News from Coco Beach

Just a few notes to let every one know what is happeing in Belize. Kath and I will be going on "vacation" until November 6. We are taking some time off to visit family and friends in the States.

The island is quiet right now. Most resorts and restaurants are closed or working with reduced staff. The restaurant at Belizean Shores is open for take out only. You go to the door on the second floor and order.

A little work is being done at Coco Beach. The concrete workers were laid off and told to return on December 12 to start the office and restaurant building. Maricio's wood workers are building cabinets and installing woodwork in the villas and cassitas. Cassita 3 and 4 are close to being finished.

I have enclosed pictures of Cassita 5 and Villa 6, Villa 10.

Let's all keep in touch. Has anyone heard when the owners meeting is scheduled? Rosalba took and survey and was going to let everyone know.

Let's all pray for a safe hurricane season.

Here are some new pictures of the pool.

New to the Blog

Hi folks! We just want to introduce ourselves....Dan and Veronica from Santa Cruz, Ca....We just got back from a one week visit to Coco Beach. We are the owners of 9C! We had the pleasure of meeting Kath and Cullen, as well as Jaime and Donna on our last day there!!! Thank you Cullen for this Blog! I now feel connected to other people who have "taken the step" and bought property in Beautiful Belize!!!! I can't wait to come back! (Especially when our place is done!)

Shades

Thomas is making the rounds replacing the pulls and hardware for the window shades. Ours were replaced today and they work great. He plans too work his way to all the units in the near future.

Gustav

Gustav passed us by. He never got closer than 500 miles but left us with some very high tides and beach trash. Last night around 8:30 there were large waves that washed up to the steps of the beachfront condos. The beach rakers are busy this morning.

The pool is pretty much finished. The restaurant area still needs some work and the kitchen itself has not been started yet.

Wish us good luck through the next two months of Hurricane season.

Coco Beach Owners Annual Meeting

Several owners have discussed having our annual meeting this coming January. So everyone can make their travel plans, I am suggesting we use January 21, 2009 as the date we request from Doug. Please send me an email and let me know if you can or can't attend on that date. If we need to, we can move the date a few days forward or later if you already airline tickets.

Pool Party

The first Coco Beach pool party was held on July 16. Chicken, lobster and shrimp burittos were served pool side along with Mojitos to wash them down. Everyone had a wonderful time. The pool is beautiful at night with it's fountains and lights. Wish you were all here.

Casita #1 Officially Completed!!!

We received pictures today from Doug showing the items on our "punch list" had been taken care of by Fernando and his crew. It looks fabulous! We're very excited about our next visit in December. Wish it were sooner, but we still have a few more years until we can call Coco Beach our home.
Bye for now,
Pam and Dave

Special shout-out to Kevin

Carl & Juan removed the pump stand from the water in front of Coco Beach today!

Punta Gorda trip

On July 8, Carl & Donna Hanson (A2), Cullen & Kath Walker (B1) and Gloria Ramurez (E5) along with friends Gary and Gail Ubaldi, Rudolfo and Diana joined Tour Guide Mark Cal for a three day trip to Punta Gorda. Mark did a wonderful job of showing us his part of the country. We made a short stop in Belmopan to see the Capital and cruised for miles down the Hummingbird Highway past banana and rice fields.

We stopped and visited the Mayan ruins at Nim Li Punit (Big Hat). It is known for the large number of carved stellas. These stone monuments act as calendars and a written history of the Mayas.

We stayed at Machaca Hill Lodge (formerly El Pescador South). It is a very nice resort in a lush setting on top of a hill. They grow a lot of their own vegetables and fruit. The staff was very friendly and went out of their way to make us feel at home.

The next day we visited the market and had breakfast in Punta Gorda. Then we headed for the mountains and Blue Creek to visit the cave. Unfortunately, the river was flooded from the recent rain and we couldn’t get across.

Mark took us for a short hike to see the river, banana and cacao trees.

We visited Juan Cho and his family and got a tour of his chocolate making. He showed us how they cleaned the cacao pods and roasted the beans. We all had a chance to grind the beans and flavorings into paste on a traditional Mayan grinding rock. Everyone bought chocolate bars for the trip home.

Everywhere we went, we ran into Mark’s relatives and family. A quick hello and a wave and we were off again.
We returned to Belize City on Thursday. Along the way we stopped at Maya Center and the Belize Zoo. Everyone had a wonderful time. Hopefully we will plan another adventure sometime soon.

Pool Views

Latest pool views. The pumps and filters are here and waiting to be installed. The lounge areas are astro turf. Nan Drummer got an early start on sunbathing. The plantings are being done and the pool looks good.

This is the base of the new dock. The RO intake tank is located in the center and will be covered by the dock.

Lobster Fest started today! Lots of parties and fun in town.

Cassitas

Here are a few pictures of the inside of the cassitas.

Insurance

I went back and looked at what I paid last year for the building insurance. Last year was $1,660.00 US. This year the bill is for $2,456.00 US. A 50% increase after the 20% discount they have arranged. A pretty dramatic increase. On the other hand, my contents insurance is actually the same amount as last year. Comments?

The storm

Hi everyone. Glad to be back on line after the storm. We just got internet twenty minutes ago.

The resort is fine. Two places on the beach washed out with pretty big cuts but I'm sure they will be filled in shortly. Monday morning was the worst. It had rained for two days and the ground was saturated. It started lightning around 2:00 AM and was by far the worst storm I have seen here. Winds were reported at 60 Miles per hour. Several dozen boats including the ones at Belizean Shores were filled with water as the batteries that controlled their bilge pumps wore down with the massive amount of falling water. A couple of the guys at Tuff-E-Nuff were out in the storm and cut the boats loose so they could be beached and not swamped. I have heard that we got around 15 inches of rain.

The pool is getting landscaped. The pumps and the lights came in today. Cassita #1 is close to being finished.

Doug has started work on the land side of the dock over the RO intake. I believe that there is a problem with permits. Town Council put a stop to all new docks a month ago and voided all permits. They felt that there were too many docks being built. My understanding is that the resorts up North will be allowed their docks. Most of the problem is in town.

I am not up to date on the insurance questions due to lack of internet. I know that there is a master policy on the building but you need another policy to cover your own contents inside your unit. Our contents policy renews this month. We have $80,000 BZ and it costs $ 1000 BZ for the year. It covers hurricane, storm and fire but not theft. Can't buy theft insurance here without burglar bars and an alarm system.

Insurance

This is what Rosalba sent me regarding the insurance policy.


RENEWAL NOTICE

Name of Insured
Coco Beach Resort
P.O. Box 1
San Pedro Town, Ambergris Caye, Belize

Policy Number :
30997BQU00M1

Period:
June 1st, 2008 thru May 31st, 2009
Premium:
$ 28,869.60


Total Sum Insured
$ 3,138,000.00
Policy Type :
Fire & Associated Perils including Hurricane
Location: Building "E", Coco Beach Resort, North San Pedro Town, Belize
Description
Sum Insured
Four storey concrete building used as condominium (Building E) $ 3,138,000.00
Assignee: None
Risk Covered: Fire (including bushfire) and lightning
Hurricane, windstorm, rainstorm, tornado, earthquake, volcanic
eruption or tidal wave
Riots, strikes and malicious damage
Aircraft
Explosion
Impact
Flood and burst pipes
Terms &
Conditions: Subject to standard policy terms & conditions including:
1) Belize Jurisdiction only
2) Standard Average Clause – If the value at risk is greater
than the sum insured, the insured shall be considered as
being his own insurer for the difference and shall bear a
rateable proportion of the loss accordingly.
3) Excluding consequential loss of any description, depreciation, wear & tear, pollution,
contamination and mould
4) Policy Excess & Deductibles:
Hurricane, storm, flood, tidal wave or earthquake % of total sum insured per location:
Inland
2% all construction type Private & Commercial risks
Coastal
2% all construction type Private risks
3% all construction type Commercial risks
Cayes
7% Wooden construction
Private & Commercial risks
5% Other construction
Private & Commercial risks


All other claims: $200.00 Private $500.00 Commercial
5) Subject to following conditions, if applicable:
a) Hazardous Goods warranty
b) 4" Pallets warranty
c) Fire Fighting Appliance warranty


WE RECOMMEND THAT YOU REVIEW THE ADEQUACY OF THE SUM INSURED IN ORDER TO AVOID THE OCCURRENCE OF UNDER INSURANCE. PLEASE ASK OUR AGENT FOR ADVICE IN THIS REGARD
This notice is to remind you that the above-mentioned Policy becomes renewable on the date shown hereon. In order to renew the insurance kindly return this notice, together with your remittance for the Premium, payable to RF&G Insurance Company Ltd. or call us at one of our offices and we will arrange for our representative to visit you.

Ref: GH
Agent: 011