If you are looking to own your own tropical island, you can expect to pay a lot of money, or your can do what Richard Sowa did: build your own.
Joyxee Island, located 30 yards off the coast of the Mexican Island Isla Mujeres, is the end result of Sowa’s labors. The tropical paradise was designed to be self-sustaining. It sits atop 150,000 recycled plastic bottles held together with netting, which support the 8,000 square foot tropical paradise.
Sowa’s man-made geographic marvel boasts two ponds and a waterfall. His home is solar powered, and the washing machine is powered by waves. It even has wifi. Sowa grows fruits and vegetables on the floating garden spot.
Joyxee Island is actually the second bottle island built by Sowa. The first one, called Spiral Island, was built in 1998 near Puerto Rico. Until it was destroyed by Hurricane Emily in 2005, he lived there with his two dogs.
Sowa spent the next several years collecting new bottles and began building Joyxee Island in late 2007. He finished it by the end of 2008, and opened the 8,000-square-foot island for tours. Visitors can get to and from the island on an eight-person barge which is also constructed from recycled bottles.
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