Rent a Caribbean isle for the cost of a room

It takes a while to sink in.

A few hours pass, and it still feels surreal, as if you're merely housesitting, borrowing someone else's wealthy lifestyle, waiting for her to return and relieve you of your time in paradise.

But after a day or so, the fantasy becomes reality: You're on an island all your own, the days and nights and sand and sea are all yours, and there's no one to feel beholden to - not even the family of pelicans guarding the wooden dock in the turquoise water.

This is life on Sandy Cay, one of two unbelievably affordable private islands for rent off the coast of Utila, itself a tiny island less than 20 miles from mainland Honduras. Although "affordable" is relative, it's hard to argue with a two-bedroom, two-bathroom house shrouded from civilization by a thicket of palm trees, perched on a patch of white sand out in the Caribbean Sea for $100 a night.

ABOUT THE ISLAND

Purchased by an area family in 1968 and developed (if you can call it that) a few decades later, the entire island is about the size of a football field, with the house at the lopsided west end, perfectly situated for watching the sun drop into the sea each evening. The east end comes to a point and is littered with driftwood, surrounded by coral reefs flanking the gently sloping sandbar, creating easy access for backyard snorkeling.

Backyard snorkeling on a private island? It really doesn't get much better than that.

Why, then, isn't Sandy Cay booked solid year round? And why does it cost less than half the price of an average hotel stay in Manhattan and a fraction of the price of one on a typical private isle? In part, perhaps, because it's still family owned and operated, which means frills are few, their importance debatable on a plot of land this serene.

Situated about half a mile west of Utila and a short boat ride from the Utila cays - tiny freckles of islands that have been populated by the same handful of families for centuries - Sandy Cay is paradise on a budget. There are no clocks and no telephones, just a shortwave radio for emergencies that doubles as a kind of Caribbean room service: Guests are allowed one radio call a day to island proprietor George Jackson, who will fetch sundries, fresh fish, firewood and the like from his home on nearby Pigeon Cay and transport it over to his rental island.

Jackson and his son, Barry, have the easy, friendly disposition of people born and raised in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. At the outset of my three-day visit last year, Jackson offered a "little tour" - the gas stove and matches; the fridge and shortwave radio; the barbecue decorated with conch shells; the toilets that operate on hand-filled tanks.

"It's a big island," Jackson joked. "You could be gone for days!"

And then he bade us farewell and headed to his boat. All that was left in his wake were two giddy city slickers and, now settling back onto their dock, the family of pelicans.

THE HOUSE

Built in 1990 in a modern Asian style, Sandy Cay's rental house is perfectly planned though modest (to the point, at times, of being frustrating).

Living and sleeping quarters are divided between two structures separated by wraparound wooden decks. There's a small kitchen whose window opens up to serve an outdoor seating area, and a roomy living room sporting worn rattan furniture and half-empty bookshelves strewn with discarded best-sellers from vacations past. The shower is carved into a cement corner at the rear, open to the elements with a pleasant view of the sea.

All of the basics are there. But they're basic. Sometimes too basic.

DURING A VISIT

On our first night, thrilled with the idea of an al fresco meal of fresh-caught snapper consumed at sunset, we got to work cooking. Or tried. It took 15 damp matches to light the stove, and who knows how many more to get the barbecue going. Eventually, we ate and sipped almost-cold beer. Everything was bought and brought on Jackson's boat, from drinking water to salt and pepper. And when we left, we took everything with us.

Relaxing was easy.

The skies stocked with balmy weather and the shallow sandbar flushed with clear water radiating heat from the sun, we alternated sitting, snorkeling and catnapping. For hours, we stretched out on the chaise longues and watched the pelicans diving for food. I pretended to read my novel and let my eyes close. It was, as you might guess, wonderful.

IF YOU GO

GETTING THERE Sandy Cay is accessible via a 20-minute boat ride from Utila's municipal dock, with arrangements via proprietor George Jackson. The Utila Princess passenger ferry offers twice-daily service from the mainland port of La Ceiba for about $21. Honduras' major airports are Toncontin International Airport in Tegucigalpa (TGU) and the less-expensive Ramon Villeda Morales International Airport in San Pedro Sula (SAP).

STAYING Sandy Cay's house sleeps up to 14 in two bedrooms and on additional mattresses in the living room. Kitchen has a gas stove and two refrigerators. Groceries can be purchased on Utila or nearby Pigeon Cay.

RATES $100 for one-night stay for up to six people ($10 each additional person) with a two-night minimum.

INFO aboututila.com/AccomInfo/Sandy-Cay or e-mail cayosutila@hotmail.com