Life's a Beach | Expat Life in Playa del Carmen : Boating

SEAduced in Belize!!

Rob Kinnon — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 22:34:00 GMT

Patting ourselves on the back for being such good little doobies and getting a proper night's rest, we all met up for a day of sun and fun on the SEAduced Catamaran. The crew, Sylvan, Leon and Jody, took great care of us and we had an amazing day.Eighteen of us made the trip, each bringing something yummy to eat and drink, making for a fine feast. We sailed north along the shoreline and anchored off of Mexico Rocks near some huge coral heads. Birdie and I braved the odd currents (no doubt some part of Gustav) for some snorkeling and saw our first nurse shark.

Jody chillin'.

Beautiful Belize shoreline and the pier at Wet Willy's.

Tacogirl strikes a pose. See her great photos here.

Cindy with Taco Paul, Rob and Kiwi Paul.

Geronimoooooo!!!

Jody lends a hand up and becomes Cole's new best friend.

Silly Cindy with Jillian and Sharon. (I tried to warn them about the dreaded "seaweed rash" but they would have none of it.)

Birdie and Daddy check out the reef.

Taco with cocktail.

Birdie keeps watch for pirates!

Pirates indeed! Dick, Carol and Ziggy request permission to board!

Belize Babes!!

Birthday Babe!

Zippy and Carol catch some rays.

Giggly girls, Sharon and Marie.

Rudy and Forrest. Check out Forrest's photos here.

Daddy and Cole cuddling.

The obligatory 'arty" photo.

Cole with new pal Jody.

Rob, telling tall tales, I'm sure.

Jim is amused.

Marie is not buying any of it!

Dick and Carol, just back from Canada.

Designated driver.

Poor Paul caught nothing but grief for his efforts.

Cole and Birdie share chocolate eggs with Jody.

The beautiful birthday girl!!

Tanned and tipsy, we poured ourselves off the boat and on to the next event: a birthday party for Don, the owner of Crazy Canucks. Boy, does this island know how to party!! There were water baloons, party games, fire dancing and even a pinata! All this, on what had to be the hottest, stillest, stickiest night in San Pedro's history.

Taco Paul and Cindy hamming it up.

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Jesse (San Pedro Daily) and Laurie (Tacogirl) feeling the heat.

Tina (Invest in Belize) gettin' down!! Check out Tina's great pics of the evening here.

Forrest cutting the rug.

Tacogirl documenting the debauchery.

Don swings for the fences!

Cindy jumps in to man the video.

Jesse (San Pedro Daily) and Dennis Wolfe, momentarily without the Ususal Suspects.

Lara and Paul treated us to some fire-dancing. (Lara, please accept my apologies for my "darling" husband. He's got a thing for women with flames!)

To noone's surprise, Cindy and I left our "better halves" to make their own way home. Plans for breakfast at Estel's the next day were confirmed and we both went home to hit the sack. Cindy (a far more patient and understanding woman than me) baby-sat the boys when they turned up at her house at "o-dark-thirty" and finally sent mine safely home in a cab. Tomorrow would be rougher on some of us than others.

More to come........

Belize Birthday Bash!!

Rob Kinnon — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:32:00 GMT

I absolutely love surprises. I like being surprised and even better, I like surprising friends. About a month ago, when our dear friend Cindy popped off an email to me and casually invited us to the island to share her birthday with her, I politely declined. Secretly, the wheels were in motion to make a family trip to Ambergris Caye and turn up unannounced to help celebrate her special day! As you can imagine, keeping a secret on an island as small as Ambergris within a close group of ex-pats is no small feat. I coordinated our travel plans through friends Laurie and Paul (Tacogirl) and made no mention to anyone else, even to friends in Playa as word travels fast down the Costa Maya. Our mission was well accomplished and we spent a few fun filled days with Cindy and Paul, the Tacos and all the usual suspects.

No trip to San Pedro would be complete without a visit to Estel's. Charlie was in good form as usual, serving up the best breakfast on the beach anywhere! Our diets were already a bust for the week after too many Belikins at Wet Willy's the previous evening.

As my children now refer to it, this is our "good morning picture".

Nothing sooths a hangover like fried eggs, crispy bacon and grits smothered in butter. Hmmmmmm.... grits.

The view is not too bad either.

Leaving Rob and the kids to their own defenses, (island residents beware) I made a prearranged visit to the Holy Cross Anglican School with Laurie and Mary. We dropped off some donations and toured the San Mateo neighborhood and the school facilities, watching as teachers, administrators and volunteers readied themselves and the classrooms for the first day of classes.

I am not going to elaborate at this time on the particular needs of this community and the Holy Cross School. Suffice it to say, I was overwhelmed by the scope of the problems they face and the monumental task set before them. I have a blog entry in the works dedicated specifically to this neighborhood and the school that I will be posting soon in anticipation of Blog Action Day.

What is perhaps most amazing, is the remarkable dichotamy between the inside of the school and its rather bleak surroundings. Just inside the doors is a cheerful, clean and secure place filled with tools for learning and enthusiastic teachers and volunteers all ready and willing to give 110% to the children of this distressed area.

Miss Linda signing up a new student in the colorful school offices.

The school has a clean, well-stocked dental clinic onsite for the care of the students, their families and members of the San Mateo community.

The brand new computer lab with 40 brand new Dell desktops generously donated by by numerous angels and the members of the Parish of St. Matthew’s in Pacific Palisades, California.

Clean, well organized classrooms with plenty of books and lessons to live by for us all.

With one of the only feeding programs on the island, Holy Cross School provides a healthy breakfast and lunch to each of its 500 students. These are likely the only meals they receive. There is so much need, so many living with so little. This school is a bright light, the one beacon of hope for the children of San Mateo.

After our morning across "the cut", I rejoined my family for lunch and a trip to the used bookstore, Barefoot Books. Word travels fast on this tiny island and almost immediately, British ex-pat and fellow blogger, Colette, recognized me and the children from previous entries on Tacogirl. Naturally, she knew of our plans to surprise Cindy and was eager to hear the details. Good thing we had kept our trip a secret!!

The Kinnon girls: A self-portrait.

A healthy lunch at The Hungry Monkey Sub Shop.

Colette!!

Dinner was a delicious affair at the Tacos' amazing new pad. Cindy and her Paul joined in the fun and we all enjoyed Laurie's mouth-watering quesadillas, juicy slices of watermelon and too many Belikins (again). We all tucked in early, excited for the next day: a catamaran cruise for the birthday girl, Miss Cindy, and all of her lunatic friends!! Stay tuned.......

Project Panga - Update #2

Rob Kinnon — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 16:56:00 GMT

The week or so of bad weather really put a crimp in Yimer's work schedule. His workshop is way too small to pull the boat into (I'm not sure the trailer is quite up to it anyway) so he is restricted to working only on dry days. The long and tedious process of sanding, filling and sanding again is not a lot of fun and he has had a bad time finding willing helpers. We stopped in to check on things and I was surprised that he had been able to do as much as we saw, given the weather.

We have decided to move the console back a bit from where you see it here, behind that first "rib". The floor of the boat is going to need some reinforcement in places to support the weight of the console and captain. We had originally planned on using fiber-glassed plywood but Yimer has settled on using sheets of fiberglass cut from a supply of bathtubs currently residing in his workshop. Don't ask.

After some debate, we have decided to try to "finish" the interior of the boat as best we can. At one point, to save pesos, we were just going to sand it down, gel coat it and not worry too much about how pretty it looks. After repeated sandings, it appears that we will need to put a bit more into it to have it look decent. So be it.

Rob's trip to Cancun to buy rod holders and other fittings for the boat left him reeling from sticker shock. The marine shop in Cancun wanted several HUNDRED dollars for each rod holder. We can buy these in the States very reasonably and we plan to do so. We may have a look in the fishing store in the Belize/Mexico free-zone next week as well. Everything up here is ridiculouly over-priced!!

***Note to self - Open a marine store, motor repair and parts exchange in Playa.

Project Panga - The Beginning

Project Panga - Update #1

Rob Kinnon — Tue, 27 May 2008 11:30:00 GMT

Just a quick photo update from Project Panga.

The boys have just about sanded and grinded the boat down to her bones.

The console and seats are being measured and constructed and the first stage of filling and smoothing the exterior of the hull has begun. I chose a pretty caribbean blue for the hull and the rail and interior surfaces will be white. She should look quite sharp when the gell-coating is done.

Rob is in Cancun today buying the rod holders and any other fittings he can find. This is actually moving along much faster than we anticipated. What happened to "Mexico Time"?

Previous Entry - Project Panga - The Beginning

Project Panga - The Beginning

Rob Kinnon — Sat, 17 May 2008 03:42:00 GMT

As some of you may know, Rob and I purchased a 28' fishing panga a few months ago. Because we have been up to our eyeballs with clients, we haven't had much time to dedicate to the "new" boat or to give it the attention it needs. Until about 2 weeks ago, the poor vessel had been sitting in dry dock in Paamul, unused and unserviced. Just recently, a friend of ours, a local boat captain, lamented that his current employment situation was unsatisfactory and that he was in the market for a new job and a new boat to command. Immediately, we recognized an opportunity to not only get our boat back in "ship shape" with a professional captain to take charge of the re-fit but also a way to carefully test the waters in the very competitive world of charter fishing on the Riviera Maya. A lot of work lies ahead of us and we are going into this new business with our eyes open and a willingess to learn and adapt as necessary.

This is the first post a series of journal entries documenting the process and our experiences, good and bad, along the way.

Friend and "yacht" broker, Bart, with La Reina del Caribe as we purchased her.

We may want some more seating options.

....and a bit more power on the back.

Last week, under the supervision of Captain Genaro, our boat was moved to a workshop in the colosio to be reconfigured, re-fiberglassed and gel-coated. Yimer and his assitant went at it for hours and hours with grinders removing layers of old paint and smoothing the surfaces as best they can.

The body work is well underway and we are now in possession of a nearly new 175hp Yamaha. Perhaps a bit too much "umph" for this little panga but Genaro seemed pleased. Better too much than too little, I suppose. Now it's up to us to choose our paint colors and select a new name for her.

To be continued........