By Doug and K.T. Ingersoll - April 2005

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islands during our stay. When we arrived, Billy was at the airport to greet us. We then hopped on a plane we had chartered for a tour along the cayes of Belize. We hoped to get a better perspective of our island’s location in relation to the mainland and also take a peek at the other properties we’d be viewing the following days. It was amazing how many little islands there are in Belize. We knew immediately when we reached our island, since it has a very unique shape. Although we didn’t express it immediately, as we got closer we were both somewhat concerned and disappointed. From the air, the island looked like overgrown swampland. When we finished our aerial tour, Billy drove us to
the resort where we were staying. We made plans to meet him the next morning, had some dinner then retired to our room, exhausted from our hectic day of travel. Neither of us slept well that night. Had we made a big mistake?

The next morning we jumped into a small boat with Billy and two boat captains, Kit and Frankie. We would be spending the next three days with them visiting various islands for sale. Our first stop was at Tranquility Caye. To our relief, it wasn’t as swampy as it had appeared from the air. It still needed to be filled in many areas, but had plenty of high and dry ground. Frankie pointed out the species of mangrove that only grows on solid ground. We couldn’t see very much of the island because the vegetation was thick and overgrown. We took some pictures then continued our tour of the nearby islands. We all had a great time. We fished and snorkeled between the islands, just shooting the breeze along the way. It’s amazing how much useful information you can pick up in casual conversation.

Once we had seen all of the available islands, we had some serious doubts about the decision we had made. Although many of the other islands we visited were smaller, they had more building sites. Our island had a lot of potential, but would require significant dredging and filling, which created more questions. What would that cost? Was the island stable enough to build on? Could we find a contractor willing to work on an island? Mainland property sure would be easier!

We left Belize without a clear picture of how to proceed. We could cancel our contract, receive a refund of our deposit and start the whole search all over again. We could buy one of the other smaller properties we had seen. Or, we could even buy an oceanfront parcel on the mainland. Although this trip was exhausting, more mentally than physically, it was also one of the best vacations we had ever experienced.

We had plenty of time on the plane ride home to discuss the pros and cons of each island we had visited. The smaller islands might be easier to build on but were much further from the mainland. The water around Tranquility was shallower than other islands which could limit its access at certain points. We finally agreed that even after taking into consideration all of its challenges, Tranquility still seemed to be the best option. Ultimately, we decided to try and re-negotiate our purchase price with the seller. Hopefully, the extra costs to prepare the island for building would be absorbed by the price reduction.

When we returned home, we shared our thoughts with Billy. With his help, we arrived at what we felt was a fair price. Billy then relayed our concerns to the seller and his agent along with our revised purchase price. The seller didn’t agree to reduce the price to the amount we had hoped. He did, thankfully, make a reasonable counter offer which we accepted. A couple of months later we closed the deal and we now own our very own piece of paradise!
Visit Tranquility Caye

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