Figure Eight Island Figure Eight Island Figure Eight Island is a North Carolina barrier island just north of Wrightsville Beach, widely known as an affluent summer colony and vacation desitination. The island is part of the Wilmington Metropolitan Area, and lies between the Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean. As a private island, Figure Eight can only be reached by boat or via a guarded causeway swing bridge — the only private bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway in the Southeast. The island has been a destination for celebrities and politicians, including former Vice President Al Gore and Senator John Edwards, — and a
Gorgona Agricultural Penal Colony to the island is via a weekly ferry that brings visitors and family members to the island but the boat is not allowed to dock at the island. Instead, police launch boats transfer passengers from the boat to the island. The vineyard at the Gorgona Agricultural Penal Colony was first planted in 1999 but was soon abandoned only to be revived 10 years later by an inmate of the penal colony who had a family vineyard in Sicily and wanted to restore the Gorgona vineyards. In 2012, the Italian prison authorities inquired with various Italian wineries about partnering with the