No Magazine Is an Island

What do I make of "Islands" magazine? On one hand, it covers a lot of great resort areas, but at the same time, it's focus seems just a little off.

An Island By Any Other Name...
Why the focus on islands? Is it really just the concept of being surrounded by water that captures peoples' interest? Perhaps, but I really don't think so...yet Islands magazine really does seem to focus not on islands as resort destinations, but often just as chunks of land that happen to have water all around them. As a result, about 70% of the islands they cover are worth reading about, about 30% aren't.

I think the magazine would do better to focus on beaches, since that's really the reason why people go to islands. The beach is the thing that draws people. It's the promise of sand and surf and sun. It's water sports: scuba diving, snorkling, parasailing. It's the lure of lush tropical jungles, or of fresh-caught fish grilled out on the beach, or of a lilting Caribbean accent against a background of reggae music. It's things that aren't just confined to an island. It's the thought of beautiful girls with long black hair wearing grass skirts (and little else). It's the thought of coconut flavored rum drinks. It's sunshine, dark glasses, and a boat whose motor conks out at just the right moment.

These are all things that you find at great beach resorts, whether on an island or on the mainland.

For example -- think about the Caribbean. By limiting themselves to just the islands of the Caribbean, the magazine misses out on a whole vast realm of possibilities, from world-class beaches along Mexico's Quintana Roo coast, all along the central American Caribbean, to the secluded jungle Caribbean beaches of northern South America. Many of these beaches are just as fascinating and culturally significant as the offshore islands, and many of the mainland beaches are actually better beaches than those on the islands.

The same goes for other parts of the world. When the magazine covers only the islands of the Mediteranean, they do their readers a disservice. It's not just Med islands I want to read about -- I'd sure like to know about those fabulous beaches of southern Spain, or the resort towns of the Greek coast (not just islands like Spetses).

I love islands -- but it's really the beaches that I love!

The "Other" 30 Percent...
Take a look at some of things that are included in some issues: a visit to Japan, or maybe a tour guide to Montreal.

Granted these places might be quite fascinating in their own right, but if you were the kind of person who dreams of relaxing under a palm tree on a white sandy beach, would you really want to read about taxis on Manhattan island?

When a person is dreaming of islands, they're dreaming of tropical islands (or at least small, foreign islands -- places that are dream vacations. They are not dreaming of a country-sized island, nor a city that you just happen to have to cross a bridge to get to. Again, nothing personal if you're from Japan, Montreal, New York City, Ireland, or any other place that just happens to be physically on an island, but when I'm reading about islands I want exotic islands, not workaday islands.

It's like the subtitle on the magazine says..."adventures, dreams." A weekend in Montreal might be fine, but it isn't really much of an "adventure" nor a "dream" now, is it?

Read One Issue, Read 'em All
Another thing that I don't really like about Islands is their formulaic approach. The magazine is almost pathetically predictable.

Every issue will feature a big article about an island in the Caribbean, one about a South Pacific Island, one about an island in the continental United States -- Guaranteed!. Most issues will include yet another rehash or a variation on a theme about Hawaii -- no matter that the topic has already been flogged worse than a litterbug in Singapore (which, by the way, is an archipelago, not just an island).

Cultural Insight?
There are some articles that try to bring a little bit of cultural insight and awareness to their readers. "Little bit" being the operative words, for the articles often strike me as trite or not particularly interesting. For example, the current issue has an article about poi -- a Hawaiian food product. Another article talks about car washes in the Dominican Republic. Okay, so that article is really about parties at the car wash, which is a bit weird, but still, not quite the insight I'd like to have...

Truth in Advertising
A lot of readers get annoyed by travel magazines that feature dozens of irrelevant ads for overpriced "luxury" products. Fortunately, the ads aren't too bad in Islands magazine.

As I flip through the current issue (April 2001), I see lots of ads for destinations and cruises, and just a couple of off-topic ads: one for beer and one for watches. Much less annoying than Conde Nast or Travel and Leisure. Most are relevant to the magazine's focus.

For You?
If you're the kind of person who absolutely never tires of the beach, then a subscription to "Islands" may be exactly what you're looking for. I think most other people will get bored by the narrow focus, the constant variations on predictable themes, and the lack of deep cultural insight.

Islands isn't a bad magazine -- not by any stretch. It's professionally written and edited, with an attractive layout and tons of great photos. It's a wonderful magazine to sit back with and dream with once in a while, but for me, once in a while is about all the Islands I need...see ya on the beach.