Saturday pics

latest pictures including view through the trees from upper balcony of 'roadside' cottage. Also showing front deck of 'seaside' cottage.

Roatan Golf development pictures

Some pictures at this link of The Black Pearl at Pristine Bay (Big Bight, Roatan) - the Pete Dye Championship (http://www.dyedesigns.com)/ golf course currently under construction...



http://www.roatan-realestate.com/listing.php?id=418


The course opening mid 2009 will be located around half an hour from Cocolobo hotel.

Energy article from Honduras This Week

By Bruce Starr

With millions spent to overhaul old equipment inherited by the new RECO owner, and millions more spent on a big capacity generator that the old regime could not afford, power on the island is tremendously improved. Being the person so many people would complain to, there wasn’t a day that I was not besieged by complaining and frustrated people across Roatan. Living on an island no one could depend on for power, I estimate production was down by a third of what it could have been. Being down for six hours or more at a time, if you traveled from one end of the island to the other, by the time you left your area to get away from the blackouts, the area you went to went down soon after. How can business operate when people you depended on for business did not know you were going to be open or not. Tourists arriving from just about anywhere in the world left shaking their heads that they could not possibly live under such circumstances. Not being able to sleep because the lack of air conditioners or fans kept them awake all night was more than they could handle. People leaving the island may have said how nice it was, but there was no way they were going to invest or move to such an area.

Under the new ownership of Kelcy Warren and the new President Richard Warren, and together with Mathew Harper and with the dedication of everyone working jointly at RECO, there has been great improvement in dependability in a very short period of time. RECO generated power is rarely disrupted, and everyone who has lived here on the island for the last year or so is greatly relieved. How has RECO done this? I spoke with Richard Warren, a recent guest on The Roatan Bruce Show.

Roatan Bruce – You have made some great improvements recently. We are no longer experiencing power outages and when we do, they are brief and in limited areas. How are you doing this?
Richard Warren – The reason is, RECO has negotiated contracts to overhaul the existing units. We recently received the new 4.5 MW generator that was originally purchased a few years ago, but RECO at the time was not able to make the final payments. Sometime in December, we will have that big unit connected and we will be generating 11 to 11 ½ MW of RECO power. That will cover about what our load is today. Many thanks go out to Mathew Harper and all the employees of RECO for making this possible.

Roatan Bruce – What is the current peak load these days?
Richard Warren - Our current peak load up to this time has been 10.7 MW. RECO has provided up to 8 MW with our own generation and 6 MW comes from the rental company. With a total of almost 14 MW of generation, right now, we have a cushion to meet the current demand. That is why the power has not been going out like it was in the past. Even if we take off generators from time to time for maintenance, there is still enough power to meet the demand.

Roatan Bruce – You have told me that you think it is possible for RECO to become a “green” electric company in the next few years. How do you plan on accomplishing that?
Richard Warren - Every option has been looked at for future generation needs of the island. One choice that we like a lot would be to lay a sub-sea cable from Roatan over to the mainland and tie into the ENEE grid where we will have access to power generated from Honduras and other Central American companies. We eventually want to connect to hydroelectric plant generation to draw from. Alsom within the cable, we would have fiber-optics that will greatly improve Internet high speed transmission capabilities. We are waiting to see the final cost estimate. We have been told it could be between $35 and $85 million dollars. On the east end of the island, we will install wind generation. There have been several studies done in the past. Right now, Arizona State is completing a wind study very soon. Which ever way we go, we want to include wind generation on the east end. Within a month, RECO will be working with an engineering firm out of Texas to come up with a future design for the distribution system. We will be looking at what we will need for the next year, five years, ten years, twenty years and beyond.

Roatan Bruce – Electrical rates have not been raised in over four years even though the price of imported fuels have skyrocketed. We must be the only place in the world that is not paying higher rates. No one wants to pay higher rates, but raising the rates is inevitable.
Richard Warren – Now that we are operating with a lot more efficiency and reliability, we now must take a look at our costs to do so. The single largest cost that there is today is the fuel. RECO applied for and received the only rate that it has had since 1996. At that time, RECO paid around 15.8 L per gallon of diesel fuel. In 2004, RECO added a fuel adjustment of .88 L per kilowatt hour. At that time, they were paying around 25 L per gallon. RECO is currently spending 29 million L per month just for diesel. Income is around 16 million L. Having those monthly loses, RECO has to address a fuel adjustment increase which RECO has the right to do under the Honduras Energy Commission Rules and Regulations. RECO has hired the former President of the Energy Commission as a consultant. He came to evaluate RECO’s position now as it relates to the 1996 tariff filing and he came up with a formula which we are using today adjust our fuel to modern day prices. Based on the formula that we have sent to the Energy Commission which they have approved, the fuel adjustment should be in the neighborhood of 3.9 to 3.99 L per KW hour. What we have elected to do is to raise the fuel adjustment over two months. The first month the fuel adjustment will be added to the bill will be for August that will be paid in September. In that month, the fuel adjustment will go from .88 L per KW hour to 1.92 L per KW hour. In September, we will go up to the fuel adjustment that is based on the June fuel adjustment level which right now stands at 3.99 K per KW hour. That rate is based on the diesel rate of 68.83 L per gallon. At the time of this announcement in August, the last diesel purchase cost was 78.83 L per gallon. RECO is having to raise the fuel adjustment, not the tariff. The tariff will remain the same as it was in 1996. RECO wants to recoup the price that they pay for fuel. RECO must come into financial balance. This fuel adjustment increase will bring losses each month to zero and not one million dollars as it has been. Each month thereafter, the rate will be adjusted up or down.

Roatan Bruce - RECO has quickly and efficiently made Roatan a dramatically more attractive island to invest and live in. With our electrical problems behind us and with the possibility of becoming a totally “green” island no longer dependent on foreign fuel, Roatan may just become the most attractive place, not only in the Caribbean to live and invest, but in the world!

The Roatan Bruce Show101.1 FM The Wave will soon be the English speaking voice of the Bay Islandsroatanbruce.com

Shingles

The rain appears to be closing in so work concentrating on weather proofing. Roof shingles are complete on lower building and roofing should be totally completed on Monday

Roof boarding

West End Fishing Tournament

This is the 708lb Marlin that was caught at the weekend...an island record and possibly a West Caribbean record too.

Amazing fish....there is talk of the tournament being 'catch and release' next year.

Starting the sidings and stretching senoritas

self-explanatory

Topping out and a top sunset

hello all - a few more pics. One showing cottage frames from the entrance way - and featuring Jose our nightwatchman for those who haven't met him...and another one from across the 'quad'.

Highest building (on right) will be same height as blue house next door.






Oh yes - a reminder of the views looking the other way...

First sight - Cocolobo cottages

Here are a few of pictures of building well underway. It's the seventh day of the build today. The rafters are on the lower building and upper storey should be on the upper building by end of the day.

Cocolobo cookout, yoga and brunch

Saturday night saw the first Cocolobo cookout for paying guests. BBQ and salads on the deck proved a great hit and we hope to make it a weekly occurance. Also Sunday morning we are now hosting a hour's yoga class, run by the lovely Christine, which guests are enthusiastically attending. This past Sunday, Annemarie, a professional caterer, came in and provided a superb healthy brunch for the yogis and anyone else who cared to join. Once again a resounding success. Although we won't do this every week, we plan to host it every 2-3 weeks, depending on numbers.

The builders are on site and foundations are being dug out.