The Akumalian

Akumal's Newsletter for its Extended Global Community
Quintana Roo, Mexico

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January 2003 Issue 7

Merry One Month After Christmas.

NEW YEARS EVE PARTY

The Balzac Rock Band blew into Akumal on the Montreal Express and warmed the hearts, souls, and feet of those attending the New Years Eve Baby Boomers Bash at the Akumal Stage. Jean Prevost, founding member and keyboard player, led the twelve musicians and singers through an excellent repertoire of classic rock and rhythm & blues songs that everybody recognized and enjoyed.

The party atmosphere was enhanced by beautiful lanterns that were strung between the trees, illuminating the dancers below. The sound system was outstanding, and a good time was had by all.

The minor "down-side" to the event was the lower than expected attendance.

In looking for a Web site for The Balzac Rock Band, I came upon a Web site http://www.i-akumal.com/akumalian.htm with the December issue of The Akumalian. Who did that?

COCONUT CABARET BENEFIT

The Balzac Rock Band from Montreal, Quebec, Canada agreed to play another concert on Monday, January 6, 2002 as a benefit performance for the Coconut Cabaret 2003, with all proceeds going towards the expenses of putting on the 2^nd Annual Coconut Cabaret in early 2003.

The Montreal Express really made its presence know on this evening, as the temperatures were on the coolish side. This is considered one of the primary factors that kept the crowds away from this benefit event, even though they would have been warmed by the music of The Balzac Rock Band.

ART EXHIBIT COMPLIMENTS ROCK EVENT

The January 6^th performance on the Stage by The Balzac Rock band was complimented by another outstanding cultural event for Akumal, an Art Exhibition in the Galleria, overlooking the Stage. Local artists, Isabel Schober, Jissou Leroy, Pattie (Strain) Page, and Francisco displayed and sold their art work while the musical beat played on.

The paintings remained in the Galleria for all to see and purchase through Sunday, January 19^th. Traffic was somewhat on the light side, but the visitors were very enthusiastic about Akumal's resident artists.

SUPER BOWL BENEFIT FOR COCONUT CABARET

On Sunday, January 26^th, Super Bowl XXXVII will be played in San Diego, where the AFC Champions Oakland Raiders take on the NFC Champions Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Game Time is 3:00PM PST, or 5:00PM AST (Akumal Standard Time).

As usual, the local crowds will gather at the Lol Ha Beach Bar to watch this exciting event and support two local fund raisers. One is the Bake Sale to benefit the school, and the other one is to go towards funding Coconut Cabaret 2003, or in Super Bowl terminology, Coconut Cabaret II. This year's Football Pool - you know the one Diane always wins - supports Coconut Cabaret II, as does the sales of T-shirts and sweat-shirts (these should be a BIG seller if this cold front continues.)

So reserve your seats at the Beach Bar, bet early, often, and big, and buy those Coconut Cabaret T-/Sweat-shirts, because this makes the whole community a super winner.

CENTRO UKANA I A.C. AND THE PARKING ISSUE

This was a very hot topic for a day or two this month, when the CEA General Assembly meeting decided to charge for parking across from the Galleria. The following is a response from Laura Busch, the Chairperson of Centro Ukana I A.C.

"First of all, I want to apologize to everyone for not having had better communications regarding the board decision to impose a parking fee in front of the Gallery. I take full responsibility because I volunteered to get the project underway. Some of you may have received my letter a few days after the fact. I am also sorry if my letter did not have enough specific details about our intentions or the project itself.

"I realized that whatever changes are done must be properly presented, and communicated, and it should be done in writing, both to the community and the businesses on Centro Ukana Property. It is for this reason, that we decided to temporarily suspend the parking control.

"We will call a meeting with all the businesses before we continue with this. It is not our intention to tax those who want to use the services of these businesses. As my letter states, we will be giving two free hours of parking. The way it will work is as follows:

1. You receive a ticket that will be checked with a time clock when you park your car in any of the spots directly in front of the Gallery. There are approximately 20 spots, facing the beach. This does not include the Dive shop, CEA Information Center, or across the street from Super Chomak parking at this time.

2. When you go to any of the businesses on Centro Ukana I property, they will have a stamp, and for each stamp you get, from each business you visit, you will have 2 free hours of parking. If you visit one, you will have 2 hours parking free, and if you visit 3, you will have 6 hours free parking.

3. Those paying for parking will be charged $10 pesos per hour when they pick up their car and return their ticket to be stamped again with the time.

4. All cars and motorcycles that occupy a space for parking will be charged.

5. Only bicycles will be allowed to park inside the common areas, and we are making provisions to have a bike rack available.

6. Golf carts will be encouraged to park inside the Cancha area free of charge. We believe this will entice those that are able, to either rent or purchase a cart for their use.

7. The hours are tentatively set from 7am to 7pm, but are subject to change depending on staffing available.

It is our impression that no one using the services of these businesses will have to pay for parking.

The Board's reasons for imposing a parking fee are: (as stated in my previous letter to the community):

1. To be able to upgrade our image by making improvements on the property and providing security for this area

2. Parking will be charged so that there will be a fund for the added expense, and for maintenance and upkeep.

The income from parking will come from visitors to Akumal who do not go to the businesses of Centro Ukana. They will be offered a choice of parking outside the white archway, or finding a spot inside that is not in front of the Gallery, if they do not wish to pay for parking.

Our intention is to eliminate the double parking and improve the traffic flow in this area, that is already out of hand in high season. Supply trucks will have an area for loading and unloading.

One last point that I would like to make is that there are two separate entities that comprise the Ecological Center. One is called CEA, which has its own funding sources through grants and donations, and receives support from the property of Centro Ukana I A.C. Charles Shaw is the Director of Programs. The other entity, Centro Ukana I, manages the property and receives its income from the rental properties.

I hope that this serves to clear up some of the doubts that were expressed to me. Please feel free to email me at laurakumal@prodigy.net.mx if you have any other questions or comments. "

THE FERRY IS RUNNING, BUT…….

The Yucatan Express opened its inaugural season between Tampa and Puerto Morelos on Friday, November 22^nd, and many local luminaries were aboard - with vehicles - for the first crossing to Mexico. Apparently everything went extremely smoothly, and the ship is first class. There were delays coming through Mexican immigrations and customs, especially for the last car off the ferry. It has been reported that only 57 people/cars made the first crossing.

On January 8, 2003, The Yucatan Express suspended its service into the Port of Morelos, Mexico due to navigational issues affecting that Port. They continue to operate the regular Friday schedule from Tampa to Merida (Progresso), Mexico.

The Port of Morelos provides convenient access to all of Quintana Roo, however the port's "old" channel is too shallow for the Yucatan Express. To accommodate the ship, the port authority had plotted a "new" channel in 2002, and the Yucatan Express provided new buoys on the understanding that the revised channel would be adequate. Following a month of sailing into Morelos, it became apparent that the channel is neither as deep nor as wide as required due to winter seasonal tides, adverse winds and channel swells of up to 1 meter. The ship has already had to divert to another port on one occasion and has needed to amend its published schedule in order to depart at higher tides. This has resulted in inconvenience for passengers and freight customers.

The Porto Morelos Port Authority intends to dredge the channel, and once this has been completed The Yucatan Express will discuss the recommencement of scheduled service to Morelos. Services from Tampa to/from Merida (Progresso) are unaffected and continue to depart from Tampa on Friday at 5 p.m. and from Progresso on Sundays at 6 p.m. local time (7 p.m. ET). See http://www.yucatanexpress.com.

WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER FERRIES?

Good question. The Maya Lines is a Ferry Transportation Company still planning on operating across the Gulf of Mexico, connecting Florida with Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, and their web site www.mayalines.com looks the same as it did 3 months ago. But, now they say they are starting operations in May 2003 between Miami and Calica, with brand new vessels recently delivered from the shipbuilder. Stay tuned.

Yucatan Explorer, Inc., under the banner of Americas Seaways, still proposes the launch of a unique transportation link across the Gulf of Mexico, connecting Tampa, Florida with two of Mexico's most popular destinations. Nothing new on this one.

See www.yucatanexplorer.com/index.html for additional information.

DID YOU KNOW?

Dionysis Exeguus - the 6th century monk whose task it was to pivot the calendar around the birth of Jesus Christ - miscalculated the founding of Rome by about 6 years (and left out the year 0), thus the Third Millennium actually started on 31 December 1995.

The Gregorian year is about 26 seconds longer than the earth's orbital period, and in spite of the leap years added through the centuries, the calendar will still be about 3 hours out. The third millennium began at 21h00 34 seconds (9:00:34 pm) on 31 December 2000. 2003 actually started at 22h00 on 31 December 2002. Here's wishing you and yours a fantastic 2003.

DISTRIBUTION LIST

THE AKUMALIAN has an extensive distribution list that is actually made of three OUTLOOK EXPRESS Groups to allow for better manageability. Some of the current e-mail addresses do not "work" and there may be others who are just "missing." You may be one more than one distribution list and receive multiple copies. Should you see any errors, omissions, or duplications, please bring them to the attention of clouther@prodigy.net.mx

PUERTO XCARET, HOMEPORT FOR CARNIVAL CRUISE LINE

Earlier this month, Playa del Carmen Mayor Gabriel Mendicuti issued the construction and land use permits for the Puerto Xcaret homeport for Carnival Cruise Line, the world's largest cruise ship operator with several brands under its flag. By "Homeport" this means that Xcaret will be the point of departure for Caribbean cruises, versus just being a one day destination, so the passengers need hotel rooms before and after the cruise.

A story in the January 16^th issue of The Miami Herald showed a diagram with four (4) large cruise ships moored there at Xcaret.

This has been a hotly contested issue, and on 1/20/03 the LA Times ran a story under the banner, "An Ugly Fight At A Pretty Site - Developers join environmentalists to oppose a cruise-ship pier on Mexico's Great Maya Reef. A glut of tourists endangers the area."

Once in full operation by 2007, the pier and terminal would be a home port offering departures for cruise ships four times a week and day visits for more than two dozen others. That is expected to bring 800,000 more tourists a year to the already-bustling shores of Quintana Roo state, the eastern flank of the Yucatan Peninsula. They say it's only 30 boats per week, but that's 30 times 1,000 floating hotel rooms competing with the 46,000 Cancun can't even fill now.

"What do we do in 20 years when we have no more coral and no more turtles and no more fish? What will happen is that no one will want to come here anymore and the tourism industry will simply move on elsewhere," says one disgruntled fisherman.

It has been rumored that Puerto Xcaret will eventually become the port of destination for the ferries from Florida. Stay tuned.

THE AKUMALIAN

This is a non-profit endeavor, and in fact, it is a losing proposition. As a result of this, be advised that:

1. THE AKUMALIAN is free as an e-mail Attachment,

2. It shall remain a Microsoft Word document and nothing else.

3. There is almost no possibility that it will ever be hard-copy,

4. There is no definite schedule, and

5. There are no set columns or articles.

DID YOU KNOW?

Is a world population of 6 billion too many? Compare that with animals. There are more than a million animal species. There are 6,000 species of reptiles, 73,000 kinds of spiders, and 3,000 types of lice. For each person there is about 200 million insects. The 4,600 kinds of mammals represent a mere 0.3% of animals and the 9,000 kinds of birds only 0.7%. The most numerous bird specie is the red-billed Quelea of southern Africa - There are an estimated 100 trillion of them.

MISCELLANEOUS

There are no miscellaneous items for this issue, but the editor will entertain suggestions for "regular" columns or ideas or writers for future issues. So far, we are staying away from controversial issues, even though there are a number that could be addressed. The Beach Bar is the place for those.

FYI - the ABC has temporarily suspended all games for the time being, because the leading woman bowler, Ingrid Clouther, has a sprained ankle, suffered during the Winter tournaments in Massachusetts last month.

Till we meet again. . . . . . . . .

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