The Riviera Maya is what the tourism industry calles the Coastline from South of Cancun to Tulum. They used to call it the Cancun/Tulum Corridor but that didn't sound so nice. Thats probably why they changed it to the above name about 4 years ago. The new area Fonatura (Mexican Tourism Board that also developed Cancun/Ixtapa/Huatulco etc.) picked for major development is Costa Maya is very close to Ambergris Caye. It is the area from Xcalac to Majahual and all the way down that coast. There is already a cruise ship dock there now that received lots of business and a new airstrip. Xcalac is where the Mayan Chanel separates Mexico from Ambergris Caye. We have been following all this development very closly and it is sad.

MuniChic: Hi neighbor, I sure do look forward to meeting you.
Yes, I have purchased two residential lots on Long Caye. I bought into "an idea" more than a plot of ground. I do have a few concerns, but I am addressing them. Overall, I'm very impressed with the project. I believe there are about 90 lots in the Loggerhead Reserve section and they are all sold. They are each the size of a city lot; my smallest one being 42 x 90' and the larger one 48 x 90'.

Some of the other lots are destined to be build above the water in areas designated "Lagoon" I'm not sure what the difference is between a lagoon and a swamp, but hey -- I'm not buying there.

The deepwater channel and marina are items that were added after I bought in. I have mixed feelings about this. The developers say it will be a safe harbor for the live-aboard boats during a storm the enviromentalists say the dreadging to create it will destroy the wall.
I'm trying to stay dialed into this controversy but have heard nothing lately.

I will have the developers build a small cabana on the smaller of my two lots as soon as the dive resort is close to finished. I spent time with Bill Toonen who will build the Blue Hole Dive Resort and we are on the same page - keep the place pristine.
There were people who were chasing around thinking they were getting "fancy resort type" of property for a song and got rather rude when they learned how isolated and restricted it actually is. The developers even gave a guy back all of his deposit because he wanted to put up some tacky stuff and got irate when told he could not.
Being and advid underwater photographer I want to protect what is there. However, I would also like to share this with other u/w photographers. Belize has gotten a bad rap lately about "there's nothing worth seeing".
About "walking on the coral." I've asked that a certain section be ropped off for swiming. I also believe that a LARGE educational campaign needs to be launched to teach EVERYONE about respect for the reef.

I want to find out how to go about getting an area declared as a marine preserve. I will start a new topic named that for input.
I have a lot of work to do and will accept all the help I can get.

Long Caye will not be a place for everyone, but it will be a very special place for a group of very special people.

Thanks for asking

Harriette

I know where the Mayan channel is, but is the area you're talking about in Mexico or Belize? On the mainland? What is planned? I didn't notice anything up there this past June, but from what you said something might be cooking?

Regarding construction density, Harriette says one of her lots is 40 x 92. That's 3680 sq. ft or roughly 1/12th of an acre. Someone else said you can only build on 20% of a lot. So the max size of a one-story house on this lot is 756 sq. ft? Is that correct?

--Lan Sluder

Lan – You are absolutely right. However, the 20% is for enclosed space. Verandahs, stairs, cisterns, recycle area, etc. can cover another designated percentage. When I ran the numbers I saw that only the Seagrape would fit. I’ve asked for a few modifications and that’s why I call it a cabana. It would not be intended to live in for long periods of time – vacations would be perfect. I want a galley type kitchen and the area they call “living room” would be the bedroom/lounge. I asked to have the verandahs a little larger and screened in. The living/dining area would be covered, but open air.
If things go well out there and I want to spend longer periods of time I would then build the Cocoplum on my larger lot and rent out the cabana; mostly to friends at a very reasonable rate. I am very active in the underwater photo community and have a long list of people who want to come and dive with me.
Loggerhead Reserve has about 90 lots, which will probably house about 180 people. Remember, some of these are going to be people running commercial enterprises on the island and some, like me, are going to be there part time. Obviously it is not going to be a place to “raise kids.” Speaking of which, no domestic animals will be allowed.
Requirement #1 - as sense of humor.
Harriette

Well, we do have a big issue with the no domestic animal on the Island policy. Before we purchased our lot in July of 2000 we asked exactly this question because we have 2 small Italian Greyhounds that will be traveling with us if we spend more time on the Island than 3 weeks. The answer was that we are allowed to bring our dogs as long as they are leashed at all times. Our dogs are like our children and are never allowed off leash unless it is a fenced in area even here in CA because Greyhounds are not street smart. We where reading through the Eco Guidelines several times before we put down our money. Now almost 2 years later they change the policy and all sudden our dogs would not be welcome anymore. Our dogs sleep inside in our bed and do not bark at night and only for a reason during the day. Not yappers! I called the Developer and we will see what happens but this new rule is definately a big problem for us. Our dogs would not be allowed to prey for birds or disturb anyone. For matter of fact they use a box much like cats for their business. Therefore, we will be putting their waste down the decomposting toilet. Now we do understand that many dog owners are not responsible (we see it on the trails around here) but we are not willing to have our very good behaved dogs ruled out just because someone thought about coming up with a new rule since we purchased and we where told otherwise first. If it comes down to it we will have to sell our lot because if we are not allowed to bring the dogs on a longer Island stay we can not stay there any longer than 3 weeks and than it is not worse while it for us to build anything on our lot. Sorry for venting but we sure hope this will get worked out. Nothing is perfect! We know that! We only can hope for the best. Right now we are on the wait and see approach.

Question Harriette: is the zoning and restrictions the same for commercial properties? Someone it escaped me, from yours and other descriptoins, that there would be commercial properties. Anyway, what are the height and other restrcitions for commercial propreties? What kinds of enterprises do you enivision there? Somehow (call me unimaginative), it's hard for me to picture a "pristine" island with commercial venues. Hmmmmm?

Trina! The area I am talking about is in Mexico but very close to the border of Belize. They are building a 4 lane Highway from Highway 307 from Limones to Majahual. And there is construction going on in Belize to build a large Casino, Mall, Resort at the 7 mile Lagoon called Galleria Maya. I think down the line (maybe 10-15 years) there is a good chance that big resort groups will want to invest a lot of $$$ in Belize and I doubt the Belize government will turn them down considering how they handle things right now.
We will see over the years. Let's hope it will never happen.

Trina,
I have been doing research on the Costa Maya for about a month now and have gathered a lot of information on the internet. I will by flying down to San Pedro next week (via Cancun) and will be gathering even more information as I am interested in a possible investment in that area (although my primary interest is Belize). The developement is coming and I'm sure it will bring more people to Belize (especially Ambergris Caye). Who knows how long all of this will take, but I for one am doing my homework now (it hasn't been easy trying to get info on the area).
Since this is not really related to Belize, email me and I can pass along some websites that I found and inform you of anything that I learned on my trip.

Nate
NatTScat@aol.com


[This message has been edited by CMNate (edited 07-30-2002).]

I wanted to add that I was reading that Lufthansa will be taking over the Belize City Internationa Airport. They sure will make the airport very save and nice but I would think that this will open doors for European Developers and make Germans feel very comfortable traveling to Belize. The developers that are building the largest resorts in Mexico, Dom. Repuplic and Cuba are Spanish, Italian and German. They do build very nice resorts but they are also very big and not eco friendly at all. They are using deep injection systems for human waste and this is poluting many of the Cenotes (sinkholes) and eventually will ruin much more than that over the years because it all ends up in the ocean. And I know my fellow Europeans will just love Belize when they discover it. And this will happen!!! My fingers are crossed that it will be more eco friendly and smaller resorts than in the Mexican Caribbean. Islands will be purchased for luxury resorts as in many other areas in the world because the wealthy like remotness and don't think of that as a negative and not all of them will be as environmentally friendly as Long Caye Preserve. If you think all these small remote Islands will stay pristine I think you might be wrong unless the government steps in and protects some of them. I know what I am saying does not seem true right now but I just have this bad feeling that it will happen because I have seen it happen in other places. We have traveled a lot and seen a lot over the years.