Well sorry to report that this morning I was awoken at about 2:00 AM to major flames and smoke as Seaside Cabana's and hotel as it burnt to the ground...sad...thank G-d there wasn't much of a wind so Sandbox, Habanero's and probably our whole village was spared. Fire truck on their job and then word that the new thatch down at the split as also ablazed and burnt down also. Busy night but thanks to the utmost high..no deaths or injuries. ZNuff love from rasta pasta

that is sad news, Maralyn, glad nobody was hurt, and the fire was contained. Seaside Cabanas looked like a very nice place, one I had hoped to stay at during a future visit. Was the thatch by the split somebody's private home? That is heartbreaking as well. Best wishes to all there.

The thatch at the split had just been built by Big George to shade folks from sun hot and I believe serve beverages and food. Alot of smoke damage...Nuff Love

Sad Sad Sad....so much news of fire.

Strength to everyone involved and thanks for keeping us posted.
It's going to be a down day on CC.

Sorry to hear the bad news.

From Lee of Cyber Caye Caulker:

Hi Marty.
I shot these photos from about 100 feet away, my rooftop last night, and
from the Vega property next door. These photos were taken after the fire was
under contro at about 3 a.m. The Caye Caulker fire department did a great
job once they were called. In addition Vega Inn, next door to Seaside used
their water system to assist the firefighters, so the fire didnt spread to
surrounding properties. We were in the wind path of the fire and had just
minor damage, burned screens, stuff like that. I spent the night at a
friends, because the smoke was too dangerous in my apartment. As of 9 a.m.
the fire was still smouldering.
=========================
a little while later...
=========

Total loss, only one partial wall remains. The fire inspectors are here
investigating. Definitely arson. Here are the pics again. The fire is still
smoldering, 14 hours later, they shoot water on it from time to time. They
found the safe in the office and were cutting it open to get their
customer's passports for them. 5 rooms were occupied.
--Lee

here's a few photos

I feel badly for the owners of Seaside, but talk about a vacation to remember! those poor folks! what a frightening thing to go through. There could have easily been a tragic loss of lives. I hope they find the guilty party quickly.

Terrible loss for Caye Caulker.
I was there a few weeks ago and had a soft drink at the bar and the owner showed me the rooms. I loved the look & feel of Seaside Cabanas and had hoped to stay there on my next visit to Caulker. News said it was arson. Quite likely caused by envy & jelousy of others. These people were working hard to run a beautiful place, they should not have to go through this. Got to go I am pi..ed off!

Is that the nice resturant/bar at the dock where Island Taxi stops?

Yes it was Bill, the owners have said they plan on rebuilding.
--Lee
www.cybercayecaulker.com

So sorry to hear of another loss - hang in there, and try hard to catch the bad guys.

Now that I look at the pictures I realize this is where we stopped a week ago today for a cold drink. Irm wasn't feeling well and we came to the beautiful bar to get out of the sun for awhile. I took a bunch of pictures because I thought it was so pretty there. One of the nicer spots on CC. What a tremendous loss. Does anyone know if the amazon parrot in the bar (I think his name is Buddy) made it out okay? Best wishes to the owners in rebuilding. mobunny

Hi all:

I am personally saddened by the fire at the Seaside Cabanas as I believe the Seaside Cabanas were a real enhancement of the quality of accommodations on CC.

I think Corozal Bay's comment: "Quite likely caused by envy & jelousy of others." is out of order and quite offensive to the people on Caye Caulker. Latest gossip on Caye Caulker is that some drunken folks from San Pedro did it. Of course, it is just gossip and has not been proven yet either. Until we know for sure, the how / when / why's of the story is all speculation.

I think it was quite ugly of Corozal Bay Inn to make such a sweeping comment without justification or even evidence. It is quite narrow minded.

Cheers,
Wendy

Seems to me you are doing the same thing Wendy.

Repeating something that is gossip is just that, gossip and can also be offensive.

I think it was quite ugly of Corozal Bay Inn (and Wendy) to make such a sweeping comment without justification or even evidence. It is quite narrow minded.

I thought she was just emphasizing her point and that's all I took it for.

How interesting that people from SP are involved-did you inform the police?or did the people who started this rumour do so?
Silkpainter put a message on the ambergris board which stated that somebody always sees and knows-good point of course they do!!!
There are some very aggressive/demanding/rascist drug dealers sellers on CC who are quite open about what they do-if it was me I would look at them before I looked elsewhere.The last time we were offered crack by a couple of crackheads in the Sandbox the people running the restaurant refused to move them from our table-they told us we would have to move them ourselves-this strikes me that they may have been to afraid to move them- looking back on this- maybe they had good reason.

Oh, sure... blame the criminal element!!!

Pedro, I think maybe the silkpainter reply you are referring to is on the "About Ambergris Caye" board under "Fire in Caye Caulker". mobunny

Mobunny you are correct and have amended post

Wake up Wendy. When I said what I said I NEVER mentioned that the arsonists were from CC, Iraq, or ANYWHERE. YOU made that conclusion. Also whoever did it did not LOVE the Seaside Cabanas or they would NOT have torched it. Maybe they were drunk, sober, stoned or whatever but they had hatefull ideas that caused them to do it. Sometimes envy or jelousy will cause persons to do drastic actions that ruin the lives of others. These poor people had their beautiful business destroyed.
In San Ignacio a guy burned down the Cahal Pech Nightclub because he was not allowed to enter for free. I wonder what his thoughts were?

I also heard that rumour about the 3 San Pedranos in a boat, Wendy didnt make that up, its being investigated. People are coming forward with what they saw and heard now.

Corozol Bay Inn: I owe you an apology. Wendy was not doing the same thing as you. You were not gossiping. gossip >noun 1 casual conversation or unsubstantiated reports about other people. 2 chiefly derogatory a person who likes talking about other people's private lives. >verb (gossiped, gossiping) engage in gossip.

After your clarification and re-reading your remarks, it is obvious you were stating what you thought might be the motives of the criminals who committed this act, not gossiping about where they might be from.

Now don't get me wrong. There is nothing improper with reporting to the authorities anything one hears about a criminal act. That does not fall under the definition of gossip. Repeating it on a message board does, IMHO.

PS: there is alot of gossiping that goes on on this message board. It is just that most of those doing it do not call others ( others they mistakenly believe are doing it ) offensive and narrow minded. If they were correct in the other person doing it, it would fall into the catagory of "the pot calling the kettle black". :p

Emotions are running raw, its difficult to understand the effect on this tiny community, unless you are physically here. Every business or property owner (Belizean or foreigner)that I have spoken is saddened by this tragic event. Guests at Seaside Cabanas were sone of my best customers. They ate at restaurants, used the water taxi, went on tours, bought food at the stores and from the street vendors and poured money into this community. The property was beautiful and well maintained, one of the larger businesses in the community, a landmark, the owners loved their business, their employees were happy.
I might be restating the obvious, we reported this news in the hope of hearing reassurances from our internet comunity. Things like.... we hope you're o.k.... you are in our thoughts... we are concerned for you and your community. Positive affirmations.

Excellent point silkpainter. There are people who have recently suffered great losses due to fire on both Caye Caulker and Ambergris. And hopefully knowing they are in our hearts and prayers will give them encouragement in dealing with their losses.

I was enticed into commenting on the negative, derogatory and name calling that was being done as opposed to the positive.

I will now keep it positive and pray for those effected and hope that those responsible, no matter where they are from, are apprehended and punished. And I will hope for the good people of Caye Caulker, that it was not the drug dealing crackheads that Pedro ran into on Cay Caulker that started the fire on AC. As I said, it really does not matter whether you are a drunk from San Pedro or a drug dealer from Caye Caulker, the important thing is if you commit a crime you should be caught and punished.

My thoughts are with you and all of your neighbors during such a terrible time. Many of us forget and get shallow at times.

May the culprits be caught.

May you all live in less discomfort and do extend my wishs to anyone that lives on your fine island.

It's a sad and difficult time for all of you

"Envy and jealousy" do not start fires. Some one with a sick mind that needs psychiatric help does. It is in all of our best interests (even competitors of the Seaside Cabanas) that the person or persons who prompted this tragedy be found and punished. Otherwise, our own businesses or maybe even our own private homes may be next. And what if we are inside?

I do not believe arsonists pick a place to start a fire thanks to a grudge of any kind. I believe they pick a place to start a fire because a particular location presents an easy opportunity to start a fire. It so happens that the roofs of all the buildings at the Seaside Cabanas were made of thatch, making it an easy target for the arsonist(s), I believe. The thatch at the Split also caught on fire the very same night. It, too, was an easy target thanks to the thatch, I believe.

Rumor has it (and I will again stress that this is only a rumor, as I have no concrete evidence), is that three people from San Pedro came over in a boat intending to set more fires than just at the Seaside Cabanas. What is ironic is that rumors say they were spotted and deemed suspicious at two of the other locations where they were previous to the Seaside Cabanas fire, which, ironically, also had thatch roofs. At these other two locations, they were spotted and they promptly left those areas.

According to the rumor, the boat belonging to these three supposed San Pedranos was docked at the Split and on their way back out to sea they simply took another dig at another opportune target - the Split thatch.

What is also interesting is that just before the elections on March 5th of this year, another thatch structure on the beach in front of our basketball court also caught on fire in the middle of the night. What is even more interesting is that the very night of this previous fire, there had been many boats from San Pedro that came over for a political rally that very same night. That night, too, it was said that three people from San Pedro lit that particular fire, even though no one was arrested for it. The most common name being called is the name of a family member of a San Pedro politician. How true this is, I do not know, but it is certainly the prevalent rumor on Caye Caulker right now.

Apparently, there was a fire(s) in San Pedro only a few nights previous to the Seaside Cabanas fire. Maybe someone in San Pedro can clarify if this is true or not. If this is so, then it is very important, I believe, for both Caye Caulker and San Pedro to band together to sift out the person(s) responsible. We are not going to accomplish anything by insulting each other.

Working to divide the business community and especially the Caye Caulker community by spouting off divisive words will not help the situation any at all. This is a time when we all need to band together to fix a terrible situation.

The loss of the Seaside Cabanas was not only a loss to the owners, but also to the entire Caye Caulker community. The Seaside Cabanas is one of the top three (I believe) hotels on this island when you consider the number of rooms they offered and the potential number of visitors they could house. With the loss of the Seaside Cabanas goes quite a number of potential visitors that may now otherwise not visit our island because they may have no place else to stay. It is a loss of business for everyone.

Regardless, I personally have expressed my desire to contribute to a reward fund payable to whoever turns the culprit in to the police. It is in everyone's best interest to find him / her. Until then, none of us is safe.

Just my 2 cents worth...

Cheers,
Wendy

Wendy-of course envy jealousy and being dissed cause fires-on CC the drug dealers threatened my dog-is that because I had nothing else on CC-the thuggery you have around that almost police no/go area called the disco-you have to try and get rid of the criminal element which maybe is more noticeable on CC than SP due to % of population.

If you know who caused your fire earlier this year,and the people were from SP -why were they not at least interviewed (you say they are related to a politician,so you know who they are).
The same people came back last week and were spotted and no-one did anything (very strange)-there was a fire and it is only now people from SP are being blamed (maybe it is true)-if people believe this-my advice is press charges both civil and criminal- do not hide behind inuendo -do something by standing up and being counted.

The fire in SP was caused by an electrical fault.I am not defending the criminals of SP (of which we have many) but I believe one should look closer to home esp. as the incident happened on a monday morning.

I,by the way, feel very sorry for the owners and believe and have often said that I believed there was nothing to touch Seaside Cabanas in CC.

1. Pedro, I believe the police have the names of the suspicious persons and are investigating. I do not want to call names at this time in the event the accused is/are not guilty.

2. Who certified that the fire in SP was due to an electrical fault? Or is it merely speculation? Was the building that burned a vacant building, or was it occupied at the time of the fire? Was there thatch in the area that could easily be set on fire?

There are many questions indeed that are still without answers. I still believe none of us are safe until the culprit(s) are found, and that every possible scenario should be questioned until we get concrete answers...

Until then, we are all being held hostage at the mercy of some crazy fools. Somehow I don't particularly find that thought comforting.

Have a great day!

Cheers,
Wendy

The original builder who lives next door figured it out along with the fire dept.
Accordingly it is not difficult to trace the origins of a fire.

Wendy, when I read your post, my conclusion would be: Caye Caulker declares war to San Pedro, or vice versa.

Whe you have such detailed information, make sure they're caught and don't post it, when it's just gossip, don't post it. We can go on endlessly pointing fingers; that doesn't help anyone, especially the victims.

My apologies to everyone if that is the case. I was not trying to accuse but simply trying to stress that we need band together to resolve this issue.

Cheers,
Wendy

The fire at Villa del Sol in San Pedro was on Monday the 25th of August.

The fire in Caye Caulker was Friday the 29th.

ANOTHER fire on Ambergris Caye was on Sunday night 11 pm - 31st of August. This one was in a vacant house and was clearly arson. The house was not destroyed. Neighbors worked hard and extinguished the fire.

All of us have issues with arsonists, regardless of what they burn or where they live.

I would just like to note that the owners of the Seaside Cabanas have posted a reward of $5,000 BZ for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for the fire on their compound.

Cheers,
Wendy
www.auxilloubeachsuites.com

this thread makes me less excited to spend a month on caulker this winter

Shane,
Don't let it deter you. Stuff happens everywhere, and in spite of this, Belize is still Belize. Like nowhere else... A month on Caulker sounds like a great way to spend a winter month.

Kathy