owning a dive center in Honduras

[Robertcrockett]

Im curious and this question goes out especially to those who have inside insight and experience in the bay islands like RTB etc. If someone wanted to open a dive center in the bay islands, somewhere a little remote like one of the cays etc... and their desire was to operate a top notch center and would be happy making enough money to basically just stay in operation and living expenses. What exactly would be the cons they may find themselves dealing with building and operating in Honduras.

Not hopping a plane to Utila with a real estate guide in my hands...simply curious for the realism behind it all.

 

[RTBDiver]

A dive center is probably the last thing I would ever consider opening or owning in the bay islands. Sure, get a little remote and you may get better land price but will have fewer visitors and pay more to get supplies and while you suggest just making enough to get by and living expenses I think of the saying that i have heard time and time again and that goes something along the lines of , If you want to be a millionaire on Roatan/Bay Islands, That is very easy as long as you started with 2 million.
Many moons ago almost any business, not just the dive industry, could open and if they were just partly reliable and a little lucky they could get by , some of these have grown with the times and become quite the operation yet as things have changed it would be much more difficult. There are so many that come and go in different businesses that never owned or never thought of owning a business "at home" but think they can make it in what is now,a very competitive market which relies so heavilly on the US and other world economy and tourism while also dealing with very expensive and often unreliable utilities, somewhat intricate labor laws and other such things. Who would have thought BIBR on Roatan would have closed this year? I still think also about staying on Guanaja in the mid 90's and there were two dive "resorts" doing pretty well, Bayman Bay club and posado Del Sol i believe was the other and neither could pull through after Hurricane Mitch. Mitch did take its toll on Guanaja and more so with flooding on the mainland but the media coverage it got was horrendous for all the bay islands. Similar to what you personally have witnessed in the past year with other issues.
Sure, some things are inexpensive compared to elswhere and we all have heard how someone could live well on "X" amount of dollars a year and so on and so on, the fact is, other than taxes and some labor, it is actually pretty expensive to live on the islands for extended periods if you choose to live anywhere near what you may be accustomed to.
NOW, If its your dream to do so and you have the capitol to invest then by all means do not let me stand in the way as this is simply my thoughts. Yet, while on the subject of capitol, while we were searching for our retirment home, we heard more than one person suggest that it is best not to invest more in honduras than your willing to lose. Of course no one wants to lose it but if loans and such are needed and its an investment where profit of sorts is needed then be very very careful. A couple here feel i sugar coat things at time because of my investment, the thing they are obviously not able to comprehend is that We bought our home and the land around it because we like it there, not for profit, as we could only profit if we sell and if we had sold three years ago could have easilly double or more our initial outlay of cash.

 

[Robertcrockett]

Had a couple I know talking abit about it. They have a little bit of business sense having owned a few restaurants back here in the states but this is uncharted ground. Their goal in a nutshell was to operate a business that afforded them the opportunity to live and dive in the Bay Islands while doing something they were passionate about for a living. At least they seemed to know right from the get go that the place would be a money pit rather then a cash cow. I just kinda listened and couldn't really add anything except Thanks as usual RTB this may give them a few more things to think about.

 

[ncchuck]

Running a business can be very difficult on Roatan. Just getting basic supplies is often a problem. When I was at Paya Bay we probably had enough divers to make a business successful on some parts of the island but not at that end. I had to drive to French Harbor at least 3 times a week just to get gas for the boat. It was expensive of course but the frequent trips took over 2 hours and was really hard on the truck.
You would almost certainly have to deal on occasion with the outrages import duties that can easily double the cost of some imports. There didn't appear to be any set charges, they just charged whatever they thought they could get away with. Electricity cost are some of the highest in the world.
Gettinq consistant quality food can even be an issue. The groceries may have a good supply one day and then nothing for several days although it has gotten much better lately.
The guy that owned my operation was actually losing money most of the year and only kept the business hoping that end of the island would get more developed. He used up his alotment of American tax deductions (hobby business) and finally gave up after 6 years.
The developed portions of the island are highly competitive with operators that have been around for many years. Starting a new operation would probably be futile.
I wouldn't even think about attempting any venture on the island unless I had a lot of money. Millions as RTB indicated.