When my wife and I moved to Roatan we chose a “water-access-only” home. Many of our friends thought we had really lost it. At the time it seemed like a reasonable decision. Waterfront lots with road access were extremely difficult to find, and when available they were much too expensive for our limited budget. And for us, moving off a boat in South Florida, it seemed a natural progression.

On the plus side you can get a great waterfront “water-access-only” lot for under $100,000. Privacy is usually good. In our case, a small cemetery in the back and water in the front. The views are fantastic; we get the sunrise over the bay and Caribbean Sea. We have our own saltwater aquarium right off the deck; my wife has named some of her favorite fish and conchs. The parade of locals in their boats is entertaining; there is the school boat, the banana boat, the fish boat and the garbage boat and a great many water taxis in addition to everyone’s personal “yachts” which can be anything from a paddled Cayucos (canoe) to a fairly substantial skiff. And, its kind of fun going for boat rides on a regular basis!

Not for Everyone?

On the minus side, ‘schlepping’ stuff home often requires transferring from the car to the boat to the house unless you happen to have convenient waterfront grocery and hardware stores like we do in Oak Ridge. We park our car (and boat when we were using the car) at BJ’s, a waterfront restaurant for $1/day. This gives us the added benefit of a place to hang out and pick up the local gossip. The fun boat ride ain’t so much fun when it’s pouring down rain. Although we do have good foul weather gear and a bimini awning we usually just wait a bit for the rain to stop.

For some of us who are simply irresistibly drawn to the water, living even a bit inland is not an option. I asked one of our neighbors for his help in describing this lemming gene to someone who doesn’t have it. He said, “It would be like trying to describe color to a blind person”, so I won’t try. Although we certainly would not recommend this to everyone, even with 20/20 hindsight this was a great decision for us!

Alex Poirier
A Buyer’s Agent

Coconut Plaza, East of the Airport
Roatán, Bay Islands, Honduras

Mobile: 011 (504) 9876-8758
Mobile: 011 (504) 8881-9714