The Roatan Story

Chapter 2

Needless to say, our offer was accepted.  Next, we had to satisfy the title insurance company that we were aware of the water access only and also have the survey corrected.  The initial survey showed improper recording and boundaries' that didn't meet up and close the parcel in entirely.  But, it was re-surveyed and recorded properly, so we could see what we were buying.  Being certain of everything, we flew back down for closing at the end of August 2006 and sat down and signed on the dotted line.  We now owned our little slice of paradise. 

We were still living in Tampa at this point; trying to sell the house and furniture, all the while packing things we wanted to ship to Roatan.  While Lori designed and drew up the new house we wanted to build, I became a “long distance” contractor and began construction using local island men.  The pictures show where my priorities were. We wanted the new dock first,

and then the retaining wall, 

and finally the Vista Cruiser's little boathouse.

 The Vista Cruiser was aptly named after a 70's station wagon since it is our "station wagon" on the water.  It is a Panga, which is a South and Central American boat made just for these waters. We figured we needed the retaining wall since we had some erosion behind the mangroves and didn't want to see more of our little slice slide into the sea.  Later, we realized it was a very good thing we had the wall built, as you will see. Then, after climbing up and down that hill several times, we decided that stairs would be next.  

I must say that our "contractor" really let us down since it took three tries to build the stairs and now they are "mostly" correct.  We learned from that experience that trying to do this long distance was an “iffy” proposition. You have to remember, this is an island in the Western Caribbean. Every islander in construction says they can do everything, therein lies the problem. You learn quickly that when someone says he is a carpenter it is because once he cut a piece of wood or drove a nail. This turns out to be the case for most anything you need in Roatan, so you have to be very careful.  When looking for construction help, I have learned to ask to see jobs they have finished along with verification that they in fact are the one who actually did the job. It is just another interesting twist in building here. Also remember we have water access only, so this means all materials and workers have to come by boat. It also means that large tractors and cement trucks cannot come to site! See how we handle this later on.......