Spiral Island

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The original island sported a two-story house, a solar oven, a self-composting toilet, and three beaches. He used some 250,000 bottles for the 66ft (20 m) by 54 ft (16 m) structure. The mangroves were planted to help keep the island cool, and some of them rose up to 15 ft (5 m) high.

Sowa is a musician, artist, and carpenter. Now in his fifties, he is an environmentalist who believes in recycling and low-impact living.

A book about Rishi's journey in building the original island and his philosophies, titled "Spiralogically Speaking" written by the German author Tanja Samed along with Rishi, is due to be released in 2008.

Rishi's Spiral Island has been featured in a number of newspapers and TV documentaries around the world and was featured in an episode of the "Ripley's Believe It or Not!" TV show.

Loss and reconstruction

During the hurricane in 2005, Spiral Island was washed completely onto the beach in one piece, with a small percentage of the bags of bottles washed up on the beach away from where it landed. The roots of the 7 year old 7 meter tall mangroves were intertwined through the island's base and the strong net that was wrapped totally under the whole Island.

The island did not sink, but was instead thrown up on the beach almost completely intact.

Almost all of the sand Rishi Sowa used for Spiral Island at Puerto Aventuras was taken from the end of the beach, where it came up against the man made rock pier on the edge of the canal system where the Island was tied. Due to the prevailing winds beach sand was constantly being piled up because of the constant motion of the waves and wind. The beach sand was dredged out using large machinery so that boats could continue to come through the canal. Since Rishi gathered 8 to 10 large buckets per week, the builders of Puerto Aventuras canal did not need to dredge it again as Rishi was doing it for them.

New island

In late 2007 and 2008, Rishi Sowa built a new Spiral Island in the waters of Isla Mujeres, the Island of Women, also near Cancun. It opened for tours in August, 2008. Japanese TV and Korean TV have produced documentaries on the project.

The new Spiral Island is about 20 meters (60 feet) in diameter, with plants and mangroves already growing on the island. It contains about 100,000 bottles. The new Spiral Island has beaches, a house, 2 ponds, a solar-powered waterfall/river, and solar panels. Volunteers helped with the project. Rishi will continue to make improvements to the Island, so it will always be a work of art in progress.

In September 2007, a Spiral Islanders social network site was set up for those interested in Spiral Island and discussions about floating islands, ecology, marine life, and sustainable eco-friendly living. [http://www.spiralislanders.com SpiralIslanders.com]

References

External links

* [http://www.spiralislanders.com SpiralIslanders.com: Official Richie Sowa Spiral Island II web site - 2007]
* [http://spiralisland.westkootenayunplugged.com Richie Sowas Spiral Island I: First Richie Sowa Spiral Island I web site - 2005]
* [http://www.playamayanews.com/article235.html Playa Maya news article, 2004]
* [http://danger-island.com/~dav/video/heavy/SpiralIsland.asf 7 minute video interview with Sowa] , from the early days of the island
* [http://www.flickr.com/photos/randymac/ Some photos from Flickr]
* [http://ecoble.com/2007/11/18/250000-bottles-amazing-recycled-mexican-island-paradise/ Amazing recycled mexican island paradise]
* [http://www.geocities.com/spiral_island] Website created by Richie's nephew.
*July 2008 edition of Boys' Life magazine
*www.boyslife.org