Celebrity, Movie Stars, The World's Most Exclusive Property (page 4)

number in the Everglades, are owned by the government for wildlife preservation. Although nautical charts show at least 800 islands directly off the Florida Keys -- which are themselves just islands connected by bridges - fewer than 40 are occupied, according to Tom Hambright, a Keys historian. Even fewer are for sale, currently there are only 9 privately owned islands in the Florida Keys for sale. But if you want to take title to a water-locked patch of paradise in the Florida Keys, better be ready to shell out big bucks - first to buy your island, then to maintain it.

Fiji: The late actor Raymond Burr (TV’s Ironside) purchased Naitoumba Island (3.4 square miles) in the Lau group east of Fiji, for $US 16,000 in 1969. He sold it in 1983 for a reported $US 3 million, nearly 200 times his original purchase price! He sold it to Adi Da, a self-styled American Guru with properties in Hawaii, and Europe who now uses it as his personal refuge. According to local reports, the guru is carried around the island on a palanquin like some oriental potentate.

Hollywood actor Mel Gibson bought Mago island in December 2004 for F$ 24.5 million or US$ 14.8 million after visiting it in the middle of December 2004. His 5,500-acre getaway, surrounded by powder white beaches and turquoise lagoons, has free flowing spring water and a fully functioning farm. There is also a complete village, where the estate's employees live, along with an owner’s residence, manager’s residence, 12 houses for the employees, a 2 room schoolhouse, loading pier, butcher’s shop, general store, laundry generator, several vehicles (including a bulldozer) and a boat. Its previous owners have even thrown in 400 cattle, 16 horses, 300 goats and a menagerie of other animals. It also comes with an additional thee small islands which surround the larger one.

Another enigmatic Japanese island owner is Mr. Yamagata, a multi-millionaire artist and friend of Hollywood celebrities such as Arnold Schwarzenegger who owns not one island, but four! One of his islands, Vatu Varu (known as Scout Hat Island because of its shape), was picked up for a song by a Californian company who subsequently sold it to Yamagata. It has been left uninhabited for years, and Yamagata plans to leave it as an untouched nature reserve. He also own Kanavea, Andavathi and Kaimbu island which is run as a boutique luxury resort by an American Manager.

Malcolm Forbes of Forbes Magazine purchased Laucala island (4.71 square miles) in 1972 for $450,000. It was recently sold to Dietrich Mateschitz, the owner of Red Bull, for US$10 million.

The Bahamas: With 700 islands, 10,000 uninhabited cays, deserted stretches of talcum-soft beaches, crystal-clear turquoise waters, radiant sunshine… who wouldn’t want a private island in The Bahamas? The island chain is just an hour’s flight from Florida, which makes for an easy getaway for that tired celebrity seeking a quick dose of R&R.

The Bahamas has long been popular with Hollywood celebrities and film crews. The islands were put on the map as a film location primarily due to the many