Creation of a Handmade Resort - by Steve Hewitt

Everyone dreams of developing their own Eco- Island surrounded by turquoise waters, powered by sunshine and trade winds, eating fish from your backyard and drinking coconut milk from a palm tree.

Easy to dream, daunting to realize but, we did it!

This was our dream and the seven years it took to make it livable is our story.

Two stubborn guys with big dreams and can-do attitudes go looking for a Caye off the coast of Belize. Travis Holub is raised in the Virgin Islands and Steven Hewitt in the Big Apple.

An 8 acre sand spit is located 9 miles off the coast and on the inside of the 2nd largest barrier reef in the world. Cocoplum Caye was a swampy, ravaged and eroded island from Natures constant assaults.

The Herculean task of raising the island, securing the coastline, planting a new root network, creating water and power sources and eventually constructing dwellings that would withstand future assaults was our Big (or some might say foolish) Idea.

There were none of the common tools and experts available to secure beaches and coastlines. No barges. No pile drivers. No dredges. No engineers. No dwellings. No drinking water and No food sources on a sandbar. There were iguanas, tree boas, sand crabs, sting rays, and sand flies.

Travis set up camp on the island in March of 2000. Steve visited frequently but, kept working in show business to support the dreams.

Today, 25,000 Botan trees, harvested to clear farmland by the Mennonites in central Belize, have been installed to protect the fragile coastline . Hundreds of tropical pines, palms, buttonwoods, and mangrove trees have been planted. Thousands of wheelbarrow loads of seaweed and sand from the sea has raised the island and eliminated all swamp. Concrete cisterns collect and store over 70,000 gallons of water. 200 boatloads of rocks have been transported in open skiffs to the island to create breakwaters. Thousands of bags of sawdust were transported the 9 miles to be used for ground cover and mulch in order to eliminate sand flies.

Today, we have a complete photographic record of our labor of love off the coast of Belize that we’ve named Thatch Caye Resort.

Tropical Storms in Belize

In the aftermath of Tropic Storm Arthur, the 2008 Hurricane Season's first storm, I am happy to report that Thatch Caye Resort was not affected by the storm except for some high winds and waves. Unfortunately, Dangriga had trees toppled over, broken cable wires, displaced roofs and a number of homes swept away. Clean up efforts are underway in Dangriga.

I receive a lot of questions about the weather and hurricane season and how it will affect our guests stay at Thatch Caye Resort. Typically, during the rainy season we will get daily showers, however usually not enough to disrupt any of our excursions. The showers are usually quite short, and often a nice relief from the heat.

During my stay at Thatch Caye I watched a storm roll in across the ocean. It was really fascinating to watch as a sheer wall of water headed towards us. I went inside and watched the storm pass. Within 20 minutes, I was back out enjoying a book in a hammock.

The rainy season in Belize runs from about April 1st until mid-December. Thatch Caye is closed from September 15th to December 1st as a safety precaution against the time of year when tropical storms are at their maximum force.

A bonus of being located on the cayes is that the majority of the storms go over top of us towards the mainland and the mountains, which tend to attract the more heavy rainfalls.