The project is still alive!

Our Calypso project is still alive, despite the three years of silence here on the blog.

In fact, we never stopped thinking about it and we continues refining the ideas about how, when and where. We just didn't have much time to dedicate to the writing of it.

On the other hand, we didn't make major progress in the execution but we definitely moved on with the planning.

Our confidence on the financial sustainability increased, the time frame is still confirmed valid with an ultimate kick off fixed for not later than 2030 as initially planned. 

We started this project in 2020 and now we are half way, perfectly on schedule and with the same spirit or even stronger.

What changed, in those last 5 years, is the destination, where Calypso project will all happen.

Caribbean, despite all the positive aspects and attractive, is  not our target anymore. An the main reason for that is the distance from Europe, where most likely our only daughter will live. We didn't fell good in not been able to reach her quickly in case she would need us. Maybe is it an excess of parental love, but we are feeling better in being somewhere close to Europe.

So we started to evaluate all islands in a 3-4 hours flight range from Europe and we ended up in selecting the Canary Islands.

Those islands, beside being closer to Europe than the Caribbean's, are Spanish territory with special tax ruling which means we would not need VISA or any permit to live there and the cost of life is quite lower than continental Europe.

The weather there is excellent all through the year, nature and landscapes are wild and extreme but calming, underwater life is great.

On the negative side, there is over tourism coming from a cheap holiday model which is nowadays heavily contested. But initiatives for a more sustainable tourism model are appearing.

Overall the Canary island seems to be a very interesting and suitable destination for our project and so we took the decision to go and see them with our own eyes.

Lanzarote landscape

We started in 2023 with Lanzarote, where we spend two weeks in July in Puerto del Carmen. We enjoyed the diving, the island sights, the peaceful and relaxed mood. The over tourism was not a bothering issue but indeed the low cost holiday model shapes the island touristic infrastructure.

The year after, in 2024, we went to Gran Canaria on the south in a fishermen village called Arguineguin. The diving experience was even superior than Lanzarote thanks to the abundant marine life.

Arguineguin marina

The village itself was much less touristic and more relaxed than where we were staying in Lanzarote but the island itself is bigger and with much heavier tourism infrastructures. 
Between these two islands, Lanzarote would be our choice as destination because it is smaller, with less massive tourism and more wild nature.

But we have not finished our discovery of the Canaries and soon this year we will visit Fuerteventura, which is the second largest Canary island but pretty low developed in term of touristic infrastructures. It should something in between Gran Canarias and Lanzarote and shortly we will be able to explore it by ours self. We are very curious to see if Fuerteventura could be a good destination for our life change.
Stay tuned!




Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands

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