Six Islands We Wish We Were Self-Isolating On

Six Islands We Wish We Were Self-Isolating On



If
only we’d known that three months of self-isolation were in
store, perhaps we would have hot-footed it to one of these quiet
enclaves before travel restrictions stopped us in our tracks. From
the original Neverland to a tropical paradise ruled by pigs, these
verdant island escapes were practically made for alone time.

Social distancing never looked so good


Rosario Islands

Colombia

To Cartagena, and beyond. This breadcrumb trail of an
archipelago, just a paddle away from the pulsing port city of
Cartagena, comprises one of the 46 natural national parks of
Colombia. You’ll find us in a hammock, sipping a straw-speared
coconut and leafing through a heavy stash of
self-isolation literature
.


Sifnos

Greece

There are a handful of those white Cycladic villages – the types
which thrum with the click of cicadas – on this somnolent Greek
island. We’re foregoing Mykonos and Santorini in favour of this
islet. Not that we’d be on terra firma for long. We plan to gently
stew in salty quarantine for 12 weeks, occasionally touching base
for a spot of mezze.


Eilean Shona

Scotland

Where better to escape the current hellscape than Neverland?
This Scottish island was supposedly the inspiration behind J. M.
Barrie’s Peter Pan. It’s a fuzzy wilderness, punctuated with
decadently furnished cottages (read: doomsday bunkers) and artists’
studios.


Medjumbe Island

Quirimbas Archipelago, Mozambique

From a bird’s-eye view it looks like a tadpole – a thicket of
greenery with a spit of sand unfurling behind it like a tail – but
on the ground, Medjumbe Island is a thriving hub of biodiversity
with enough dolphins, humpback whales and sunken islands to keep a
scuba-certified self-isolator entertained for approximately three
months.


Niue

Oceania

Three months? Good luck. There’s almost too much coral for
quarantine off the coasts of this South-Pacific island – one of the
most reef-heavy in the world. It’s all chasms, caves and craggy
coastlines here. We’ll be staying on after self-isolating for some
full Polynesian cultural immersion. Niuean isn’t available on
Duolingo: our plan is to wildly gesticulate and pray for the
best.


Big Major Cay

The Bahamas

Isolating with family and friends can be testing. Had we
foreseen the current scale of the crisis, we might have booked a
one-way ticket to Big Major Cay and formed an isolation cell with
its population of swimming pigs.