Belize

11 records, almost all of them small cayes let whole, and the highest concentration of true whole-island rental anywhere in the register. The barrier reef runs the length of the coast, the cayes inside it are numerous and low, and the market that grew there sells the island rather than the hotel.

Competition here is on the mechanics of privacy rather than on facilities, which produces distinctions found nowhere else. Two properties house their staff on a separate islet so the party has the land to itself after service; several have no permanent staff presence at night at all. The register records the arrangement because it is the difference between the islands, and no brochure draws it.

The scale is genuinely small — four to eight guests on a few acres is typical — and so are the buildings. Anyone expecting Maldivian finish will be disappointed; anyone expecting to be the only person on an island in the Caribbean for a fraction of Maldivian money will not.

The water is the other half. Gladden sits on the atoll edge where whale sharks gather in season, and the diving off the southern cayes is better than the room rates suggest.