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?

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 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 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.

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 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.

Property prices have been rising for years here and offshore real estate is a great investment for many reasons. And there are always great bargains to be had if you do a little homework.

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

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

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

I do have personal experience with Roatan as I 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.

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 or are colder because they are at a higher elevation. Some areas are in the mountains at 5,000 feet altitude and it gets a lot cooler so you need sweaters and jackets, especially at night.

You almost never need a jacket on Roatan except if it is raining.

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

Detailed 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

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

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.

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!!

More later....

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 and you can appreciate that with a nation-wide 50% 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 tax free on 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.You will need a visa to work for your business.

What I am doing is a project on Roatan. I purchased a property and established an investment corporation. I hire people to do the design and construction work and I only oversee everything as an investor.

I do not 'work' for the corp and thus do not need a visa for that.

Tourists can invest and purchase property, up to 3/4 acre in your name and anything larger in a corp (Honduranean corp that is).

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

Corps cost about $625 to set up, which is quite inexpensive compared to other places I have seen. It will cost you more if you want to arrange it from outside of Honduras. When you are actually on the island things become easier, faster and less expensive.

You come in and get a 3 months stamp in your passport that has to be renewed (by leaving for 3 days and re-entering) every 3 months.

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 as I wrote above).

If you want to work, just get a permit or become a resident. There are at least 5 types of residency available and I will cover these in a seperate article.

Or if you just want to buy and sell real estate, you can set up a corporation for it that is relatively hassle free and will only cost you about $625.

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

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!