science

Spiral Island

Spiral Island is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Spiral Island rather than just read about it. In short: Spiral Island was a floating artificial island built in Mexico by British artist Richart "Reishee" Sowa. It was destroyed by Hurricane Emily in 2005.

Key takeaways

Spiral Island belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Spiral Island to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Spiral Island from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Spiral Island was a floating artificial island built in Mexico by British artist Richart "Reishee" Sowa. It was destroyed by Hurricane Emily 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 newspapers and TV documentaries around the world, including in Japan and South Korea, as well as an episode of the Ripley's Believe It or Not! TV series, and on the MTV program Extreme Cribs in 2011.

Spiral Island The first Spiral island was located in a lagoon near Puerto Aventuras, on the Caribbean coast of Mexico south of Cancún; Richart Sowa began constructing it in 1998. He filled nets with empty discarded plastic bottles to support a structure of plywood and bamboo, on which he poured sand and planted numerous plants, including mangroves. The island sported a two-story house, a solar oven, a self-composting toilet, and three beaches. He used some 250,000 bottles for the 66-by-54-foot (20 m × 16 m) 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, the "Island of Women", also near Cancun. It opened for tours in August 2008. The new island was initially 20 metres (66 ft) 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

External links Playa Maya news article, 2004 Some photos from Flickr Google Street view of Spiral Island

Illustrations

Spiral Island: Spiral Island I in early March 2000 — Spiral Island I in early March 2000

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Spiral Island

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Spiral Island claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Spiral Island before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Spiral Island ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Spiral Island

In research: Spiral Island appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Spiral Island in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Spiral Island is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Artificial islands of Mexico, Environmental art, Floating islands, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Spiral Island outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Spiral Island in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Spiral Island means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Spiral Island out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Spiral Island in simple terms?

Spiral Island was a floating artificial island built in Mexico by British artist Richart "Reishee" Sowa. It was destroyed by Hurricane Emily in 2005.

Why does Spiral Island matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Spiral Island?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Spiral Island.