CEA Annual Save our Seas Gala

Akumal Direct is very proud to have been a sponsor of the third annual, CEA, Save our Seas Festival. Please read below for more information on the gala event. Akumal's Ecological Center has proven to be a valuable resource to our community providing leadership as we work to be the best community we can be and set ever high standards for our selves and other communities around the world. For more information on the CEA, please visit, www.ceakumal.org.

Please read below for more information on the Gala Event (reprinted courtesy of the Centro Ecologico de Akumal website). We hope to see you there next year!

http://ceakumal.org/third_annual_cea_festival__sum.html

Third Annual CEA Festival – Save Our Seas
February 20 & 21, 2008

All of us at CEA would like to take the opportunity to thank each and every person who helped so generously with their time and support to make this 2008 festival such a special event. We hope everyone enjoyed themselves and thank you all for participating. CEA’s success depends on its ability to raise funds for its conservation activities, and the annual festivals are an important source of funding. This year we were able to raise just over $10,000 USD from our Silent Auction, Gala Dinner and Online Auction. These funds will be used to focus on implementing our Akumal Bay Management Program, on employing a strategy to improve water quality in the Akumal region, and on beginning this year’s turtle nesting season with everything in place to make sure as many hatchlings as possible safely make their way to the sea, among other goals for 2008. We started the festival with a beach clean-up, puppet show, sand sculptures and a performance by Veinte Varos. In the evening, a wine and cheese hour began with the Silent Auction opening and a reef slide show. We then moved onto the beach in front of CEA for a Mayan blessing to honor our planet and our place within Nature. A fire dance prepared us for the lunar eclipse—a wonderful way to begin a celebration of the sea. The Silent Auction continued into the second day of the festival and ended at Happy Hour at Lol-Ha Snack Bar, just before the Gala Dinner and show. The performance troupe Veinte Varos (sponsored by Hotel Akumal Caribe and Akumal Beach Resort) helped us shift from Happy Hour to the CEA Center, where tables for 120 people were set up. The Gala Dinner was sponsored by Diane Mahan and Akumal Villas, and catered by Turtle Bay Café & Bakery, who not only provided a marvelous menu but transformed the Center into a truly wondrous place, magical and the perfect setting for the evening’s events. The wine, beer and margaritas were sponsored by Akumal Direct Reservations. Karen Mercer opened the Gala Dinner with her acoustic guitar and folk and bluegrass songs; her charming personality set the stage for the evening’s entertainment, including a Live Auction. Several donations were auctioned off, helping us to reach our $10,000 goal. Then Karin ten Cate presented a repertoire of songs, from opera to Mexican favorites like Bésame Mucho. Her angelic voice made the evening absolutely surreal. Gerardo Dominguez was our Master of Ceremonies and auctioneer, and thoroughly entertained us, keeping the evening moving in a wonderfully humorous way. George Parker did a magnificent job working with Gerardo to run the slide presentation and sound. CEA volunteers and supporters worked tirelessly throughout the two days to ensure that everyone had a great time and that things ran smoothly. Our Auctions were a huge success, thanks to both enthusiastic donors and bidders. Mark your calendars for next year’s Fourth Annual CEA Festival, February 18 and 19, 2009. We thank the many local businesses who sponsored the events: Diane Mahan and Akumal Villas, Hotel Akumal Caribe, Akumal Beach Resort, Akumal Direct Reservations, Turtle Bay Café & Bakery, Au Cacao Chocolate Café, La Cueva del Pescador, and South Carolina Aquarium. Thanks to entertainment: Gerardo Dominguez, Master of Ceremonies; Veinte Varos; Karin ten Cate; Karen Mercer; Julio and Nicol, fire dancers; and Aniseto Of course, we thank everyone who donated items for the Silent and Online Auctions. We could not have had such success without the following volunteers who made this year’s event possible: Lydia Pontius, Festival Director Myrna Sparks, Auction Chair Sharon Goby and Jody Allen, Decoration Committee June Sloan, Treasurer Mike Cook and Bob Anders, Bar Committee Ed Blume, Online Auction Organizer Alexandra Bradley, Editor Volunteers: Cathy Cook, Alan Cunningham, Marcy and Memo Essy, Mary Beth Jones, Janie Linke, Joy Lippincott, Shami McCormick, George Parker, Charlene Powell, Paula Preston, Mike Sheperd, Natalie Novak, Connie Smith, Alex van Kuilenburg, and Judy Withington. CEA Volunteers: Rowan Abel, Natalie Biafori, Jeroen Biemans, David Breeze, Claudia Cheng, Alice Cheucle, Ewan Doswell, Becky Harris, Bob Klotz, Misael Lanche, Gregory Gueble, Lisa Kunegs, Jim Petersen, Argel Rodrigues Arana, Scarlett Rogers, and Hein van Riet. See you next year!