If you could buy a dive vacation home/condo where would it be?

[mjh]

So if you had a little extra money and could buy a vacation home/condo anywhere in the world were would it be?

Parameters:

1. Must be a dive location
2. Tropical, water +65f, perfectly happy at 60fsw watching the reef fish
3. Must be easy and good shore diving with in 1-10miles. Would love to do a lot of kayak diving. Trying to avoid locations that would require power boats to get to dive sites.
4. Would prefer to own rather than a 100yr lease
5. Some sort of small town around for provisions. Not looking for a truly wilderness experience.
6. Keep price around $200k, reality check.

 

[vladimir]

I saw somebody on the ScubaBoard post a house for sale in Bonaire recently in the $200k area. It would certainly meet most of your criteria, although I don't know about #4.

 

[Trixxie]

Can I throw a "what if" in here...??

What if you WON a dream home and could have it built anywhere you wanted (as I could not afford to build one on my own...)

Of the places I have been I would choose one of the Hawaiian Islands (Maui or the Big Island prob)

 

[Doc]

I owned a property right next door to CoCoView on Roatan (Playa Miguel). I like it because it had that other feature that you didn't mention- easy access to a MallWart and Builder's Square. (Just a plane flight to Houston is all it took)

It had everything on your list and it well exceeded your dive parameters. Our place was ocean front property, so in theese last 5 years, to meet your budget, you'd have to settle for second row seating (just behind), but even then- on Roatan you would be hard pressed to pull it off under budget.

If I were to do it a second time, this go-round I would pick Speyside Tobago, but the title to land ownership there is slightly less clear than the surrounding visbility. It has a fresh water supply and a constant supply of electricity. Two real things to place high on the list for future inhabitability.

Tobago is, to me, one of the last remote Caribbean rocks that is governed with a structure similar to the US. Not too many "delightfully wacky" laws supplemented by a "through the looking glass" government. :rtfm:

As one heads Northward from Tobago, through all of the Cruise Ship familiar islands, the land prices escalate to keep pace with the intrusiveness of government. Look hard at the cost of importation fees for lumber, windows and plumbing- all stuff that you will load into a container in Miami and have shipped down. Much cheaper to do your own shopping cart.

Medical care an issue? Very few vacation paradises have any available. In descending order of where I would like to be treated: Cayman, Nassau, ummmm, Houston or Miami?

Lots of considerations, but I think your $200,000 is going to be an impossible bogey. $300k would be a lot more doable, but you better have a cushion of another $150k cash available in the following years. Mortgages do not get issued, not for anything less than double digit :icoeek:vigorish.

Do what we did: buy the land and have the caretaker build a screened gazebo and hammocks. Caribbean camping?

 

[diverrex]

So if you had a little extra money and could buy a vacation home/condo anywhere in the world were would it be?

Parameters:

6. Keep price around $200k, reality check.

#6 is going to be the tough one. It will be interesting to see if the US housing market decline leads to any decline in the Carribean. I doubt it, the wealthy from all over the world have been buying up waterfront and tropical locations, I don't think that will end.

I would look into Bonaire, you won't be on the ocean but something else may be doable and it does have the easiest/best shore diving to save on future diving costs. And I think I'd trust the medical care on neighboring Curacao.

 

[Rick Inman]

2. Tropical, water +65f, perfectly happy at 60fsw watching the reef fish.

That kills it for me.

 

[cmburch]

1. 44-52F.
2. Can be a little rough at times and undivable or dangerous.
3. Homes less than $2M?
4. Best diving in the world within 15 miles.

 

[Doc]

Just saw on H&G TV this nice couple with apparently more money than God ready to move from Minnesota to Roatan. They had contacted a Real Estate Agent (Tiburon Swampus) and were off on a three day buying visit to the sunny Caribbean.

The kids go spending money- HGTV Link

I know it was "just TV" (aka Hollywood), but the entire show had no basis in reality. Either that, or these people were just out of their minds. Three properties were shown, one would have given Mr Buyer absolutely no protection for his boat- they kept mentioning "deep water access" instead of the much more relevant term, "protected harborage".

They wanted to spend $1m and they were shown three (at least during the show) that ran from 400k to 3m. Just to give you the idea, the plunked down on the last place, settling on it for for $2.7m or so. Oky doky, then.

They got what they said they wanted. If anyone knows Roatan, this is about as far East (away from anything) as you can get before you run into total swampland- they are near Port Royal. Constant mentions of how expensive it is to import furniture- no mention of the beautiful Honduran pieces that are quite reasonable. So they fawned over furnished (as is) homes. The one they bought had standard US covered couches. Can you say rot?

They were shown one home that had a natural wood interior, elegantly done, countertops of finely finished and sealed concrete- the place blended with the environment. She said no- as that wood looked to be a lot of maintenance. They went for the plasterboard & tile type. Wait till they find out about the stuff the eats plasterboard from the backside.

I think there was a refernce to 'wanting a home just like they were leaving in Minnesota'. A lot of people try to do this. A long term very bad idea. Houses look like they do in the tropics for a reason- not because they didn't know what Anderson Windows or Formica Countertops are.

About the only nod to reality the show allowed was the reference to not being able to drive a few blocks to the grocery- when you go out you have to plan your days and schedule your trips. That would be putting it mildly when you live in Port Royal. It was basically Robinson Cruse for Thurston and Lovey.

With that kind of dough they would have been better off buying the right piece of land and harborage, then building whatever they wanted. Maybe they just didn't want the headache of building?

Man, I should'a stayed in Brain Doctoring School with Jethro.

 

[DiveMaven]

Doc, I saw the same show as you and was stunned at what that couple passed up. I have to admit that when I watch that show and see folks looking for vacation homes and "needing" huge kitches, bathrooms, and closets (just like home), it blows my mind. Heck, I'd be wanting big living spaces (indoor and outdoor), and small bedrooms, kitchens, and bathrooms. Who the heck wants to spend their vacation time cooking and cleaning?!

If I had $200K cash to spend on a vacation home, I'd buy a condo on Bonaire.

 

[deborahdelamar]

Flying building supplies to the Caribbean is way too expensive. Driving 'em down would be OK unless the ocean's in the way. Buying locally is best. We chose Cozumel for great boat diving (#3 is out) as well as the availability of a broad range of products & services, its community & cultural events, good access to the States by land, sea & air, and opportunities to travel around Mexico & other countries to the south. A place has to offer much more than just diving...See ya'll down there!