Five private island owners talk about getting away from it all to detox, recharge or wait out the coronavirus pandemic

A Taoist businessman is learning how to lead a life of self-sufficiency on a lake island in Nova Scotia, Canada

To ‘get that special Robinson Crusoe feeling’, a German entrepreneur flies 15,000km to two islands he owns in the Bahamas – before flying back the next day

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L’Isola delle Femmine, a rocky islet off the Italian island of Sicily owned by Countess Paola Pilo Bacci, where she finds solitude and artistic inspiration. Photo: Romolini Immobiliare

Published: 5:15pm, 25 Apr 2021Updated: 6:15pm, 26 Apr 2021

Silence, seclusion and surroundings that consist of nothing but water and pristine nature – have you ever dreamed of owning a private island, or wondered what the people who do rule over their own little universe get up to while they’re there? Here, five island owners provide us a glimpse of their exclusive paradises.

IT businessman Grammy Leung, 41, is a Taoist who has picked a 1.6-hectare (4-acre), water-drop-shaped island in a lake amid the wilderness of Nova Scotia, Canada, on which to further his religious practice.

“I need a remote place for self-learning and thinking that is hard to be found but easy to reach out [from] for food and other resources. I chose to purchase a plot of land in a country with a mature property ownership [system] that could enhance the stability and security of my practice.”

Leung was also attracted by the island’s geographical position. It is on the opposite side of the globe from his workplace – Hong Kong – making it the ideal “quiet thinking” spot required by Taoism to attain a fulfilled life.