I must fly a reasonable distance over water if I want to go anywhere – I also live on an island. I don’t fly a micro/ultralight, but another Annex II type (it’s a bit of an antique).
Plenty of the microlight (ultralight) pilots here where I live will fly overwater to the UK. But there are many types of microlight. I wouldn’t be all that happy flying a microlight with a 2 stroke engine over the sea, they seem to suffer sudden stoppages with too greater frequency. But the microlights with the 4 cylinder 4 stroke Rotax engines – not a problem. They have very good reliability.
Even so I am always equipped with a life raft and a life jacket. During the colder months, a drysuit. Over the Medeterranean, the water will be at least a bit warmer, however, I’d still recommend both a life jacket and a life raft. You can get life jackets that are designed to be worn continuously from a marine shop (and living on an island you’ll have plenty of those). Make sure you get the type that does not inflate on contact with water, get the type where you have to pull the toggle to inflate.
The evidence is that ditching has very good survival rates. The only fatalities around these parts in the last 15 years where an aircraft has gone in the water, the aircraft had a high energy impact with the water (in other words it crashed into the surface out of control – the two incidents I remember was a Cherokee somewhere off the coast of Blackpool, and a Beech Baron who lost control in IMC). An in-control ditching is very survivable so long as you have the life jacket and raft.
