Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.
When Richie, my eco hero friend sent me the photos of Spiral Island after the hurricane that destroyed it in 2005, I immediately thought. "Will Richie rebuild, and where?" I was reading some Maslow and the hierarchy of needs, and when I finished, I ponderting in thought, about Richie's personality, has passion, and felt certain he would continue his quest, to reshape his floating island from his mind's eye, and do so, somewhere close to the final resting place of his beloved Spiral Island, which lay in the back bay of Puerto Aventuras. (Richie's emails to me on the island's destruction in 2005, are included on the next page. Click Read more... below for page 2.)
Richie Sowa and what was left of Spiral Island
You see. Spiral Island is more than Richie's home. It's his art form, his expression for being, his life's purpose and work. His security. His reason for being.
As Psychologist Abraham Maslow first introduced his concept of a hierarchy of needs in his book, Motivation and Personality (1943), he emphasized the importance of self-actualization, which is a process of growing and developing as a person.
Richie has been met with many challenges in building his floating island over the past 8 1/2 years, and just like Hurricane Katrina residents in the Gulf Coast, Richie Sowa is a determined missionary eco hero, and he is already on his hierarchy of needs spiral journey to build his island paradise.
Maslow once said,
"A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What one can be, one must be."
It's the 3rd week of the Official Richie Sowa Spiral Island website being up and running and it's time to celebrate this Friday. Richie Sowa contacted me a few days ago via email, from Puerto Aventuras Mexico, and he says that he is in the process of negotiating a new location for his new Spiral Island, and will start building it soon, somewhere in the Maya Riviera area near the last location that he had his island.
I'm in the process of sorting through hundreds of photos taken during my stay in the Yucatan and my time on Spiral Island.
How much actual time was put into Spiral Island's construction?
Richie and Carlos Yescas - March 2001
RANDYMAC: Based on conversations with Richie, and the many stories written about him and the building of his island wonder, I believe Richie spent over 8 years on the construction of Spiral Island from its' inception, to how it sat in the lagoon of Puerto Aventuras in late 2005, just before the hurricane destroyed it. I'm in the process of gathering more accurate information from Reishie about the actual time involved in it's construction, from his original vision back in Europe in the late 90's, through the prototypes, to the island's flurishing tropical state, just before a major tropical hurricane storm threw it up onto the beach in late 2005.
How much money did he invest into building it?
RANDYMAC: Spiral Island has been a labour of love for Reishie. I would have to ask him more specifics for a ballpark cost in actual dollars amounts ($$). Read more Q&A about Richie Sowa's Spiral Island on page 2. Click the Read more link below.
One of the best day trips that you can make if you are ever in Playa Del Carmen or Tulum Mexico is to Xel-Ha, one of the natural wonders of Mexico and the Riviera Maya. Xel-ha is an incredible marvelous creation of nature that anyone can enjoy, with it's collection of coves, lagoons, cenotes and caves where sea water merges with the sweet water of the Yucatan's underground rivers. Anyone, from eldery to young will be captivated on this journey that will let you get in touch with yourself and revalue the beauty and the power of nature.
Okay, I have to go to the loo? I've had a few too many beverages and tacos! Does this floating island have a toilet, or am I going to have to swim for it?
Everyone needs a toilet and Richie's Sprial Island was no exception. Richie is a world renowned green living thinker and he planned for all the essentials of life's comforts that were possible on his budget. While building his floating island wonder, he used discarded material to create whatever he needed for his home or palapa.
His composting toilet was made of plywood and an old toilet seat? Essentially the toilet on Spiral Island was an On Site Waste Treatment Plant, which meant that Richie did not have to go into the village of Puerto Aventuras whenever nature called. He could sit on the throne like anyone in the village, and relax in his tropical island paradise knowing that his toilet was only steps away.
Welcome to the New Richie Sowa's Spiral Island webportal - we are currently adding all things associated with Richie Sowa's Spiral Island, including history, stories, and photos, and in the next few weeks we will be adding a number of slideshows of photos for your enjoyment. Please tell your friends to visit us here at: http://spiralisland.westkootenayunplugged.com/
In 1998, Richie Sowa, a British expatriate began building Spiral Island, a 66 x 54 foot floating artificial island in a lagoon near Puerto Aventuras, in the state of Quintana Roo on the East coast of Mexico, 120 miles south of Cancún.
Richie (or "Reishee" as he is known) filled discarded and donated fishermen's nets with empty discarded plastic bottles to support a structure of plywood and bamboo, on which he poured tons of virgin white beach sand where he planted numerous plants, including mangrove trees.
Spiral Island in 2001
The island evolved over time from 1998 through and eventually sported a two-story house, a solar oven, a self-composting toilet, three beaches, and many mangrove trees that thrive in the salt water.
