The second ever Floatchella, a fundraiser for the peninsula volunteer fire department, was huge fun and a massive success. The event is, in essence, a floating bar crawl through the crystal-clear Caribbean Sea around picturesque Placencia. It’s basically a perfect day.
This January has been disappointing weather wise. We were all very worried in the week leading up to the big day: Would it rain? Would a cold front move in? Would the sea be choppy? After weeks upon weeks of predictably unpredictable weather, Floatchella day was impeccable! Hot and clear. Flawless blue skies above, flat shining water below… beautiful bodies in between.
This Floatchella was bigger and better than the first with more participants and more rum punch stops along the route. We began at Buba Wuba on Harbor Place North where you could fuel up with breakfast before tying up to start the tow.
We settled in for a leisurely float down the channel that runs along the back side of the village, past homes and vacation rental. It felt like being in a very odd parade. We came in to our second stop, Sailfish Resort, and lined up for our next rum punch. This was a great stop we wanted to linger at because of the ample seating around or in the pool.
But we had to make waves so we poured ourselves back on to our floats and headed to sea for the next stop- Paradise Resort! Paradise is perfect for Floatchella with their sheltered dock and shallow water, super hospitable staff and 2 bars churning out the rum punch for us.
The sun was high but the sea was still flat and we had to get to our next and final stops. Barefoot and Tipsy Tuna were already busy with a Sunday beach day crowd. The kids on the beach were overjoyed to see us come floating in and most of us were under siege before we made landfall.
Tipsy won bragging rights for best rum punch of the day but everyone that participated in Floatchella was a winner. This event raised $4368 bzd for the fire department and will be added to our funds for the 2 new trucks we’re getting on the peninsula. Other projects in the pipeline are the new garage by the airstrip, “dry hydrants” in strategic and at-risk locations in Siene Bight village, and community training for volunteers. The Volunteer Fire Department also assists financially with local operating costs when needed because the National Fire Service can only provide a certain stipend per month and when the resources are used up the guys have to wait for the next check- that puts our communities at risk!
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