Planning a trip to Ambergris Caye

We are staying at the Caribbean Villas in San Pedro, I think, does anyone know anything about this place?

Hello retirehopeful.

Welcome to Expat.com!

A new thread has been created from your message on the Belize forum for more interaction.

Thank you,
Aurélie

Where is the new thread?

Hello retirehopeful.

You're actually posting on it.

Aurélie

If there are no posts it is because people have have no information, to share.   go to the blog topic about the caye and there is a woman from Texas who has a lot to say.  check that out.

Does anyone have information on Caribbean Villas?

Did you wind up buying in Grand Belizian Estates? Are you living there full time? If so what are your pros and cons on living on the island? We just bought a condo on the island as well but plan on living there just 3-4 mos out of the yr. just curious if you have any advice thanks

Hello LasVegan, I saw your username and had to say "hey!" I also live in Vegas and have purchased property in Belize. I live in Rhodes Ranch and bought in Sanctuary, which is in the south end of the country. We were in Belize about 2 months ago and ran into a few folks from Vegas as well. Small world.

Well hi! Yes I know where Rhodes Ranch is. We live in Summerlin near Fort Apache. It is a small world! How do you like the Sanctuary? Have they finished building yet? Last I remember they were still working on it. Do you have land or did you build a house? We are returning to Belize for a week at Easter. Can't wait!

LasVegan, I like Sanctuary a lot. There has been more and more homes popping up and even more slated for 2015. A few of the amenities are up. More roads are going in. A medical center and townhomes are also planned soon. I'm not a golfer, but our sister property is getting a golf course.

I'm still getting used to how slow things move there though.  One year=18 months (sometimes longer). I've been in the process of getting a bank account there for the past few months!

I think in 3 years will be the sweet spot for Sanctuary. More amenities,  more residents etc. One of the draws for me was its infancy.  We, at some point will need more stores and businesses, which will feed my entrepreneurial spirit

I have 2 lots (one to keep, the other investment), near the marina. I hope to sell one to help finance my home on the other. Im selling my condo in Brianhead to start building a casita on my lot.

Omg! You have a place in Brianhead also? We built a cabin in Duck Creek!  We bought that acre about 10 years ago & we had put a trailer on it & used it every other wknd. My kids are growing up there riding & fishing & boarding & skiing.  Now my husband just built a real log cabin on it 3 years ago. In fact this Christmas will be the first year we're having the whole family up for the holidays. We have a lot in common!!
Yes I was following the sanctuary for a while, it looks like it's gonna be a really great place! Obviously the amenities are going to be awesome. Good for you and I hope you get to build your casita soon. I'm sure the Brian Head condo will sell pretty fast.
We wound up buying a condo on ambergris Caye. We actually do not want to ever move down there full-time so we were looking more for a vacation spot. Our condo is literally on the beach about 50 feet from the beautiful water & we are directly adjacent from the barrier reef. Which they said works as a great barrier against any tropical storms so we shall find out! Haha so for now it's our vacation spot however when my husband and I retire if all goes as planned, we plan on living at the cabin half the year and the island the other half the year. All this is predicated of course on what this crazy country is doing. If we need to leave the states for any reason I wanted a place to go to. Well keep in touch! You know we'll have to meet up in Belize now:)
(I was going to insert a picture of the cabin and the condo but I don't know how to do it on this thread from my iPhone)

what's even more creepier is that I live off of Fort Apache as well.

Where did you buy in Ambergris? My wife and I were looking at places out there as well. We stayed at Coco Beach and it was amazing. They did not have any inventory that I was interested in but they were beautiful nonetheless.

Hi Lasvegan, where on AC did you purchase?  North or South?  We too are looking at property there and will be making our second trip down there in January.

Susan

We are at Xtan Ha. I just fell in love with the place compared to all the others, it won the trip advisor award this year and the reviews from vacationers have just blown all the other places away on the island. It's voted best beach (probably cause it's across from reef so water looks like Aruba's water.)
http://www.sanpedroscoop.com/2013/08/be … -caye.html

Again since we don't plan on living there year-round, I wanted everything taking care of for us, like we're on vacation. But I also wanted it to be a huge rental income when we're not there so we can earn some $. You don't have to rent yours out but we decided we will. So the reviews & the ratings from vacation renters meant a lot to me. My husband is also exhausted from building the cabin in Utah & its future upkeep so he didn't want to have to work on anything when he was down there & he didn't want a big place. And another main attraction is it was very inexpensive for its location right on the beach because we didn't want a loan/mortgage. So we could only spend so much, we had a limit before the cash ran out!  Haha

Hi Susan! I just answered my vegas buddy a few seconds ago, check out the link I posted. We're at X'tan Ha. But we were looking for more like a resort place that can be rented to guests when we're not there. So it's not like your typical live in apartment condo. Too bad we will miss each other, we'll be there at Easter.

Oh ps. It's kind of in the middle, little towards North. Of course the city is south and but they're starting to really build a lot of new resorts up north. They are almost done the completion of the official road (right now it's dirt road) leading North that will go pass X'tan Ha. Rumor has it the property values will go up when the road is completed. Also you do know that the island pulls off of Mexico's electricity so we do not lose power like Caye Caulker & others.

Sounds great...have heard great things about XtanHa.  We are going back in Jan to continue our search.  Since we are going to be there full time, we are looking South due to proximity to town and the Airport.  But I think we will drive up there and check it out! 

Where in Utah is your cabin?  My friends have a place in Park City.  We love going there for our ski vacation.  Now they will be able to come to our place on the Island to vacation!  Win win!

Susan

We're in Duck Creek near Brianhead cause I'm from vegas. Park city is too far away from me. We go every other weekend to our cabin so it's only 3 1/2 hour drive. But park city has great skiing!

Yes for sure it's a totally different story if you gonna live there full-time. When you go down in January, take a boat over to X'tan ha to spend the afternoon! You don't have to rent a room to use the beach or have lunch at the bar. It is beautiful. Have a great trip!

Hi,
I have been looking for property on Ambergris Caye as well for a few years. I am familiar with the development you mentioned as well as others and I do have some reliable Belizian contacts on the island, so perhaps we could speak. I may be coming down in the next few weeks. Feel free to contact me at renegadediver24@yahoo.com.

Regards,
Marcie

I see this post is a few years old, but I still thought I would reply. My partner and I have two lots in the Grand Belizean Estates area that he bought 10 yrs ago. The area is near Secret Beach which has seen a lot of development on the beach with beach front style restaurants/bar,  also a couple of cabana style accommodation rentals.  Currently, SB area businesses close by 6pm since it's more of a day trip destination dine to no lights on the road out there.
We would like to build something a around 7-8 years from now, and retire to Belize in 15 yrs  From my understanding, many of these lots are sold, but there are a few available. On the road out to SB, there is a model Mennonite style house that is off grid, and a few other people built homes out there around 2013-ish.  The off grid home you can see from the road,as well as some smaller side by side ( same style) in Palm Garden lots.  There is a video on YouTube under "update Secret Beach" with some drone footage...so take a look at that.  There is no power out in that area yet, but I'm guessing as more people build, this will come too.  Right now everything in that are is solar.   From Secret Beach you can see Blackadore Caye...Leonardo Di Caprio developing an eco off grid resort there.

Anyway, we continue to watch the developments on the west side of AC...will be interesting to see updates 1,2, 3 yrs out from now.  We will be there again Jan 2020 for a vacation.

-Michael

We ended up not choosing Belize as a retirement option.  On to other research. We went to Merida last year and will visit Spain next year.  We still plan  to hold onto our land on Ambergris Caye.