Enter Marlin Miller, a wood sculptor from Fort Walton Beach, Florida, who volunteered to create a few live oak sculptures for free -- in part to leave his artistic mark on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, but also as a service to the community.

CNN: Turning dead wood into sculpture along the Gulf

Their lives ended in places called Belleau Wood, The Argonne, Omaha Beach, Salerno and halfway around the world on Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Pork Chop Hill, the Chosin Reservoir, and in a hundred rice paddies and jungles of a place called Vietnam.

CNN: Inaugural Address

Mr Thornley and Mr Wood are regular night photographers and Ballaugh beach is a favourite spot because of the lack of artificial light.

BBC: Aurora Borealis seen from Isle of Man

Experts released 22 guillemots at Pett Level beach in East Sussex that had been cared for at Mallyadams Wood wildlife centre in Hastings, East Sussex, earlier this month.

BBC: Birds to be released in Dorset four weeks after oil rescue

Buildings along the beach are, legally, supposed to be made only of coconut wood and palm thatch, but concrete buildings have been built and more are going up.

ECONOMIST: The island that became too popular

Meanwhile, the restaurateur's Genuine Hospitality Group has flourished, expanding to include a Michael's Genuine outpost on Grand Cayman, a wood-burning pizzeria and an as-yet-unnamed restaurant inside South Beach's Raleigh Hotel.

WSJ: Michael Schwartz's Maple-Glazed Quail With Pear and Almond Salad | Slow Food Fast

Casa Maravilla, located next door, is owned by Belgian immigrant Marc Bautil and his wife Elvira, who was born in the Philippines and grew up in the US. The highlight of Maravilla is the beautiful multi-storey wooden bohio (a shack made of straw or wood, whose main living area has open sides and a view of the beach), providing a real Robinson Crusoe feel.

BBC: Lodges Robinson Crusoe would love

Originally from Milan, she and her husband bought a plot of land near La Playita beach and in 2006 built Chalet Tropical: three two-storey thatched-roof bungalows, handcrafted by locals with wood interiors and stone bathrooms.

BBC: Lodges Robinson Crusoe would love