Typical vacation locales too dull? Try a floating island!

Private islands are relatively common, and floating islands aren’t a new idea, but the super-rich are always pushing the envelope. From sea-based independent city-states to marine playgrounds for the super rich, more inventors and innovators are turning to the ocean for inspiration. Until now, though, floating island concepts were based around basically turning a yacht into a super-structure, adding terrain and features to what is, at its core, a boat. Project Utopia aims to change all that.

Created as a collaboration between super luxury yacht builders Yacht Island Design and BMT Nigel Gee, Project Utopia is a floating island that more closely resembles an oil rig than a typical yacht — if oil rigs had swimming pools, nightclubs, and casinos, that is. “Utopia is not an object to travel in, it is a place to be,” states the PDF brochure, impressing upon those who have “the vision to create such a place” — presumably the ultra-rich — that this isn’t your mother’s sailboat.

The island measures 330 ft on each side, and its 11 decks give it the same approximate square footage as a typical cruise liner — enough space, the ad copy points out, to create an entire micronation. Just in case you’re into that sort of thing. The four-legged platform design is relatively stable in even the most extreme sea conditions, and it can travel, albeit extremely slowly, to whatever ocean location desired.