Amanda Walkins

Garden Design on an Island Paradise

Garden Design on an Island Paradise

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It’s another leisurely morning in paradise for Helen Murphy, as she strolls through the garden of her tropical-island home. She repots her plants and reorganizes her purple orchids. She has all the time in the world to spend, as she plants new seeds in her nursery and takes photos of the latest blooms to post online later. She meanders through the garden, savoring the sweet scents floating through the salt-air breeze, and she takes her time watering the hundreds of plants that surround her, stopping to pick the ripe bananas off the tree for breakfast.

Find Your Perfect Island Rental on Roatán

Find Your Perfect Island Rental on Roatán

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A salty sea breeze…tropical birds calling in the treetops…sunlight reflecting brilliantly off the white sand… Another relaxing day in paradise. And this particular paradise offers apartment rentals to suit any budget. On the island of Roatán—in the Caribbean about 30 miles off the coast of Honduras—you can rent from $400 to $2,000 a month. But how do you find the perfect one?

Bringing the Packers to Sandy Bay, Roatán

Bringing the Packers to Sandy Bay, Roatán

Profiles
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You can take Rob Baker and Lisa Blythe out of Wisconsin, but you can’t take away their obsession with the Green Bay Packers. The dynamic duo left their snow-covered home for a beachfront business in paradise, and they’ve brought their favorite pieces of home with them. “Our restaurant was the first official Packer Bar in the whole country!” Lisa proudly exclaims. “Football season is so much more fun on the beach.”

Sailing into Retirement on Caribbean Island

Sailing into Retirement on Caribbean Island

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Ann and Lew Tucker, from outside Albany, New York, now invite everyone into their brand-new home on the Caribbean island of Roatán. From here they can relax on the upstairs patio and watch the boats float by, admiring the sunset over the Caribbean. Meanwhile, the gorgeous scent of orchids wafts up from the garden below. The place they now call home is a Cape Cod-style cottage on the hillside of a popular neighborhood in West Bay. But this is a relatively recent development. For nearly two decades, they’ve been sailing around the world together.

“Margarita Business Plans” Pan Out On Roatán

“Margarita Business Plans” Pan Out On Roatán

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The Honduran island of Roatán has a lot of things going for it: low cost of living, a laidback island lifestyle, sun, sand and, of course, sea. The island has over 95 miles of coastline fronting the rich, warm waters of the Caribbean making it a scuba diving Mecca. This is a fact that expat business partners Gary Carlson and John Hart have been able to take full advantage of with their diving shop, West End Divers.

Relaxing into the Pace of Island Time

Relaxing into the Pace of Island Time

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It took me a while to shake the stress-inducing habits of home. On Roatán, expats and locals alike operate on island time. Island time is a state of mind, something caused by the timeless nature of the ocean all around, and it’s taught me to ask “what’s the rush?” I’ve learned the value of living in the present. Why worry about something that hasn’t yet happened when there are so many wonderful things happening right now?

Creating a Tourism Income on the Tropical Island of Roatán

Creating a Tourism Income on the Tropical Island of Roatán

Entrepreneur profiles
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Imagine owning a business needing zero capital investment and offering an immediate start-up option. Now imagine owning that business on a Caribbean island... spending your days in the sun and your evenings enjoying the ocean breeze with friends. That’s exactly what Sophia Fedio does after leaving her trendy loft and successful career back in Toronto and becoming a tourism concierge in Roatán, the largest of Honduras’s Bay Islands in the Caribbean Sea. In early 2013, she joined forces with Avi D’Souza, who had started the business, West Bay Tours, and was seeking a partner.