For the last month, while Laurie and I have been home working on selling houses Elizabeth has been at the resort learning the lay of the land and sea. She’s been meeting people, making some friends, and learning how life works on our funny little island.
Elizabeth’s problem is that one can only leave or get to the resort by boat and that’s a real issue for a 25-year-old who relishes her independence. Like most 25-year-olds, she wants to be out and about. She wants to see and do and hang out with new friends. So, what’s a girl to do? Get a boat, of course.
Right now the resort has 3 boats (not counting kayaks). The big boat is a 43 foot Wellcraft Portofino with twin diesel engines and a fishing tower. George bought it in Florida, brought it down and did some conversions for diving. It’s a cool boat but it seems to spend most of it’s time not running well (can’t that be said for most boats?). It’s big enough that one can easily go to and from Roatan if you can afford the fuel. There is a saying about boats like this: Don’t ask how many miles to the gallon, ask how many gallons to the mile.
The second boat is the panga. I would guess that over 80% of the boats in Latin America are pangas. Open boats with deep high bows and high gunnels (I used the word gunnel to make it look like I know what I’m talking about—the gunnels are the sides), Pangas are powered by outboards. The boats can range in size from 16 feet to over 30 feet and many of them have some sort of canopy for shade. The resort’s panga is about 26 to 28 feet. It has tank holders for scuba diving and is pushed around by a 115-horse outboard.
The third boat is the work boat, and a work boat it is. No seats, no frills. It’s 25-horse motor should be 40-60 horse. The boat doesn’t exactly zip around but it is a solid, heavy boat well designed for what it’s used for.
Boats in this part of the world are strictly utilitarian. They are heavy, solid, boats built to withstand the rigors of an often-unforgiving environment and I am learning quickly that buying a boat here is not as easy as one might think. Used boats for sale are scarce. Used seaworthy boats for sale are almost non-existent.
There are no boat dealers on the island. In the US, buying a boat is a lot like buying a car. You go to the dealer and look at all the choices, pick out the one you want, sign on the dotted line, and away you go. On Guanaja, if you want a new boat you must have it built. There are 2 guys that build boats on the island. Enrique is in Mangrove Bight, and he’s been doing it the longest and is the best known. Another guy, Richard, is rather new to the boat-building trade but the consensus is that he is building very good boats. They both are about the same price.
This boat buying thing is tricky because I’m trying to do it from the US. I want to buy Richard’s boat because I think it’s a better-looking boat and everyone seems to think a better built boat. It costs about $2,800, which is pretty darn reasonable for a solid sea-worthy boat. He wants about half down to start so I will have to see if George will front the money because I have no way to pay Richard from here. Richard said it would take several weeks to build unless, of course, he goes out on the lobster boat (lobster season just opened). Everything moves on island time.
I think this is a boat that will get used a lot even after we own the resort. It will be cheaper to run and easier for Elizabeth and Laurie to manage. Just like me, they will have to learn to drive an outboard with a tiller, and hopefully, we don’t knock the prop off too many times as we learn to navigate the reefs and rocks.
Elzabeth will have to decide what color to paint the boat.
#guanaja #diveresort #divingresort #caribbean #caribbeanlife #islandlife #islandlifeisthebest #islanddiving #tropicalisland #belize #scuba #scubadiving #Scubadivinglife #scubatravel #divinglife #retireabroad #guanajadiving #roatan #roatandiving #retirementplanning #bayislands
