Today’s guest blog post came about after we found an article about The Best Foreign Retirement Havens and retiring in Belize. We asked one of our residents and our favorite Belize Real Estate people at the Pelican Team to share his interesting journey about moving to Belize and eventually buying a condo at Grand Caribe.
I first came to Belize in 1979. I was 19. People always ask me “What brought you to Belize?” and I always tell them “A Hercules C130 Cargo plane.” I was in the British Army and the second I stepped off the aircraft and felt the hot tropical sun I was in love with the place.
Two months into my first tour of duty here I met my wife to be on the little island of Ambergris Caye in a tiny fishing village called San Pedro. Now she has been my wife for 32 years of wedded bliss, at least I think so, although I’m not sure if that’s her take on it.
I was still in the army when we got married and so my new wife who had never before left the tropics had to join me when I went back to England in 1980. November 1980 to be exact. It was her first taste of a British winter. Needless to say she must have loved me very much because she was NOT impressed with the weather.
Eight years later I left the army and we came back to Belize…and we’ve been here on Ambergris Caye ever since. December 11th 1988 to be precise. You don’t forget a date like that!
Since then I’ve run a bar (not as much fun as some would think), had dive shops (fun, stressful, satisfying, not much money in return for accelerated hair loss), opened up Internet cafes (Yes, I’m an Internet pioneer who stayed poor) and finally in 2000 I went into real estate, opening up Pelican Properties Ltd. It was good, I did OK!
In 2006 I started following the fortunes of a newly proposed development called “Grand Caribe.” I liked it! I knew the developers really well and knew that their reputation was stellar within the business community of Belize. Even though by Belize standards Grand Caribe was an ambitious project and even though I’ve seen quite a few failed or never to be finished developments here on the island I knew this one was going to be great. And so, my little real estate firm of Pelican Properties became firmly involved in selling luxury condominiums at Grand Caribe Belize.
Remember that Remington electric shaver ad.? The one where the guy says “I liked my Remington so much I bought the company?” Well, we bought our own unit at Grand Caribe…I’d been selling units there for 5 years and I’d decided I liked it enough to buy one. Of course the real reason is that I’d wanted one since Day 1 but could only now afford it. It was February 17th 2011. You never forget a date like that….
So, here I am, living the dream at Grand Caribe and lucky and privileged to be able to showcase some of the great units which are currently for sale at Grand Caribe and its sister development Caribe Azul.
One day I hope you’ll visit and perhaps even become a part of our Grand Caribe family of very contented owners. Welcome to Grand Caribe!
