Moving to Belize!

[stormchaser]

Well, looks like we're moving to Ambergris Caye in Belize. I got a great opportunity to be the Marketing Director for one of the Condo resorts down there. For now, Saraswati will remain in Annapolis...they are providing a furnished waterfront condo for us. If all goes well, we may bring her down in a year or so. But we need to carefully consider if that is the best move...her 4.5ft draft is considered pretty deep for getting in/out of the barrier reef surrounding the island. The cuts int he reef are only about 5-6ft deep at low tide and its hard rock/coral on the bottom, a small mistake can be VERY costly (big fines for running aground on the reef). So, depending on what happens, she may have to be kept on the mainland or it may make sense to sell her up here and buy a different boat down there, maybe that big sailing cat will be a better choice now. Anyway...I'm very excited for this opportunity...

[Sparky1]

Congrats stormy, need an assistant?

[Boatsb]

I bet Randy can get the boat down there for you.

He is good at long trips.

[stormchaser]

When/if the time comes to bring her down...I'm doing it myself. I miss log voyages offshore...not that I can go 100+ miles offshore and run the gulf stream in my boat...but even heading down the ditch would be fun.

[Sparky1]

So how did you happen across that job?..., if you don't mind my asking. If you do mind, tell me anyway in a PM.

[stormchaser]

Well, this sort of began about two years ago. Amanda's business partner (Heather) moved to Ambergis Caye with her hubby (Dan) and 1 year old girl (Alex). Dan got a job managing a small resort. We've kept in touch with them. Last year for our honeymoon, we went to Ambergis Caye. While down there we went out to dinner a couple times with Dan and Heather. I expressed interest in possibly moving down. Well, nothing came of it. Now a year later we go back, for a week of vacationing. We have dinner on our 2nd night there with Dan and Heather. Dan is now Director of Operations for a much lager and higher end resort/condo community and he asks if I still had any interest if anything popped up. I said of course and never thought anything more of it. On the day before we leave, at 3:00PM, Dan calls and asks if I wanted to have a in-person chat with his boss about a job opening. SURE! But I was 2-sheets to the wind from sunning and drinking all day (I told him we had dinner plans and getting a island ferry in time would be impossible)...so we met the next morning for coffee, before I was to fly out. What was supposed to be a 1 hour talk turned into almost 3 hours and I walked out with a job offer!

[stormchaser]

Oh, this is the view from our dock:



More pics of the house at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stormch...7620962512951/

[Sparky1]

Cool story Dave. I had a wild hair several years ago to move to Grand Cayman after visiting there with my bride. She had gotten an earlier offer to return to work for Hyatt Regency where we stayed as she had worked for them here many years ago. That's what got me to thinking of moving there. That and all that beautiful water among other things.

I'm assuming Belize is more open to having non-citizens take jobs than is the case in Grand Cayman. From what I gathered back then, it was almost impossible for a non-citizen to get a job there. It basically had to be a situation where there were no qualified citizens to fill a position.

I've never been to Belize and know nothing about it other than the fact it's British and English is the predominant language. Maybe I should check it out sometime. You got a spare bedroom?

[labrador]

Congrats Stormy, you need someone here in New Bern to take care of your 53? Perhaps a Charter or lease with option to buy? Something to think about!
Skip

[stormchaser]

"Gringos" do have a hard time getting jobs there...it's the same deal as in Cayman...there is great preference for hiring locals...and work permits for USA citizens normally take about 6-months, but my employer has the right contacts to make it happen in about a week. The key is to make sure the job requirements include being a US citizen for the purpose of being able to travel freely back to the USA for business purposes. Pretty much all the "executive and junior executive" level positions are filled by gringos...partly due to lack of education for the locals...most don't even have a HS degree, let alone a college degree.

Belize USED to be a British colony and was known a British Honduras back then. It was granted independence in 1981. It has a stable government and good economy. The official language is English but almost all the locals also speak Creole and many speak Spanish. Fortunately both Amanda and I speak Spanish...she is far closer to fluent than I but with proper immersion, I figure we will both be fluent within a year.