ooh! ooh! I was just at Whidbey in May! The whole area around there was beautiful… Yep. I’d live there. (ok… it was raining. but it made the trees look gorgeous)
I used to live on Lamma Island in Hong Kong harbour, which approaches (but doesn’t entirely fulfil) your stated desires. There are two villages on Lamma, Yung Shue Wan, to the north, which is the larger and more westernised, and Sok Kwu Wan, which revolves around a number of seafood restaurants and a fish farm. The two villages are about 45 minutes’ walk from each other over the hills on the spine of the island.
It has the following advantages: beaches; a bit of jungle; warm weather; good restaurants and pubs; lots of hillwalking; interesting culture; motor vehicles are banned; no building may be more than 3 storeys high; relatively low rent; commuting distance from the centre of Hong Kong (45 minute ferry ride).
Disadvantages: large power station on one side of the island; ferry service is not 24 hour; moving house is tough because of the lack of motor vehicles; no surf; the island has a bit of a reputation as a hippy ghetto; slightly murky seawater.
jjimm, why aren’t you recommending Ireland to the OP? Beaches, pubs, cuisine and no nukes (unless you’re swimming towards Sellafield)
try www.privateislandforsale.com i’ve got my eye on an island off of maine.
What, you mean the cold, rainy beaches that take hours and hours to get to due to inadequate infrastructure, and when you do get to them they’re full of scumbags with ghetto blasters, heroin needles and broken bottles :eek:; can’t argue with the pubs thing :D; cuisine on the verge of being good, but only in the cities - try to get anything other than a hang sangwidge in the Midlands… ; radioactive Dublin Bay prawns are my fave - food you can find in the dark…! You are welcome to blame the English for that, though the nearest nuke station to Ireland is actually in Wales, but I’ll bet the Welsh didn’t want it there… 
It’s HUUUUUUUUUGE! 
Inside joke to those from the Buffalo area. Seriously, I was going to say “Grand Island” too, but only as a joke.
I had a friend that lived on the USVI, and he had a love-hate relationship with the place.
Maybe one of the islands off the north coas of Australia? Certainly an uncrowded area.
Let’s define an island. My view? It’s a landmass surrounded by sea, which does NOT feature a national capitol. So Ireland, Australia and Iceland don’t count. As well as a few others.
Well, the only two islands of any dignity I’ve lived on are Gotland (in the middle of the Baltic Sea) and Lamu (off the Kenyan coast). The former was icy, interesting, full of Medieval history. The swimming beaches are OK for about three weeks a year. Otherwise, it’s the icy Baltic… Brrr.
Lamu has (or at least had) lots of mango plantations, a prison, and plenty of nice beaches. Nowhere to work, though. Hm. Are you independently wealthy? I guess not.
Actually, I’ve lived on Cyprus, too. This isn’t an island by (my) strict definition. It’s a wonderful place to live, though.
- PW
I live on Vashon Island, near Seattle. Vashon is about 10 miles long and 5 miles wide. I would argue that nearby Whidbey and Bainbridge Islands don’t count, because they are connected to the mainland by bridges. To really count you have to be accessable only by water or air, no? We do have regular ferry service, so commuting to Seattle is viable if you don’t mind spending an hour every day on the boat, or waiting for the boat.
Here’s an article from the Seattle paper about Vashon:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/neighbors/vashon/
It rains here, but only in the winter. In the summer we have summer just like everyone else. In the winter we have rain instead of snow. We have two grocery stores, lots of organic farms for fresh vegetables, and a charming rural character. However, jobs are scarce on Vashon itself, so be prepared for either a low wage service job or commuting, unless you are a builder, or own your own business or some such. On the down side, since Vashon is something of a bedroom community for Seattle, housing is fairly expensive, especially if you compare it to Mississippi.
There are numerous other islands in Puget Sound, but remember that an island connected by a bridge will have a very different character than one connected by ferry service, and both are very different from ones with no ferry service at all. Vancouver Island is the only one with a major city, besides being gigantic.
Or if that doesn’t suit you, you might consider Manhattan Island…I hear it’s very nice…
But with 12,000 snakes per square mile in some areas. 
And if the whole of Australia is too big - this is the Australian island I live on.
Cool beans.
I am a Mississippian, so am used to hot, hot, HOT weather. I squeal like a girl and pile on the coats if the temperature drops below seventy. So I don’t think Bear Island or Gotland are for me, thanks though.
Hawaii is looking more and more appealing. I was considering some colleges there anyway, and dorms would fulfill that pesky housing problem. Y’all have broken my heart with regards to the USVI, but I’m still cautiously optimistic.
Australia sounds nice but a bit far from anyone I know – ditto for Thailand and Hong Kong. Also, I don’t speak Thai or any Chinese language, and I’m sure knowing at least one language would be essential for living there for any length of time. Does the political situtation with Cyprus make it dangerous? I’ve always been fascinated with the Mediterranean and Turkey, and this might be a neat way to experience both, so to speak.
My new priorities: must be either English or French speaking; must not be unreasonably cold for a long period of time, must not be too isolated (I don’t wanna be a hermit); and I shouldn’t die of any Third-World diseases if I move there.
Isla Mujeres, off the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico, is a place I wouldn’t mind living for a while. The tourists seem to only really come for day trips, although some of the stuff I’ve been reading online indicates the disease of nearby Cancun is spreading.
But beautiful. Friendly local people, very ruined Mayan ruin, a turtle rescue project (La Tortugranja [the turtle farm]), great snorkeling, wonderful balmy weather…