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New islands for sale

Message from the staff at Private Islands Online

Greetings from Private Islands Online,

Island aficionados acknowledge Canada as the country with the most private islands for sale. This hot summer issue, Private Islands Online boasts two unique Canadian additions to our site. Upon first becoming familiar with Strawberry Island in Lake Simcoe, Ontario, this writer assumed the island was named for its fruity shape from an aerial perspective. Further research revealed an island with a storied past and numerous incarnations. This verdant land was dubbed Strawberry Island in 1885 because of the giant strawberries it produced. For obvious reasons, this name was preferred over a previous moniker, Starvation Island, named such after a group of fishermen were marooned and nearly starved to death in the 1860s.

Strawberry Island was part of the Huron Indians' territory (and the land bore at least some witness to the long and bloody battle between the Iroquois and Huron Indians). Indian artifacts found on the island provide proof of the Huron's presence. Samuel de Champlain, the famous explorer, also writes of the island. It's likely that Champlain was the first white man to set eyes on Strawberry Island in silvery Lake Simcoe.

Strawberry Island was Indian land until 1856 when the government obtained title. The island remained unsold for 20 years, but was later to become a popular summer resort. In 1922, the religious order of the Basilians bought the island for about $4000. They arrived to find an island overrun with bats! The little black squatters had taken up residence in the old hotel and it took more than a few years to vanquish the prolific nocturnal creatures. The Basilians named their first means of transportation to the island "The Bat" - a temperamental and leaky old launch. For the past 80 years until very recently, Strawberry Island has been a spiritual retreat run by a Toronto-based religious order, the Basilian Brothers. Pope John Paul II was the island's most famous visitor and stayed for a few days in 2002 during his visit to Toronto's World Youth Day.

In Canada's most active market for private islands, Nova Scotia, South Shore Island provides a rare opportunity for the discriminating investor. This island offering is the largest privately owned island in its entirety on the eastern seaboard at approximately 1000 acres. The land is located on the south shore of Nova Scotia - known as the most affluent area on the east coast of Canada. The island is 3.5 km long and 1.5 km wide with beautiful sand dunes and white sand beaches on the west side and bold oceanfront on the east.

For those whose pockets are not so generously lined, Bahamas Cay near Andros island provides an unusual chance to purchase Caribbean property for under a million dollars. Andros is the largest and least-explored island in The Bahamas. Its waters are well known to scuba divers and snorkellers; Andros is also known as the bone fishing capital of the world. If you ever get the chance to explore the area, carry flowers or bright bits of cloth with you to charm the local Chickcharnies; the legendary elfin creatures with red eyes and a tail. Coming across one can assure you a lifetime of good luck. But odds are, if you're already on an island, you may consider yourself among the luckiest of all...

Renée Redmond
Director of Operations,
Private Islands Online

* The above historical information about Strawberry Island is attributed to www.basilian.org.