morning ritual

A morning ritual at Paya Bay is the cleaning of Bliss Beach. These photos capture Francisco, Gerson, and Josue in action this morning.

Bliss Beach in all its glory!

Paya Bay Resort, Roatan, Bay Islands of Honduras.

resurfacing the trails

After what has been a record-breaking rainy season this winter, many of our trails have been subject to significant erosion. Cesar, Gerson and Josue have been adding a layer of pulverized blue limestone rock to smoothen the trails and make them more enjoyable to walk on.

Paya Bay Resort, Roatan, Bay Islands of Honduras.

repairing buccaneer: the final push

I'm very happy to inform that the repair of Buccaneer Landing is once again in full swing. As many of you know, this awesome section of the resort's grounds was severely damaged by the "polar vortex" storm phenomenon this past winter.  The repair project had to be put on hold several times as team members were needed to assist with other major maintenance projects we had on the agenda for 2014 (re-roofing key buildings, for example). Completing the Landing's repair will be the full focus of Paya's Grounds Team during the present month of September. Cesar, Arnold, and Josue restarted the project yesterday and they have already made good progress. It's hot, arduous work. As can be appreciated in the photos, it's all manual labor. That said, I suspect Buccaneer will be even better than before when these hard-working guys are finished with it!

Paya Bay Resort, Roatan, Bay Islands of Honduras.

los mineros

In preparation for the the big push to complete the Bliss Beach Bar and Eco Lounge by November of this year, Paya Bay's Grounds Team is now 'harvesting' stone for the project. Our amazing property is blessed with a virtually inexhaustible supply of beautiful slate-like stone that 'slices' very easily, smoothly, and evenly. Awesomely, the indigenous stone has a gorgeous light, blue-gray hue to it (along with a dash of sparkly gay minerals). The guys just dig up the rock chunks (their highest point is usually no more than six inches below the surface), position them appropriately, and split them multiple times using an anvil and chisel right at the dig spot. I sense that when these rocks are dug up, awoken from their perennial sleep, and vigorously split open exposing their mesmerizing inner beauty to sunlight for the first time in ever, there is a sweet, delicious release of energy that immediately begins to occur. Imagine having so much potential beauty inside and not being able to express it for thousands (perhaps millions) of years!

We are going to need a lot of this beautiful stone. The floors of the entire beach bar and lounge facility will be treated with its rustic beauty. Note that after the stone is extracted, we fill in the voids in the ground with new soil and replant any vegetation that was affected. Using locally available building materials has a very green upside: no fossil fuels will be used to move these heavy stone slices to the adjacent construction site. I'm aware of development projects on Roatan that import stone from Italy. Imagine the carbon footprint of that approach.