Project Calypso

Every serious project has a contingency plan to ensure irs successful completion also in case of unavoidable problems and since our Calypso is far too important, we need our own plan B.  Relocating to the Caribbean is not a simple task with a lot of aspects which has to fit together at the right time and sometime one single unexpected issue may be enough to stop the all plan. The geographical and cultural distance from Europe are positive aspects of the Caribbean but they may become problems in case of changes in our families or in the political and or economical status of countries. Similar porblems may prevent or make extremy difficult our relocation outside Europe. As divers we learned to accept the unexpected and therefore we are prepared to continue with the Calypso project witout changing its principles just the place, somwehere closer, an European destination. We looked at the map of Europe to find places which are warm through all the year, with great diving site, effortable re

The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is the southernmost island country of the Caribbean. It consists of 2 main islands, Trinidad and Tobago and several smaller ones. Trinidad is only 11 km north of Venezuela coast. As many Caribbean islands, also Trinidad and Tobago changed hands several times during the colonial period till becoming independent by the British in 1962. One of the peculiarity of the islands is that 35% of the population has indian origins becasue of the labor immigration which was established after the end of slavery to work in the plantations. Nowadays, Trinidad and Tobago has the third GDP pro capita of the American continent after USA and Canada. Unlike most of the Caribbean countries, tourism does not have a significant contribution to the economy which is mainly based on the oil & gas business. Only in the recent years, the local government has started to develop some interest in boosting the tourism industry with is mainly confined to the island of Tobago.

Officially "Commonwealth of ", Dominica is an island country of the Windwards island in the Lesser Antilles archipelago. Independent republic since 1978, the island has a past of French first and British later colony.  Main activity is cultivation and export of bananas, the economy is not well developed resulting in low GDP, one of the lowest in the Caribbean. The island natural environment is well preserved and in the recent years its rain forests, hot springs, waterfall and underwater life started to become attractive and the ecotourism has been growing while the absence of typical tropical beaches has kept traditional tourism low. Unfortunately the island is often hit by hurricanes which in the latest years have been increasing in frequency and force causing massive damages to the island with loss of human lives and destruction of infrastructures and economy. As positive consequence the Government is now determined to make Dominica the first "hurricanes proof" co

Let's start with Antigua and Barbuda, the first Caribbean state of our list. Antigua and Barbuda are part of the Lesser Antilles, in the middle of the Leeward Island and includes other 45 minor islands mostly inhabited with few of the privately owned. Originally an English colony, Antigua and Barbuda gained full Independence in 1981 and nowadays is part of the Commonwealth, retaining Queen Elizabeth as head of state. English is therefore the official language. Population is around 96,000 with 97% of it living in Antigua. The economy is based mainly on tourism which accounts for more than 50% of the GDP. Almost ¾ of the total tourists arrive with cruise ships and the nationalities are mainly American and British. Antigua with the capital St. John’s is the main island, Barbuda is much less developed and even before the hurricane Irma that in 2017 destroyed everything, tourism offers was limited. Reconstruction was started but it remains to be seen how it will progress. There are no d

Making selections is always difficult but unavoidable. We have decided to limit our selection only at independent Caribbean States and Dutch territories. In principle, we excluded French territories because we prefer to not study another language while US and UK territory due to immigration policies which would make difficult to obtain our residence permit. As result, we have to choose between the following: Antigua and Barbuda Aruba The Bahamas Barbados Bonaire Curacao Dominica Dominican Republic Grenada Haiti Jamaica Saba Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Granadines Sint Eustatius Sint Maarten Trinidad and Tobago Starting in alphabetic order, we are going to study all those Caribbean States. We will look at the geography, the climate, the diving peculiarities, the government, the immigration policies, the environment polices, the tourism business characteristics and the real estate market. At the end, we will see how many of this 18 destination have the potentia

The duration of the project will be quite long, for someone maybe too long but it is a massive life change which has to be planned without being in a rush. In addition to this, we also want  our 12 years old daughter to built whatever future she wants and a Caribbean island may not offer what she shall want so we shall wait until she will decide about her life This will also give us time to finance the project by our self since we believe that sustainability means also financial independence. We have now started with the shortlisting of destinations which will take some months. Hopefully, pandemic and economic crisis permitting, next year we will begin to spend our holidays in the shortlisted islands to experience how would be living there and to find their strengths and weaknesses. Those research holidays will take some years but we don't mind. Once the island will be finally chosen, we will need to find a place to live and a place to accommodate tourist guests and this may also t

Before we proceed further in developing the project, maybe we should tell something more about us and how we arrived here. We are in the middle of our forties and our wonderful daughter is just starting her middle school, our present hometown is Rotterdam in the Netherlands. I am Giuseppe, better known as Beppe, an Italian engineer married to Natasja a Dutch Logistic Manager and we both work for the same company in the oil & gas business. Scuba diving is the family passion. I am a PADI Open Water Instructor, Natasja is also a PADI Open Water Instructor and our daughter is a PADI Junior Master Scuba Diver. We dive all year around basically everywhere possible, including cold and low visibility waters because it is being underwater what really matters. In the last 20 years, our working commitment has been very intense and in particular I have been travelling around the globe almost constantly like a real globetrotter. Our job provided us the means to enjoy life by great holidays, top

We all have our own dreams and most of them remain what they are. We need dreams because they provide us hopes, motivation and sometimes comfort. No, this blog is not about a dream.  It is about a project, our project. Because the project resembles one of the most common and obvious dreams, someone may think a dream was how this all began. In reality the project origin is very much more rational. We have reached the middle of our life and have realized that we are ready for a different one. Our life is great but somehow its meaning is ending, we have changed, the world has changed and so our life has to change as well. Changing life for us doesn't mean better life, it simply means a different life. We are not in search of happiness because we already have it and in any case changing life would not make us happier. Actually, the aim is to live a simpler and more sustainable life, with human contact to transfer our passion. We are passionate about the ocean and its underwater world.