Travis Holub, Founder
Travis spent his early years in St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. His
knowledge and comfort with all things tropical attracted him to the western
Caribbean nation of Belize.
Working closely with the land and raised with the
sea gave Travis the special qualities required to forge a handmade island.
Steven Hewitt, Founder
Steve spent the last 35 years stateside in the entertainment business
running networks and producing film and television projects. Thatch Caye is
hands down the most satisfying production of his career.
Nancy Engel, Founder
Nancy has spent the last 35 years in the world of natural cleansing and
health and still maintains a practice in New York City. She was drawn to Belize
by the medicinal rainforests of this natural environment and a sweetness
everyone experiences in the people.
Victor Escobar, Senior Tour Guide
Victor (Chico) Escobar, a native Belizean, was invited to join the team
because of his wonderful disposition and over 15 years experience in the
neighboring islands as a dive master, senior tour guide and licensed boat
captain
Bernadine Cowa, Cook
Bernadine (Bernie) Cowa, another Belizean national is in charge of the
kitchen facilities for both guests and staff. Bernie spent a number of years at
Mama Noots Jungle Retreat located in Mayflower Bocawina National Park.
Balin Hewitt, Guest Services
After spending the last 15 years in all aspects of film & television in
the states he relocated to help develop the atmosphere of fun for all of our
guests at Thatch Caye.
You can mostly find Balin at the bar…..serving of
course!
Tracy Dalgleish, Reservations
Tracy is the friendly voice, who takes care of your reservation. With her Bachelor of Commerce Degree specializing in Tourism Management, Tracy’s passion is travel and the outdoors.
Our Story:
This Belizean Island Adventure began nearly a decade ago when Travis Holub,
Steven Hewitt and Nancy Engel found an untouched 8 acre parcel in the Coco Plum
Range, 9 miles off the undeveloped south central coast of Belize (formerly
British Honduras).
Travis was raised in St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Steve was
raised in the Big Apple. Nancy spent her early years living in different
cultures and countries around the world.
Each of these handshake partners brought a wealth of diversity to the dream
of creating a handmade eco-sensitive retreat.
Travis made the commitment to camp out in the elements on this unsheltered
caye in order to experience first hand the winds, waves, tides and heat of this
western Caribbean island while Steven and Nancy lived and worked stateside
in order to support the daunting task of protecting, preserving, planting, and
eventually constructing the facilities pictured on this site.
This live and learn partnership, through trial and error and a large helping
of stubbornness, kept adjusting their visions and plans based on the insights
Travis developed with his first hand experiences of nature’s unrelenting assaults.
The order of priorities was dictated by the seasonal changes in weather.
Tides were at their peak in September & October, arctic air from Canada
agitated the tropical atmosphere in winter and run-for-cover downpours in summer
became the road map for early development decisions.
The coastline of this fragile island had to be protected from erosion and
most of the caye had to be raised with sand to facilitate construction. Travis
and his crew of dedicated workers began the multi-year manual task of
surrounding the island with sea walls and eliminating all low lying areas by
digging sand from the shallow waters that surround Thatch Caye.
A sand dredge was hired to recover parts of the caye that had been claimed by
years of erosion from battering waves and tropical storms.
The next phase was to plant hundreds of mangrove, palm, pine, and buttonwood
trees in order to create a nature park with a network of roots that would hold
the place together. Nature responded predictably to the newly protected island
and with a large helping of seaweed as fertilizer, Thatch Caye experienced
explosive growth and the decades of erosion were stopped in their tracks.
The next phase of this handmade island project was to design and construct
the infrastructure that would support tourists and visitors.
Water water everywhere but not a drop to drink had to be addressed, so plastic drums and concrete cisterns for collecting rainwater were acquired and constructed to store nearly 70,000 gallons that would carry us through the 3 to 4 month dry season in Belize.
Electricity was needed to power the tools that would construct the various facilities and the decision was made to let nature assist with her abundant solar and wind power.
The cost to harness nature’s power
exclusively was still prohibitive, so gas and diesel generators were added to
supplement the windmills and solar panels. Deep cycle batteries were bought to
store the energy collected. The goal for the near future is to power Thatch Caye
without the use of fossil fuels.
At this point, the island was whole and looked like a nature retreat
with a protected coastline, water collected and stored from clouds, and energy
stored in batteries from sun and wind.
The final development phase was to design the living, dining and sleeping
areas. This task was Steven’s forte, so, with pencil and graph paper in hand, he
began the task of designing the interiors and exteriors of all the
buildings.
Nancy was in charge of choosing the color schemes and décor for
all of the living areas.
These design and construction choices were based on over 6 years of on site
experience. Sleeping accommodations were raised high in the air and built over
water to take advantage of the cooling breezes and wide open water views. All
buildings were oriented to the easterly trade winds and the larger casitas
included roof decks for vistas and privacy.
Thatch Central, which included the kitchen, dining and main gathering areas
was located under the shade of towering palm and pine trees. Local craftsmen
were employed to work with tropical hardwoods and create the unique bars, nooks,
sculptures and carvings that have become one of the hallmarks of Thatch Caye
Resort.
To make a long story longer, even though Travis, Steven and Nancy had now
realized the dream of a protected handmade nature retreat off the coast of
Belize, the final touch was to find the people who could manage the facility and
guarantee a memorable experience for anyone who wished to spend time on Thatch
caye.
Thatch Caye Resort 
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