Basil Jones Central Information

INFORMATION SECTION

Basil Jones

Area Information

An area ripe for development!

The road is being built, electricity is there, a water plant is being built, and the international airport is coming!

All in a spectacular World Heritage Reserve!

Looking at Robles from north Basil Jones

Today Basil Jones, North Ambergris Caye, ranges over about a two mile area, starting approximately thirteen miles north of San Pedro. The area consists of a seaward beach ridge, facing the barrier reef and leeward mangrove swamp with a broad intervening plateau of palm thicket. One unique aspect of the geography is midway up Basil Jones, the land and barrier reef begin to come together, at Narrow Point. Continuing from there the reef is very close to land and actually in many places the water is so shallow one can walk out to the reef by staying in the shallow areas. Eventually the beach the reef actually come together, at Rocky Point, but they come very close together - fifty or so feet in Robles, too. Parts of the Basil Jones area are covered with a rich black soil thought to have been cultivated by the Maya. For many years very little changed, the old coconut plantations or cocals, had been left abandoned and unattended while coconut trees grew over much of the area. Where coconuts didn't grow, the jungle and mangrove took back over. The few people, who lived along the isolated beaches, carved a life for themselves. But there were no roads, water, or electricity. But in back 1997 and 1998 things started happening, Nova Shrimp bought a large parcel of land and built their shrimp hatchery, This was located at the southern end of Basil Jones. There they had good access by barge and boat from town as well as through the Basil Jones Cut, an opening in the reef.
The future home of San Pedro International Airport, can be seen here as the Basil Jones Airstrip back in 2001.		There also was access from an old airstrip built in the 1950s by Gulf Oil. Nova Shrimp eventually cleared the road to the airstrip and the 1,800 foot airstrip, which they maintained up until about 2005. In 2007 or 2008, Nova Shrimp went out of business, and everything was sold off. The property is now owned by speculators. The airstrip quickly became completely overgrown, however in 2017, the Government of Belize endorsed a plan to make an International Airport in its place. With that, the area quickly became slated for growth! Read a recent (March 2019) article in the San Pedro Sun, here. For an article about its resolution December 2017, click here

To accommodate the anticipated growth, Belize committed the resources for the infrastructure. In 2016, the Ambergris Caye Water System and Sewage Collection and Treatment Project, was approved and construction began in San Pedro in 2018. A huge undertaking, the project is progressing is happening rapidly in the south, and from the articles appears ready to begin in the north.

To read of its original approval in the San Pedro Sun, click here. To see updates from May 2019, click here and here.

But if the facility in the north is still being approved, are the buildings in the photo, part of the new water system? On the site, four large buildings have been completed and are apparently serving as worker's dormitories, supervisor's rooms, and other facilities. They are nice looking, two story concrete structures, with tile roofs.

The new water plant under construction? March 2019. Notice the nice dormitories for staff.

One of the Margaritaville units.

Moving north, some five hundred feet from a concrete public pier, adjacent to the airstrip, is the former Sueno del Mar, a timeshare resort that started construction around 2004. They opened and successfully sold numerous people one month minimum blocks of time in their resort. Some people even bought full year blocks and intended living there year round. The company went millions of dollars in debt to a Belize bank, and when they couldn't make their payments, the bank forclosed on the property.

Unfortunately, even though Belize has laws protecting timeshare owners, due to Sueno's convoluted sales contracts, drawn specifically to avoid transfer taxes, everyone who bought into the resort lost all their claim to it and their fractional ownership. Sueno sat empty for several years, until it was bought by associates of the Bowen and Bowen Company, (bottlers for Coke, Fanta, Belican, and bottled water). Those associates have now entered into a contract with Margaritaville Enterprises, who they say, will be opening a new Margaritaville there, in the winter of 2020. Based on their world wide success with over eighty properties, it seems they will succeed here, too. Read more about it, here.

Margaritaville rebuilding the palapa, March 2019.

Basil Jones Resort dock and huts, August, 2001.

The original Basil Jones Resort in 2001. Now called Tranquility Bay.

Then, about a half mile north of the future Margaritaville Resort is a the resort, Tranquility Bay . The property, consisting of some twelve acres in Basil Jones, was resort, was briefly called Cabana Reef, and before that, Basil Jones Resort and Club. Begun around 2000, as a timeshare which sold pre construction via the internet, including eBay. However, but it went bankrupt. Since its original construction, it has changed a lot and eventually it was purchased. Until recently, it was owned by a group of some 22 different people, consisting mostly of Americans, who operate it remotely. But just this year the Eiley family, owners of the Caribbean Queen Barge, became the new owners. It is presently undergoing remodeling and they are not taking reservations.

North of Tranquility Bay is what's left of the defunct Basil Jones Beach Resort. The Basil Jones Beach was a resort that sold lots in the planned subdivision. The subdivision consisted of 125 lots each 22.5 x 30 meters large. Now it has fallen into decay. It's interesting, back in 2001, their website, was offering 35 of the 125 plots for a price of $16000 - $24000 US. They said, at the time, that a 900 square foot cabana cost between $30,000 US and $40,000 depending upon construction and configuration.

Just north of Basil Jones Beach is another defunct project once offered by Triton Properties' North Basil Jones Beach subdivision, sound confusing? The Triton property was a ten acre parcel of undeveloped beach front property with a proposed subdivision consisting of about 33 single family home sites. Triton was offering the parcel for sale as an entire unit at this time.

The Basil Jones Beach Resort back in 2001. Now defunct and in ruins.

Boating past Tranquility Bay. The reef is much closer.

Basil Jones officially ends a little over one half mile north of Tranquility Bay and the Robles are begins. In that half mile, there are four house/homes, two of which are occupied more or less year round. One of those homes is the beautiful Casa Esperanza that was completed in 2008. It is currently on the market and can be seen on the Basil Jones Central, For Sale page, here.

As you continue north In Robles, there is one home, occupied part time. Afterwards the Rocky Point area begins. Past Rocky Point, at the north end tip of the island is Boca Bacalar Chico, which ends at a cut (opening) in the island. North of that, is the town of Xcalak, in Mexico. In the Bacalar Chico area, there is a bar there and the old Palm Bay Club, where there were a couple of cabanas built some time ago.

But in conclusion, Basil Jones and the Robles area are growing and quickly! Electricity which is provided by Belize Electricity Limited, now runs all the way to Tranquility Bay. Water is currently obtained by reverse osmosis, cistern, and shallow wells, but with the massive water plant under construction, that will soon change. On top of that, since it will save them money bringing guests and staff by bus or car instead of boat, both Margaritaville and Tranquility will quickly complete their smaller sections of the road. That means road access all the way from San Pedro! So with Belize and San Pedro's reputation as a premier vacation destination, Basil Jones will be growing quickly!

From Robles looking south towards Basil Jones.

Just past Basil Jones, into Robles, looking north.

These days, bicycles, motorcycles, golf carts, and boats bring locals, tourists and fishermen to Basil Jones. Tourists enjoy renting a golf cart and coming up as well as San Pedranos. They come to fish, barbecue and swim, or just enjoy the beaches. The combination road and beach access is fairly easy to drive, yet it is far enough away to feel like it's an adventure. Perhaps that will change when Basil Jones the town is here?