Scubaldy: I do like living on a small island. I have always been consistant in my views that Belize is allowing overdevelopment. I have expressed my oposition to this on many other posts, ie. the harmful dredging, the attempt to build "mega hotels" on AC and dredge a channel thru the island, etc. It is my view that the ecosystem in Belize, especially the marine ecosystem, is being pushed beyond reasonable limits. I am especilly concerned when the development occurs on or near the reef, as in the Avalon example on AC, and on any of the three atols that I consider to be, along with the barrier reef, one on Belize's most important treasures. And, when some of you try and convince me that it is being done in the name of ecology and in doing so you are doing your part to help protect it, I disagree. I think it is being done for greed and money and without adaquate protection for the environment. You have a long way to go to convince me that this size of development and the altering of the land and the proposed dredging that goes with it is not doing more harm than good. So you along with your neighbor and anyone else who disagrees with me are certainly free to express your views here and call me any names you wish. Although, I think both your views and your attacks on me and my views are hypocritcal.

Why can't we all just agree to disagree? I thought this board was for discussion, not for name calling?

scubaldy there is no way you can put 700 lots on a island the size of long caye and not kill every thing you say you have come to save,,NO WAY!1,The first storm(not even a big even)will wash all your sewer into the ocean.2,You people clearing your lots,will make silt,that kills coral,let alone wash away the island(what will hold it together?)3,boats??you say you are building places for morrings and diveing?are they built yet?4,hotels??how in the world will a hotel support it self way out there?they will need all the things hotels need for guest,frig,ice,ac?,washing machine,where is all the power coming from?dont say solor,it would cost you way to much to just bring it to Belize let alone get it to the island and set it up,are they going to have supply boats coming and going?You even have a clue how much oil a boat puts into the water?EVEN A GOOD ONE?5,These are just 5 reasons i could go on and on......But i have one big question for all you owners of long caye(there web page says they have over 400 lots sold?yet i go to your yahoo club and see on this board there only 2 of you talking about this?where are all the people?And do any of you even know who owns the island?From what you have told me none of you have even done a title search(this cant be true???)BUT THE BIG REASON LONG CAYE WILL NAVER MAKE IT ISSSSSSSSS....THE WEATHER!YOU WILL ALL GET WASHED AWAY WHEN THE FIRST BIG STORM COMES!

Susan! Your kitties are so cute and you guys are so adorable in the cat family picture. How did you get them all to pose? We also have a cat. Her name is Coco Loco and she is a blue point Siamese. She is 8 years old and by the time we will be able to spend more than 3 weeks in Belize she will probably have crossed the rainbow bridge considering our other Siamese died last June only 8 years old and our Balinese died with 7 both had kidney failure. Sniff! Our dogs are 4 (Luigi) and 1 (Giovanni) and we sure hope that they will be still with us in 10 years.
Your land in Panama is very, very beautiful!
Harriette! We are looking forward to meeting you and sipping cocktails on your porch in Long Caye in the future. In our neighborhood people do pick up after their dogs, walk them on leashes and take them inside at night so they don't bark. I guess we are lucky. But we have been hiking on our local mountain trails and there is a leash law and people just let their dogs run loose, chaise birds and squirls and poop on the trail. This of course makes others hate dogs or dog owners and I can understand this. We are sure not like that and this is why we do not want to get penalized for other irresponsible pet owners. We either can take our dogs to Long Caye for longer stays or we have to sell and that would be sad considering how strongly we feel about Long Caye and would like to be part of the Preserve Community. Oh well! We will see what happens. And Bywarren! By no means I do not want to call you names and you do have a right to state how you feel. But don't call us Hypocritical! We have been called stupid for buying land on a Mosquito infested swamp island and now all sudden people care that it get's developed. Interesting! Don't you spend a lot of time in Belize? Well, we have the same right.
I am also against dredging and actually did not know that this was planed for Long Caye.
It seems to me like some Expat people that happen to be older than us and have been lucky enough to have found Belize 20 years before us would like us to not have found Belize and this is where so much negativity comes from. Sorry! But we love it just as much as you and we will be returning as much as possible and we do support any efforts to protecting the environment. We will not go away just because some crumpy old Expats would like us to!!!!! Our money is just as good as yours (not that we have that much of it but it's enough for traveling and some purchases)and we respect the local people and nature no less than seasoned Expats. We have never gotten negativity from Locals but mostly from Expat type people. I do want to add that we have met mostly very nice Expats on AC and that there are just a few crumpy types. In matter of fact very good friends of ours are Expats and live on AC and they are very positive people.

Well LongCayeTruth! Than be glad you don't own a lot there and that we will get all washed away. And no resort can exist there? Look at the Lighthouse Reef Resort. They are doing just fine. In regards to titles. Scubalady and I actually have official Land Certificates with our names on it stamped, signed and filed in Belmopan by the Land Ministry of Belize. We don't try to make anyone buy on Long Caye. Make your own decissions and visit the Island first to make sure it is for you. The only reason why I posted the link to the Long Caye Preserve was to let fellow Belize lovers take a look and see how things where coming along because we are excited about it. Some people had questions and I was trying to be helpful and answer some of them even so everything is explained on the Long Caye website for everyone to read that is interested. Go ahed and bite my head off for buying into a development that we like but if you truly think this Island would have been sitting there undeveloped right next to the Blue Hole and major dive sites for the next 10 years you are dreaming just as much as we are dreaming about a eco-friendly beautiful place to spend some time on when we are older. I am just so glad that you and Bywarren are so much better and smarter than us. At least we still have a dream besides your negative doom and gloom attitude. We knew we where taking a risk buying in a foreign country, we know any type of human development is bad for the environment in matter of fact any human using the toilet in a country where sewage treatment is not done is bad for the environment. Sure the whole world would be a much better place if there wouldn't be so many darn humans.

CHICK...it sounds to me like your not really sure???and your trying to convince yourself you did the right thing?I just have one more thing to say and i will shutup.I live in the USA,and i would never do any realestate deal here with out a title search done,i dont care what kind of paper you have recived from the sellers.With no title search you dont know who owns what or what liens are still outstanding.And this is in the states where most realestate deals are on the up and up,,but your in Belize!Belize is well know for its realestate scams!But with that said,you never answered any of my questions?Where is the sewer going?Where is the power to come from?How are any of you going to clear land to build homes and not silt the coral?,or make the place wash away?How will your homes stand up to a 200mph wind?What about a 14'rise in the ocean that comes with big storms?(the island is only 4' above the sea at it highest point).It seems to me these questions scare you long caye owners and when any one ask them you attack the person asking?WHY IS THAT?As for me i really dont care one way or the other if you go there and kill all the wildlife,or lose all your money.I just need to understand people like you that are so far out of touch with the real world and live in some dream fog,i just cant see people being this reckless with there money and dreams?BUT YOUR OUT THERE AND I SEE MORE AND MORE OF YOU COMING TO BELIZE???OR SHOULD I SAY TALKING ABOUT COMING?BECAUSE YOUR STILL NOT HERE AND YOUR ISLAND DREAM IS STILL THAT A DREAM NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE YET,STILL JUST ALL ON PAPER!could you answer any of my questions?

LongCayeTruth
MuniChick answered some of your questions. I don't know what can be said to get people to stop visualizing BIG resort Condo type hotels. Blue Hole Dive Resort has designs (yes I've actually seen them) for 4 two-bedroom and 6 one-bedroom units to look like thatched cabanas. They will have their office, classroom, equipment room and photo center in addition to this. ALL ONE STORY buildings.
Long Caye Dive Resort is planning for (I think but have not seen the plans) 6 units.
There are already a number of isolated resorts out in the atolls that have survived years of hurricanes - so stop that scare tactic please. Damage can be expected but I saw with my own eyes and touched with my own hands the solid construction of the dormitory. I understand earthquake proofing and believe me - what they built would stand up to a level six. That is why I am willing to have them build my little cabana. the roof may go - that's the nature of roofs, but I will have wooden shutters covering all glass windows. Screens may be torn, but they are not expensive to replace.
I don't know of a single place on the face of the earth that you could guarantee anyone that Mother Nature may not hit hard, just when you least expect it. I for one, would expect storms and hopefully be prepared.

There will be NO sewers on the island. There will be NO wells on the island. The only clearing will be vegetation to make room for the actual structure - all of us want as many trees as possible kept. The only invading of the limestone crust will be for cement posts. The lot itself doesn't even have to be level.

As for density – I grew up in Oregon and lived on old homesteads so I have a very good visual sense of what a mile. A homestead was a section of land. A section is 640 acres, which is one mile by one mile.
That’s why all the roads up there were one mile apart. Where I live now it is 13 blocks from my house to the county administrative building and I used to walk to work everyday. It is one mile. There are on average, 5 house per block. Five times 13 = 65. So one square mile would hold 845 town lots. That’s less than half the island.

For the record – I am against any dredging and have talked to Larry about this. I am trying to follow this closely. So, like MuniChick, just because we bought in does not mean we do not have concerns. We do and we voice them. She is right, I have clear title to my first lot and have just sent in the paperwork for my second.

As far as there only being two of us on the “chat board”??? I don’t know what board you are looking at. The one I moderate has 77 members. Not everyone posts to the board, just as not everyone who lurks here posts. However, it is a forum for us to communicate with each other and stay up to date on development and concerns.

So guys – where would you like us to spend our money? Belize is begging for economic assistance. My first attraction, besides the diving, was the people. My second is that Belizians come first. I’m sick of the illegal immigration into California and the welfare state that we have become. I like it that to come into Belize you have to have enough GUARENTEED INCOME to support yourself. I love Ambergris Caye and will probably spend half of my Belize time in San Pedro.

Now that we have a good dialog going with byWarren, maybe LongCayeTruth will join in – unless he is the dreaded Amos – oh horrors she said.

Now I need to take the monster 3 year old twins to the ocean, which is a two hour drive from here and their parents have never taken them nor the 6 year old. She backed out on our planned trip this spring because she was afraid of sharks. OH MY GOD – poor children who don’t know the difference between the beach and the ocean. At least while the boys are in their car seats they can’t hit each other. Wish me luck.
Harriette

Okay! This is the last post I am adding to this topic. Many of the answeres to your questions about toilets, water, power etc. are answered on http://www.longcayebelize.com
In regards to silt. No mangroves can be cleared and only undergrowth and a very limited amount of larger Vegetation can be cleared in order to build therefore there should not be a problem with silt. This is also covered on their website. We are very well aware of the Hurricane situation and this is the risk most people have to take living along the Caribbean coast and will be included into the construction plans "if" we decide to build. We have a constant earthquake risk here in California that we have to live with as well. We purchased the land with the help of Pitts and Elrington Law Firm. I checked them out and Mr. Elrington is a very respected attorney in Belize City. The Long Caye Preserve was registered with the Ministry of Land when I called them. The reason why we did not do a title search is that we only paid $9,000 for our lot and a title search would have cost more than it is worse to us. We never planed on building on our lot right away or make any decissions in regards to what we will do with the land until down the line as we are not close to retirement yet. We just wanted to make sure we own at least a lot before prices go way up as they have on AC and be a part of the community. We might just decide to camp on the land in a very nice wall tent with proper decomposting outhouse and solar shower, solar lamps and candles. They got some great gear at Cabella's and we love camping! We would never move there for full time residency. This is for extended stays only for us (maybe 2 month at a time) We are not idiots and own real estate in California and have done very well with that. To me the USA was also a foreign country when we bought our first house. Now I feel at home there. Again I am not posting here to sell anyone Long Caye or convincing anyone about anything. You can have your opinions about it and I have my own opinion. If you have any more questions don't ask me. Read the website and call the Long Caye Preserve Developers since they will be happy to answer all your qyestions. And by the way! I am not the one that started attacking people. It is you that started to pick on Long Caye Owners. Since you think this is a horrible development just be glad you don't own there. If you would like the owners to know your opinion call them! The phone number is on the website. That's it for me I said enough. What a waiste of time anyway. I don't even know you people or want to know you. I know you hope our dream to fail and we would just all wash away and that sure shows what kind of person you are.

Well said Harriette! I am not sure if I will ever post anything here again considering what I had to read just because I shared the Long Caye link and not having anything but good in mind. Now we are being called Hypocrats, People that will polute and destroy and Island and people hope we will wash away in the next Storm. This is sure a nice Message Board Community! I know there are many very nice people posting on this board as well and I am sorry they had to read all this outburst. I appologize for this as I am usually a very peaceful and nice person but I am also sensitive because I feel strongly about protecting the environment and wish nothing but good for my fellow Belize Friends. I am the kind of person you will find on the side of the trail and beach picking up other peoples trash, adopting homeless animals, donating money to various environmental and animals causes, telling others to please not to step on the coral, does not wear sunscreen when snorkeling at a reef or cenote (sinkhole) and treats everyone with the same respect I would like to be treated with. Thanks a lot for making me wish I would have never posted here. Have a nice day!

please note that "longcayetruth" is unregistered...what does THAT tell you?

Marty- have the rules changed? I thought one MUST register to post.