Written by John Morris
As realtors on the island of Roatan, we are asked many questions about living on the island by those considering investing or even visiting our little slice of Paradise.
Subjects of concern are all over the board, but I think what I hear the most is “So….how did you land on Roatan?”
Our fellow expat cynical friend loves to respond “by plane!” Much to the chagrin of the curious and perhaps apprehensive visitor, this answer, though true, does not satisfy. The real answer, for most of us living on the island, is “by accident”.
In our case, about 15 years ago, we were doing some textile business on the mainland, when a friend/customer asked what we did on the weekend. Our weekends were usually confined to the city of San Pedro Sula either at our hotel, malls or restaurants.
He strongly suggested we hop over to Roatan. Honestly, we had never heard of the island but thought it had to be better than the city.
Our friend told us we could take the ferry or fly from La Ceiba – and we began an adventure that would change our lives.
The ferry was not running due to rough seas so we hopped on a little plane and 15 minutes later we arrived, with absolutely no plans or reservations. We easily rented a car and headed west. Fortunately it was “slow” season so accommodations were plentiful.
We still remember that first breathtaking sunset on West Bay Beach, as we stared at each other in awe of what we had “discovered”.
Our visits became longer each time until one day, outside a restaurant in Delray Beach, Florida where we were currently “living”, we looked at each other and expressed the same conclusion….let’s move to Roatan.
Yard sales, Craigslist and Salvation Army pickups ensued until we weeded down as much as we could. The rest we dropped off at Dip Shipping and took a one way flight, cat in hand, to our new home in the sun.
It has been a long, fun and sometimes strange journey, but we have never regretted it. Roatan is truly magical in so many ways and continues to amaze us daily.
So, the moral of the story is that it is possible to fulfill that dream of escaping to a Caribbean island, without breaking the bank.
If you too share this dream, Roatan is your answer.
The first t-shirt we saw on the island simply stated on the front “Where the hell is Roatan?”
On the back was the obvious answer – “In between Utila and Guanaja!” Duh!!
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