In 1989, Mauro Morandi set sail for Polynesia on a refurbished catamaran. He didn’t make it.

A failed engine washed the former physics teacher onto the shores of Budelli, a mile-square island off Sardinia’s coast famous for its pink sand. When he learned the island’s sole caretaker was preparing to retire, Morandi sold his boat on the spot, according to National Geographic in 2021.

He took the job and stayed 32 years, alone.

He lived in an old World War II shelter he rebuilt out of coral, granite, and shells, heated by a fireplace. In the 1990s, the national park banned walking on the pink beach or........

© Upworthy