>
No Escape From Washington's Fiscal Doomsday Machine
New Questions about Pilot's Mental Health After Air India Crash Looks to Be INTENTIONAL
Ross Ulbricht 2.0: Roman Storm Faces 40 Years for Writing Code to Protect Your Privacy
Magic mushrooms may hold the secret to longevity: Psilocybin extends lifespan by 57%...
Unitree G1 vs Boston Dynamics Atlas vs Optimus Gen 2 Robot– Who Wins?
LFP Battery Fire Safety: What You NEED to Know
Final Summer Solar Panel Test: Bifacial Optimization. Save Money w/ These Results!
MEDICAL MIRACLE IN JAPAN: Paralyzed Man Stands Again After Revolutionary Stem Cell Treatment!
Insulator Becomes Conducting Semiconductor And Could Make Superelastic Silicone Solar Panels
Slate Truck's Under $20,000 Price Tag Just Became A Political Casualty
Wisdom Teeth Contain Unique Stem Cell That Can Form Cartilage, Neurons, and Heart Tissue
Hay fever breakthrough: 'Molecular shield' blocks allergy trigger at the site
Marshall Mayer asks above the roar of the engine as the boat cuts through the still waters of the Caribbean Sea. Belize City is fast disappearing behind, as a group of mangrove-covered islands grows larger on the horizon.
"And I don't know about you," says Mayer, "but I certainly can't afford to buy an island on my own!"
Mayer is co-founder of Let's Buy an Island, an ambitious project that in 2018 set out to crowdfund the purchase of an island. By December 2019, the group's aspirations became reality, raising over $250,000 to complete the purchase of Coffee Caye, a 1.2-acre, uninhabited island off the coast of Belize.
The investors weren't just buying into a share of Belizean property. They were also investing in an unusual nation-building project, because Coffee Caye, reimagined as the "Principality of Islandia," complete with its own national flag, anthem and government, is also the world's newest "micronation"-- an entity that claims independence but isn't recognized as such by the international community.
Now, in early 2022, Mayer is leading the inaugural tour to Coffee Caye, as a mixed group of investors and intrigued tourists make landfall on the world's first crowdfunded island.
"That feeling of stepping onto an island that you've invested in, and own," says Mayer, after the 15-minute boat ride from Belize City, "that's an amazing feeling."