Private Islands Worth Knowing About

The idea of a private island conjures a very specific fantasy: white sand, turquoise water, absolute solitude. The reality, at the best of them, is far richer than the fantasy.

North Island in the Seychelles is perhaps the finest example. Once a coconut plantation left to ruin, it has been painstakingly restored into a conservation sanctuary that happens to include eleven of the most beautiful villas on earth. Giant tortoises wander the grounds. Hawksbill turtles nest on the beaches. The staff-to-guest ratio is approximately ten to one.

Then there is Laucala Island in Fiji, owned by the late Dietrich Mateschitz, where the ethos is "nothing is impossible." A private submarine? Arranged. A four-course dinner on a sandbar that appears only at low tide? Of course. A guided dive on a reef that has never been commercially visited? Simply say when.

But exclusivity alone does not make an island worth visiting. What separates these properties from mere luxury is intention - a deep commitment to place, to ecology, to creating experiences that couldn't exist anywhere else on earth.