
They bought a Caribbean island to start their own country
CNN
A crowdfunding campaign has purchased the tiny island of Coffee Caye off the coast of Belize for $180,000 plus tax with the aim of establishing a micronation called Islandia.
(CNN) — "Who wouldn't want to buy an island?" 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.