Carter Famiy Christmas Letter for 2006

December 21, 2006

Dear Friends and Family,

Another year is coming to a close and we just can not believe how time has flown. Cindy and I had a big year of change and everything is working out for the best and we are very happy. The letter this year is broken in segments to help retell our story.

The Big Move

The year began with change in the air as we made the decision to sell our home in Florida, leave our good jobs and great friends in Florida for a new adventure in Roatan Honduras. The move was based on our desire to live our dream of residing and working in a Caribbean paradise.

After making our decision we made a few trips to visit friends and family before our big move. The best part of announcing our move to everyone was the warm wishes and going away parties. Thank you to everyone as great times were had by all at send offs at the Sagebrush in North Carolina, Dinos Pizza in Jamestown TN, Jet Setter Lounge in Lake Worth and Rustic Inn in Dania Beach just to name a few.

Thanks to the help of our friend and realtor Shawna Lochner we were fortunate and sold our home in Florida in a reasonable amount of time and on April 12th with our home sold, possessions packed onto a container ship Cindy, Jazz and I boarded a flight for Honduras.

Believe it or not everything arrived in perfect shape. Not one item got broken on the Journey and most importantly Jazz adjusted quickly and completely to being an ISLAND dog.

The New Jobs

Once we hit the ground in Roatan Cindy made contact with the Galindo family owners of Anthony’s Key Resort and she presented a proposal to them to run their new Fins and Flippers Cruise Ship Attraction. They came to an agreement and over the next months Cindy helped in the prep work and the attraction opened for business in October. She loves to tell everyone about her new job and how she takes a boat to work everyday and is the general manager of the island that has a private beach, huge pool, restaurant, bar, gift shop, snorkel pier and has a dolphin encounter where guests can swim with the Dolphins (yes Cindy gets to go Dolphin Swimming for Free!).

I got to work and got quickly initiated into the 3rd world. My first order of business was setting up our new office with phones, internet, signage etc. Within a month we were up and operational. We started generating business pretty quickly and really hit our stride in June when my partner Gene DeMarco arrived to live and work full time in Roatan. Currently we have 21 rental properties we manage and some marketing relationships with a few others. Our goal was to have 20 by the end of the year so we were real happy to meet our goal and the company is running pretty well. We are planning for a profitable and rewarding 2007.

If getting our new careers going was not enough we also acquired with our development partner Steve Muslin and Gene DeMarco a 4.5 acre parcel and half built house. We closed on this in June and have since finished off the house, brought water and electric to the property and subdivided the property into ¼ acre lots with beautiful ocean views. We brought this project to market in November and now everything is up for resale. Wish us luck and or send us leads if you know anyone that wants to own a piece of paradise.

We have dabbled in a few other things including selling some SCUBA and Snorkel equipment. I kept a few of my old ties alive and Gene and I represent Princeton Tec Lights, Bare Wetsuits, Innovative Scuba Concepts, Oceanic, Aeris, Armor Bags and 500 PSI. We have made a few sales but the retail market for things here is pretty slow. We will keep plugging away on it. I also partnered in setting up a Spanish Language School where tourists and expats can learn Spanish. Check out www.roatanlanguageschool.com .

Some fun in the Sun

Part of our life in Honduras is we have to leave the country every ninety days till our official residency is finalized. This is a law tailor made for Cindy and Myself and our passion for travel. We took full advantage with trips to Guatemala, Belize and back to the states.

Of course living in Roatan has some advantages too. We have gotten in some great diving, snorkeling, birding, sailing and just going to the beach with our new dogs. Yea we got two more dogs a brother and sister that we got when they were puppies. Butch and Betty are ¼ Doberman and ¾ Rottweiler and a lot of fun.

While we still miss our old friends we are happy to report we are making new friends here in Roatan. We have had some dinner parties, times out and are enjoying the social aspect of island life. In fact it’s a lot like the small town life Cindy and I grew up in. You wave a lot to friends on the road and see folks in the banks etc.

Don’t believe it come on down

I know it sounds like a great place to live and it really is. We were happy to see so many friends come down since we moved and we are really looking forward to more visits from those people and the rest of our friends and family real soon. It is easy to get here with INTL direct flights weekly from Miami, Atlanta, Houston, Newark NJ, San Salvador and Milan Italy. Prices vary but my parents just got round trip from North Carolina for $585 which is pretty good.

Once your down on the island there is all kind of things to do and lodging (including good deals on vacation home rentals hint hint).

Merry Christmas, Good luck and Best Wishes to everyone in 2007 Mike and Cindy Carter