KEY POINTS:
A Wellington family are selling their Caribbean island after an idyllic but at times nightmarish experience living there for two years.
They are asking $5.4 million for the island they bought for about $1 million - the difference being the cost of developing a five-star luxury residence with all mod-cons including staff quarters and helipad.
In 2002, Martin and Jenifer Thomas of Paraparaumu bought Little Eden Cay, a remote island off Nicaragua, and took their four young children there for the dream lifestyle.
Initially, all six had to stay in a rat-infested hut, plagued by stinging sandflies and waiting many months for their house to be built.
Materials were delivered by canoe but the Thomas family's presence was challenged.
They hit the headlines when a national Nicaraguan newspaper declared Depredan los Cayos! (Our cays are being destroyed).
Officials from the police or marines, environmental activists and journalists arrived from Managua with cameras and guns to challenge the family's presence and question their ownership.
Martin Thomas wrote in his book A Slice of Heaven (Phantom House, $35.95) that the officials and media were horrified but also fascinated that so much building work was taking place and that foreigners had bought one of the precious Pearl Cays of Nicaragua.
The officials claimed the family did not own the island - they said the state did - and they should leave.
But Mr Thomas said he was the seventh owner and he took a peaceful but strong line, having been advised by lawyer Peter Martinez that threats were a common tactic and foreign island ownerships were being upheld in courts there.
So the officials left the family in peace and they got on with developing a luxurious residence.
And eventually they created their own private paradise - with all conveniences.
They installed a 30,000 kilowatt power generator, septic tank, telephones, high-speed internet access from a satellite dish and the helipad.
Only the birth of a fifth child and concerns for the older children's education forced them to leave.
The family are back at Paraparaumu and hope to sell the island soon. In the meantime, they are planning to shift to France, near the Spanish border, buying a house there to renovate.
Island escape
* Little Eden Cay was previously called Wild Cane Cay.
* Situated in the Caribbean's idyllic Pearl Cays archipelago.
* Said to have been owned by a king of the Miskito ethnic group.
* 10ha island bought in 2002 for US$500,000 ($1 million at the time).
* Now selling for ¬3 million ($5.4 million).
* A two-hour speedboat trip from Nicaragua mainland.
