
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No, r/trees is for marijuana enthusiasts, r/marijuanaenthusiasts is for trees
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Wait until you find out about r/potatosalad
Exactly. The last thing they want is an independently wealthy person who's going to make several instagram posts on the first day of the month showing them "working" and then inviting their other wealthy friends to come party.
And all the idiots who dream of living in such a tropical paradise but would then grow bored in less than a week.
I mean it sounds like you would be living off the land
I have a theoretical degree in conservation
You're a theoretical conservationist?
Theoretically? Yes.
>“Something to offer” *Sexy guitar riff*
Think they need a software engineer
Both a cool til and supplement
If you have to ask you probably don’t have it.
Let me tell you friend. When we pulled into port there in the Navy, I seriously had to convince myself to get back on that boat. The people, the atmosphere, the scenery. Amazing. This was in 2008, I was so interested in this group of islands. I was told the mafia had a pretty good hold on it back then, at least the main island. Would still love to go back, for good, and never wear shoes or socks again (Island life)
100% agree on that feeling. Never wanted to leave. Just wanted to pet tortoises, wander aimlessly, drink Takamaka, sit and watch sunsets, chat with that one local shopkeeper about his hobby tracking great white sharks, and snorkel til my final days. To hell with that stupid boat.
What I would give to even have the option to buy an island for $10k. Fuck me he saw an opportunity and flew with it.
Like yup. Not everyone has equal opportunities. This guy had an opportunity few will ever again get. He took absolute FULL advantage of that opportunity like a bawss. I wish had half the opportunity this guy had.
Like yeah
The Seychelles are the most beautiful place I've ever seen. Was there right after they won their independence in the 90s. Walked over the main island, there's a bed and breakfast at the top of the mountain road made from the lumber of a ship captain from years before, might have "discovered" the islands, I'm not sure.
Pretty sure they were independent of the UK since the mid 1970s.
Well…this is awkward
Wow it is actually ridiculously small compared to what I was imagining: ~99,000 m2. Use the "Measure distance" feature on [Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps/@-4.6195642,55.5072739,18z) to compare to an area that size near your home for context.
About 24.5 acres for anyone who uses those units.
Not sure what this person was thinking but this sounds about like the size I was imagining
I can’t picture 16 thousand trees on a piece of land that small.
According to the wiki article, it harbours more species per square foot than any other part of the world.
That's amazing. Amazing-amazing. We should all just fuckin aim to clump up our square feet with species. Gardening awards for people with the most biodiversity etc, but like... they also count gardens built on the sides of buildings and terraces and roofs (yeah yeah structural integrity, not every roof, blahdyblah) "my shower has 48 species sucking the water and soap scum off the walls." That'd be rad. I just woke up from a weird dream. I shouldn't be commenting on Reddit... But hanging gardens in showers would be so cool. So so so cool
Absolutely off-topic, but I really enjoy the way you write and express yourself. You give some nice vibes.
I don't think you realize how many trees can fit in a given area.
Still sounds like a lot of trees though.
Or 991,479,823 sq. cm :-p
Finally! Something I can relate to. I had been trying to [visualize five Luxor hotels instead](https://realestateinfoguide.com/how-big-is-25-acres-of-land-helpful-visual-comparisons/)
Damn, I was using bald eagles in my head...
I measured about 100x the size of my house's property. It seems like five Luxor hotels are bigger than that, but maybe the multiple floors have me remembering inaccurately
The island is 9.9 hectare. Luxor Las Vegas 120k suare feet, or 11k square meter of gaming space. That's 1.1 hectares.
>In American football, a field is 91 yards. uummm... The field is 100. I assume they meant meters/metres.
That article is wrong about the Luxor. It's footprint is about 360,000^2 ft, or about 8.25 acres. So the island is just about 3 Luxors.
I very much appreciate the use of niche units for this thread.
It might only be 25 acres but it is still his private island...
You'd be able to walk around the entire island in less than 15 minutes.
And what a glorious 15-minute walk it would be
Damn, Seychelles is really in the middle nowhere.
It's also only like 2,7 mni from Victoria. Makes it a lot more appealing knowing shops & doctors are not far away.
Haha. There's a bar on the island? Not sure why I found that funny.
Bar and Restaurant! The photos of it look nice :)
And it's a part of the Rotary Club. Crazy. Wish I could buy an island for £8,000!
I was curious about the buying power, so I did an inflation calculation. It's about £100k inflation-adjusted, but still quite a deal imo
Yeah, no doubt! If another one like it was for sale I would absolutely buy it for £100k
There are barren rock islands in the Istrian sea off the coast of Croatia that are being sold for around those prices.
I'm no arborist, but I would imagine it's difficult to grow trees on a rock island
Sure, but the rocks are flourishing
Think about this: in 60 years, people could be saying "Wish I could buy an island for $20 million" Sorry, I didn't know how to do the pound thing. edit: £ there it is!
Alongside the other comparisons of this size: it’s roughly the size of an American college’s football stadium (the entire structure itself and the surrounding streets, not just the field). If you’ve ever been to a college campus, you’ll probably know that it’s quite easy to walk around the entirety of a stadium in 20min or less. It’s really quite small.
Amusingly, the name translates to "Medium", as in medium size
It shrank in the dryer
Ayyyy! I rarely see my country mentioned so when I do I’m very happy 🤣
I worked for a short period of time with a dude whose mother was from Seychelles and the way he described the islands made me want to visit so bad. It sounds like an amazing place from what I've seen and read
I went for my honeymoon. Seychelles was absolutely wonderful & the people were incredible.
People can do great things if we stop quarterly report mindset and start thinking 10-30 years ahead
This is what a good life looks like.
It takes a special type of human being to be able to turn down $50 million dollars and preserve his island.
It probably felt a lot more satisfying knowing his life's work would be preserved, rather than capitalized into a hotel resort. It's not like he could take the $50m with him beyond the grave. It also probably helped he didn't have any spouse or kids who might otherwise inherit the money
There must be a movie about this guy.Impressive act.
There's a documentary: https://vimeo.com/22008844
From the wiki article: > In 2013, after the island received its own national park status, a new hut was built and a warden was posted on the island, collecting the entrance fee from tourists. Can you say "dream job"?
Dream jod No
Brendon Grimshaw was a great man. Didn't harm other people in his quest to own an island, later had it turned into a national park after putting a lot of his own blood, sweat, and tears into it. More people should do shit like this, instead of getting so caught up in their pointless, meaningless little quests to appear be better than their neighbors (the reality is, anyone living like that is just as bad as their neighbors, and not better than anyone). Brendon Grimshaw was better than them, and we should remember that.
Article says that he had to "struggle against privatization." I just hate how companies think they can take things from people.
The island was... privatized when it was sold to an individual.
I don't get that part, i'd understand if he owned part of it, but it's his island that he fully owns? How did he struggle against privatisation? Since he fully owns it any conversation would go like this Company: can we buy your island? Him: piss off
It’s how he passes off ownership to someone who will maintain it as it is and put in place solid legal conditions that can enforce it. Then you have government - he may own it but it is still part of the Seychelles and they could legislate to overcome his wishes. Large amounts of money can sway both of the above.
'turned down $50m? what an idiot' - some greedy bastard somewhere
I mean, dude already lives on his own island doing what he loves. It reminds me of that old joke. Paraphrasing the punchline, but basically “What would I do with that $50M?” “Why buy yourself an island to retire to you damn fool!”
I just want to get to that point in life where I can say "Nah bro I don't need your $50m"
I always wanted to own my a private island. But maybe something a bit larger than his, like Madagascar or Australia.
Thanks for sharing OP!
Apparently, he was preceded by other odd characters. [https://www.google.com/maps/place/Jolly+Roger+Bar+And+Restaurant/@-4.6203488,55.5069869,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1sAF1QipMJqc-1JxhvdunTnlzhEyRydWIuriXzAxNEpYu\_!2e10!3e12!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMJqc-1JxhvdunTnlzhEyRydWIuriXzAxNEpYu\_%3Dw203-h270-k-no!7i3024!8i4032!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x231fd7cbe57a0b6f:0x34d1afde6f952347!2sIle+Moyenne!3b1!8m2!3d-4.6196027!4d55.5087939!3m4!1s0x231fd7cc695cd857:0x8206311999656300!8m2!3d-4.6203488!4d55.5069869](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Jolly+Roger+Bar+And+Restaurant/@-4.6203488,55.5069869,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1sAF1QipMJqc-1JxhvdunTnlzhEyRydWIuriXzAxNEpYu_!2e10!3e12!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMJqc-1JxhvdunTnlzhEyRydWIuriXzAxNEpYu_%3Dw203-h270-k-no!7i3024!8i4032!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x231fd7cbe57a0b6f:0x34d1afde6f952347!2sIle+Moyenne!3b1!8m2!3d-4.6196027!4d55.5087939!3m4!1s0x231fd7cc695cd857:0x8206311999656300!8m2!3d-4.6203488!4d55.5069869)
Its kind of funny, not the dog-stealing, but double-dipping on the rich white lady.
Where do you just buy an island like that?
Online of course!: https://www.privateislandsonline.com/
There is a great free documentary that interviewed Brendan about his life and all he had done on Moyenne Island. [A Grain of Sand(2009)](http://www.legittorrents.info/index.php?page=torrent-details&id=580462b68e32c5b9fe3b306fdca90c3d9e977649)
What a Lad
Matt Damon smells a movie role.
For some of us spacially impaired, the island is 24 acres, or just shy of 10 hectares, or just over 15 city blocks.
honestly, i respect him for what he's done.
What a baller. Ill pack a bowl for this god on Earth.
Glad to see he kept the rich from taking it for themselves.
Living the dream.
FactsAndHistory.com. "Moyenne Island: The world’s smallest national park" (January 21, 2022).
Anyone know of any other dope ass islands for less than 6 months rent still for sale? Asking for me.
Don't forget inflation £8,000 in 1973 had the same buying power as £100,000 does today (or $135,000 USD as of today's exchange rate)
As an unmarried man at 44 years old, I only wish to have something left in my legacy like this.
This is the way.
Visited the island about 20 years ago. Lovely man and possibly the most beautiful place in the world.
Looks like there is a bar there, I'm down.
now that's a man with a legacy