Roatan: Caribbean Getaway

I like to think of Roatan as a nice and laid back place to get away to.

Life can be stressful with the pressures of a job and career and all that. Wouldn't it be nice to have a relaxing place to visit just to get away from everything for a while? I did exactly that, living there for 2 years in a waterfront apartment listening to the waves lapping against the deck as I went to sleep and as I woke up each day.

Imagine stepping onto a flight from one of the southern US cities (Miami, Atlanta, Houston) and only 2 1/2 hours later stepping off the flight into the Roatan International airport! Yes, Roatan has an International airport, with flights arriving daily from these major US centers.

Return flights from Atlanta or Miami can be found for as little as $500 or $600 for economy seats, depending on when you travel.

Work with Your Travel Agent for Discounts

Work with a travel agent, as they can almost always get you a better price than you can find youself. Find the best price you can online and then contact your travel agent and get them to do better. They will do it because they want your business!

This is what I have routinely done to find inexpensive flights on my own and then cut another $100 off the fare with my travel agent, not to mention getting good seats and a direct flight! Or only one stop when departing from Toronto, where I originally flew to Roatan from. The only stop is a couple of hours in Atlanta or Miami.

I have personally found AA.com (American Airlines) to routinely have the least expensive flights to Roatan and Honduras.

From Toronto the flight was only $800 or $900 return (found with a bit of search). And leaving at 6 am from Toronto International, I was in Roatan resting in my apartment by about 2 pm! An amazing feeling that you have to be there to experience.

If you are interested in Roatan, I definitely recommend it for a vacation, a visit for scuba diving or snorkelling or for investing in property.

Offshore Real Estate

Property prices have been rising for years there and offshore real estate is a great investment for many reasons. There are always great bargains to be had if you do a little homework. The political turmoil a few years back had some effect on property values, however, I still see bargains on Roatan as always (and even more since then actually!)

Take a week or even a weekend and discover the beaches, the people and the beautiful views. You will never forget it.

See my project for an example of what you can do with a real estate project on Roatan if you put your mind to it.

And of course if you have any questions, feel free to contact me!

I found an entry in my earlier Roatan blog and wanted to share it with you here on Squidoo.

I do have personal experience with Roatan, as I mentioned earlier I had lived there for 2 years. The below describes a sort of typical day I went through...

Well, I am sitting here right now looking out the window of my seaside apartment at the waves coming in. They are a little on the strong side today with lots of little white caps.

There is a nice southeastern breeze (called a trade wind) that comes in off the sea and keeps things cooler. This is just one advantage of Roatan over coastal Honduras which can be quite hot.

As you can see below it is 84F (29C) today, with a low of 76F. That is how it is much of the time here, warm day and night.

Some areas on mainland Honduras feel hotter because they do not have the trade winds (San Pedro Sula for example) or are colder because they are at a higher elevation (Tegucigalpa, for example, where I also lived for a year at 5,000 feet altitude). Some other Honduran areas are in the mountains at 5,000 feet altitude and it gets cooler at times at night, so you need a sweater or jacket.

You almost never need a jacket on Roatan except if it is raining. In fact, most nights you don't even need a sheet or blanket!

The maximum altitude on Roatan is about 800 feet so there is not much variation in temperature. It does get more breezy on the tops of the small mountains though!!

Detailed weather report for today

Temp is: 84F high, 76F low
That is: 29C high, 24C low
Feels Like: 92° (33C)
Barometer: 29.88 in and falling
Humidity: 74%
Visibility: 6.21 mi
Dewpoint: 75°
Wind: E 16 mph
Sunrise: 6:15 am
Sunset: 5:45 pm

Routine Daylight All year

A funny thing about Roatan (and actually all of Central America because I experienced the same thing in Belize) is that we pretty much can count on 12 hours of sunlight and 12 hours of darkness every day.

Give or take half an hour or so, you can count on the sun being up about 6 am and going down around 6 pm, all year long. Daylight savings time does not exist here, so the time changes in relation to the US and Canada when DST changes. Roatan is 1 or 2 hours behind EST (NY time) depending on whether US and Canada are on daylight savings time. In the Spring it jumps to 2 hours difference.

We are near the end of the rainy season now (nearing end of January) and the heavy rains that were pouring down almost daily over the past couple of months have slackened off. If you are coming for a visit, avoid December to February, as that is the rainy season.

In the past couple of weeks we have been getting more sunny days. Soon it will be the dry season and we will see rain maybe only once every week or two.

Vacation season is now gearing up, with cruise ships coming in a few times a week instead of only once a week like in the slower season. For spring break and Easter, the island gets VERY busy and it's actually pretty hard to find a hotel room at that time!

So if you are planning to come here around that time, book well in advance!!

I recently pulled the below excerpt out of a real estate newsletter I received in an e-mail from Roatan. It shows the popularity of Roatan as a vacation and retirement destination. Here is is verbatim:

The best kept secret of the Caribbean is getting out!

The island paradise of Roatan, Honduras is receiving more publicity all the time and the reviews just keep on getting better. In our last issue we announced that National Geographic had included Roatan in their list of the ten top destinations for your summer 2011 trip.

Since then, Island Magazine's July/August, 2011 issue described Roatan as "The #1 island in the world to retire to." Robert Stephens, writer for Island Magazine, says this of Roatan; "It reminds me of how my dad described Cayman 35 year ago. Villagers making their own medicine. Fruit and nut trees growing wild. An empty hammock in a palapa. And a guy one barstool over is from your hometown."

In the article, a retired expat from the island admits that, "I intended to go back to the States, but this place wouldn't let me," a sentiment that those of us who have chosen Roatan as our retirement home, can definitely relate to.

Also this past July, International Living Magazine included Roatan on their list of "Seven Easy, Affordable Retirement Spots."

The criteria required to make the list were those that made for a smooth and easy move and transition; proximity to home, the availability of similar goods and services to those found at home, a place where an expat community already exists, making it easy to make friends, speak your own language and learn from those who have "gone before you," and a place where an expat community is welcome. An "easy" place is one that offers good, affordable healthcare, restaurants, and plenty to do.

On July 9th, in a Yahoo Finance's publication "8 Great Places to Retire Abroad," Donna Fuscaldo considers similar criteria when choosing top retirement spots. International Living's Global Retirement Index was used to compare real estate value, cost of living and health care availability among the top 25 retirement locations, world-wide. Roatan ranked tenth on the GRI index for cost of living (a retired American couple can live comfortably for $1,200 month), but a high 4th for real estate.

In other positive news, the Wall St. Journal announced that Standard and Poor's raised its outlook on Honduras from "positive to stable." Improving investor confidence since the election of President Porfirio Lobo last year, stronger ties with creditors, a stronger state of fiscal affairs, and rising external liquidity are the main reasons for the boost in credit rating.

Well, I know many people were very concerned about the political disturbance that was going on in Honduras a couple of years back. This affected Roatan of course, as Roatan is part of Honduras.

I heard of investors and other property owners panicking and selling their properties at huge discounts. It just made a good bargain hunting place for people who knew better. As a property owner, such a scene is not a good time to sell property. To make money as an investor you have to buy low and sell higher, not sell low after you bought high!

According to my Real Estate Agent on Roatan (and my recent observation of the Roatan MLS), great discounts are still available on properties in Roatan, even though things have been recovering and picking up again since the earlier problems. In other words,still a good time to buy and also a better time to sell.

As a note, I also made a brief visit to the island again early Sept this year (2011) to organize the restart of my condo construction project there. The island is as beautiful as ever and now even a more attractive place in terms of convenience with a new large mall, a golf course and other upgrades!

In a word, the political disturbance is now over. I was there in the country for the whole beginnings of it in 2009 and I can tell you that the mainstream press in North America, as usual, GOT IT DEAD WRONG. They called it a military 'coup', a blow against democracy, etc., and painted the temporary government as evil. It was dead opposite.

What happened in a nutshell was that Mel Zelaya (ex-President who was kicked out, seen in a cowboy hat above) was pushing hard for a Constitutional amendment that would allow him to stay in power for another term. Zelaya is a close friend of Hugo Chavez (socialist, Venezulea), who himself is best friends and sort of a 'son' to the King of Communism - Fidel Castro.

Mel Zelaya himself is a self-proclaimed 'middle left' or something like that and was flat out on a campaign it would seem to bring Hugo Chavez type socialism into Honduras.

Well the people of Honduras would not stand for that (they want to hold onto their democracy) and the Supreme Court, the Congress, the Catholic Church and even the military were not in agreement with what Zelaya was trying to do.

Push came to shove when Zelaya tried to hold an illegal and unconstitutional public vote to get his term as President extended. He broke into the area where the ballot boxes were locked up (he had the army do it) and then ordered them set up an election.

Well, the Supreme Court was prepared for this and ordered the army to step in to stop this. Zelaya knew he was in violation of what was wanted by these entities. The army arrested Zelaya and basically flew him out of the country overnight. Now this was an extreme measure and the country paid for it with several months of instability, protests and demonstrations. There are always better ways to handle things in retrospect.

But politically, when Zelaya was kicked out, the most appropriate qualified person FROM HIS OWN PARTY was assigned with Congressional approval and sworn in as temporary President until the next elections (which at that time were only a few months down the road). This was Roberto Micheletti (the businessman looking guy in the photo above).

There was violence (ALL by Zelaya supporters). They grafitti'ed the WHOLE CAPITAL CITY, almost every blank wall everywhere, broke windows and set fire to a Popeye's restaurant with people (including kids in the play area) still inside! Everyone was gotten out okay, thank God, but the restaurant was completely destroyed by the fire. Zelaya's supporters also burned one or two buses and threw rocks at police. In another instance, one of them was killed when they tried to break down a barricade fence and break into the airport, which was manned by the army. That is the only casualty I know of and it was sad and unfortunate, but it is a lot less than what the press was saying.

Anyway, to make a long story short, Zelaya was completely off the rails and the Supreme Court, Congress and Army KICKED HIM OUT. He then caused immense problems from outside the country by continuing to promote his cause and playing the ousted victim. Many countries bought his story and took a stand against Honduras, withdrawing moral and financial support and not recognizing the temporary government.

Hundreds of millions of aid dollars were denied to the country during the conflict. And who sufferred? The average person in this poor country with a 30% or higher unemployment rate. There was even talk of a possible invasion (war) with Zelaya considering coming in with part of Chavez's army or some such to restore him to power. Zelaya by his actions caused HUGE destruction to the country he was 'trying to save'. Fortunately no large scale violence occurred and a peaceful solution was worked out. That is what the majority in the country wanted.

Zelaya's term in office eventually expired after about 5 months of conflict, new elections were held and a new President (Pepe Lobo) was democratically elected during peaceful voting. He has now been sworn in and is the new official President. The people were happy to have peace again and it amazed me how these people, largely uneducated, would fight so hard for democracy and against anything that would take away their freedom.

Zelaya was peacefully exhiled to Dominican Republic at the time. He has since peacefully returned to Honduras and last I heard he was not creating any trouble.

THE COUNTRY OF HONDURAS HAD A HUGE SUCCESS IN PROTECTING THEIR DEMOCRACY AND KICKING OUT A SOCIALIST WITH COMMUNIST CONNECTIONS

That's how it looked from inside, where I was at the time!

With this settled, I am now arranging to continue and complete my condo project in Roatan!

As far as working on Roatan goes, you need a work visa for that and it generally has to be for work that is not generally able to be done by a Honduranean.

The government here does not want you taking a job away from one of their people (like just about anywhere else) and you can appreciate that with a nation-wide 30% unemployment rate!

It is better generally to come here and start a tourism related business. There are many types of businesses that are not represented here that can be started and THAT is appreciated by the government - anything that brings more tourism to the island. That is their bread and butter.

There are great tax breaks involved with a Tourism business. In fact, how does 10 years of tax free profits sound? You can even move here with all your property and your car without paying duty. Check for the latest laws on this before jumping in.

Businesses are easy to start here, there is not a lot of red tape. A business licence will cost you about $2,500, paid at the municipality in the main city of the island called Coxen Hole. You will need a visa to work for your business.

What I am doing is a project on Roatan, which can be done as a visitor. I purchased a property and established an investment corporation. I hired people to do the design and construction work and I only oversee everything as an investor. I do not 'work' per se' and thus do not need a work visa for that.

And I have created work (and income) for many people as a result of the project. This is the kind of investment in Roatan that the government likes. I love these win-win situations.

When steadily living on the island, I did however have to renew my visitors visa each 3 months by leaving the country for at least 3 days and then returning for a new 90 day stamp in my passport. I went for short trips to Panama, Venezuela, USA, back to Canada, etc.

Tourists can invest and purchase property, up to 3/4 acre in their own name. Anything larger needs to be established in a corporation (Honduranean corp). Smaller land parcels can also be put in a corporation if you want to give yourself another layer of asset protection.

You can set up a corporation in Honduras and purchase property with just a tourist visa (or just your passport if you are US, Canadian, etc.)

Incorporation costs about $700 to set up, which is quite inexpensive compared to other places I have seen. It will cost you much more if you want to arrange it from outside of Honduras (like 2-5 times more). When you are actually on the island things become easier, faster and less expensive. I set up my property and project this way and can recommend a lawyer who can do this for you at this low cost (no, I will not get a commission for it).

And as long as you do not work to earn money on Roatan, you can stay as long as you like (re-newing your tourist status each 3 months as I wrote above).

If you want to work, just get a work permit (or become a resident if you decide to stay for good). There are at least 5 types of residency available.

Or if you just want to buy and sell real estate, you can set up a corporation for it that is relatively hassle free.

Real estate taxes on sold properties and homes are a 10% flat rate on profits regardless of size of the sale.

Good luck!

Well, I have to tell you, I had a chance to look at the island again in detail a few months back, as I had a good friend visit me who I was showing around the island.

I was again impressed with the beauty of the place.

From the west end to the east end of the island, there are some incredible vistas where you just have to sit back and say, ' wow, this is paradise!'

Just driving along the main paved road you get this feeling, but stopping into various places along the way accents it even further ...

... Anthony's Key Resort in Sandy Bay, 'The View' Restaurant mid-island (close to my Colibri Villas condo project), the Windsong Cafe further to the east and many other little places along the way ... simply beautiful.

And of course the view from the Colibri Villas project is just beautiful as well. I cannot wait to get this project completed and sit back in my own condo and enjoy the view.

The weather is generally great year round (except the rainy season Dec-Feb) , with sunny days and usually nice breezes coming off the sea.

It feels a little hot when the breeze dies down for a day or so, but normally it is there buffeting you gently and cooling you off.

You have to check out this place if you have not been here!