You have to look really carefully to spot it. Indeed, if you search for “Coffee Caye” online, Google’s map function points you to nothing more than a blank patch of sea, just off the east flank of Central America. It is only when you click on the satellite image, and zoom in, that you find it – an uninhabited nugget of almost nothingness, on a canvas of shallow green. But there it is. The “Principality of Islandia” – the world’s newest “micronation”.

Sort of. Coffee Caye may not add up to much. It is a 1.2-acre slice of sand and scrub, marooned in the Caribbean Sea six miles north-east of Belize’s biggest port (Belize City). But at the moment, it is the focal point of an outlandish – and very 21st century – dream.

The idea started some 15 years ago, in the mind of British globe-trotter Gareth Johnson. Why, the thought occurred to him, should private islands be the preserve of oligarchs and the super-rich? Could you buy an island affordably, and if so, how would you go about it?

The end-result of this idle planning was the website Letsbuyanisland.com – a crowd-funding project whose ambition is inherent in its name. Launched in 2018, it has seen others join Johnson on his curious crusade – including co-founder Marshall Mayer, a New Yorker with a similar taste in travel and obscure places. Together, they considered options around the world, including islets in the Philippines, Malaysia, Panama and Canada – before finally settling on Coffee Caye, because it was both accessible and affordable. It was purchased for US$180,000 (£138,000) in December 2019 – but the process is still open to interested parties. Shares, initially marketed at $3,250 (£2,492), are available for $5,495 (£4,213). The number of investors will be capped at 150, but those who fancy a smaller piece of the action can buy “citizenship” for $19.95 (£15.30).