Spiral Island was a floating

artificial island An artificial island is an island that has been constructed by people rather than formed by natural means. Artificial islands may vary in size from small islets reclaimed solely to support a single pillar of a building or structure to those tha ...

built in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

by British artist Richart "Reishee" Sowa. It was destroyed by

Hurricane Emily The name Emily has been used for fourteen tropical cyclones worldwide, seven in the Atlantic Ocean, five in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, and two in the Southern Hemisphere. In the Atlantic: * Hurricane Emily (1981) – crossed Bermuda *Hurricane Emi ...

in 2005. A replacement, Joyxee Island, had been open for tours since 2008, but closed after it was damaged by storms and the local authority ordered its removal. Spiral Island was featured in

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

s and TV

documentaries A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...

around the world, including in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, as well as an episode of the ''

Ripley's Believe It or Not! ''Ripley's Believe It or Not!'' is an American franchise founded by Robert Ripley, which deals in bizarre events and items so strange and unusual that readers might question the claims. Originally a newspaper panel, the ''Believe It or Not'' feat ...

'' TV series, and on the MTV program ''

Extreme Cribs Extreme may refer to: Science and mathematics Mathematics *Extreme point, a point in a convex set which does not lie in any open line segment joining two points in the set *Maxima and minima, extremes on a mathematical function Science *Extremop ...

'' in 2011.

Spiral Island

The first Spiral island was located in a

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') a ...

near

Puerto Aventuras Puerto Aventuras () is a community located in Solidaridad Municipality, Quintana Roo, Mexico. It had a 2020 census population of 22,878 inhabitants, and is located at an elevation of above sea level. It is the second-largest community in Solid ...

, on the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

coast of

south of

Cancún Cancún ( ), often Cancun in English (without the accent; or ) is a city in southeast Mexico on the northeast coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. It is a significant tourist destination in Mexico and the seat ...

; Richart Sowa began constructing it in 1998. He filled nets with empty discarded plastic bottles to support a structure of

plywood Plywood is a material manufactured from thin layers or "plies" of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured ...

and

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...

, on which he poured sand and planted numerous plants, including

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...

s. The island sported a two-story house, a

solar oven A solar cooker is a device which uses the energy of direct sunlight to heat, cook or pasteurize drink and other food materials. Many solar cookers currently in use are relatively inexpensive, low-tech devices, although some are as powerful or as ...

, a self-

composting toilet A composting toilet is a type of dry toilet that treats human waste by a biological process called composting. This process leads to the decomposition of organic matter and turns human waste into compost-like material. Composting is carried ou ...

, and three beaches. He used some 250,000 bottles for the structure. Sowa was ordered to take the island out of the man-made canal in 2004 because many private homes and condos were being built and he lived for one year tied to the end of a loose rock pier. Sowa was offered a new location in the bay of Soliman about 200 km (124 mi) south. Finally, he was permitted by Port authorities to tow Spiral Island, but the island was destroyed by Hurricane Emily in 2005.

Joyxee Island

In late 2007 and 2008, Sowa built a replacement for Spiral Island in the waters of

Isla Mujeres Isla Mujeres (, Spanish for "Women Island" (formally “Isla de Mujeres”) is an island where the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea meet, about off the Yucatán Peninsula coast in the State of Quintana Roo, Mexico. It is approximately long ...

, the "Island of Women", also near Cancun. It opened for tours in August 2008. The new island was initially in diameter and contained about 100,000 bottles. It has since expanded to 25 metres (82 ft) due to various plants and mangroves growing from the island. The new island has three beaches, a house, two ponds, a wave-powered washing machine, solar panels, a solar-powered waterfall and river. The island is a constant work in progress with volunteers and Sowa himself continually making improvements. In May 2011, Reishee embarked on a project to berth his island out in Isla Mujeres Bay, as it was now too big for its current site off a pier in Laguna Majax. The Mexican Government also recognized Joyxee Island as an "Eco Boat" and therefore needed to comply with all current boating regulations, which involved the purchase of fire extinguishers, life ring buoys and emergency kits. The project was launched on kickstarter.com with a goal of $18,000 that it failed to reach. Reishee later successfully relaunched the project with a more conservative $9,000 goal. Joyxee Island was open for tours at one point. However, it was damaged by storms and the local authorities made the owner remove it in January 2019.

References

Notes {{reflist

External links

Playa Maya news article, 2004Some photos from FlickrGoogle Street view of Spiral Island
Artificial islands of Mexico Former islands Environmental art Land art Floating islands Islands of Quintana Roo