I’m sitting here watching the sun go down on my beach. On my own beach, in the Yucatan Peninsula! Wow, how did that happen?!? It took almost a quarter century to realize the dream, but this is no dream and that is one incredible sunset I’m soaking up. Obviously, telling the tale of the last twenty-plus years could take some time, but I’ll cut the song and dance and keep it down to a page or so. So here goes:

When I was 14, I went to St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands for an international swimming competition. At 14, I had no idea what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I’d hardly begun to consider College. That changed considerably as my feet touched Caribbean sand. The palms swaying in the soft breezes, the blue waves lapping at the white sand, the millions of stars shining in the clear night’s skies… they all seemed to be calling my name.

The question was, “how could I return on a permanent basis?” I spent the summer between high school and college living a block off the beach in Ocean City, Maryland. I learned a lot about living in a vacation beach community. Every year thereafter, I made it a point to get to a Caribbean island, eternally in pursuit of the one I could relocate to permanently.

By the age of 35, I had been to plenty of islands, but I had actually begun to lose hope. There was something I loved about each island, but I could not see myself living on any of them. Some of the times it was the atmosphere – The attitude of the locals toward foreigners. But more often it was the cost, the costs of the land, or building, or living, or taxes. It was always beyond my reach.

Then I had a stroke of luck. I toured Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula with Trans Caribbean Trust Company. Within 6 months I had liquidated in the States and returned to live and work on the Costa Maya. No doubt, our clients who invested there will always think of it as the place to be. I know I certainly loved living there. There were very few things I missed while living there. One of the things I did miss was watching the sunset on the water, as I had done on so many other beaches. And that is why I wound up here on Mexico’s Sunset Beach.

Here I can watch the sunset any and every night. And I love it, especially those nights when the sky is a veritable melange of colors…bright orange, blood red, deep purple. (DaVinci couldn’t have done it better.)

Some beaches have little in the way of sea shells, others are literally strewn with them. I’m prettysure this beach has more shells than any I have ever seen. There is a band of shells about a meter wide just above the tide line that stretches from one horizon to the other. Walking the shell line is fascinating for everyone – kids, parents, and grandparents alike.

I’m not sure if I like the sunset or walking the shell line better. I guess life should be so tough… to have to make such hard decisions! You should come see, and decide which you prefer, while you wiggle your toes in the sand. It’s easy enough. You only need to set aside three days. Fly into the Cancun International Airport on the first day. We can meet you there. On the second day we will take you to Merida on our corporate plane, drive to the properties, see the beach and pick out your lot. And, on the third day we can have you back on your plane going home. We will take care of all the legal aspects and details of the closing for you. Some of our clients return for the actual closing: But most (especially repeat customers) close in absentia through the mail. I’ll explain those details to you in person.

As I mentioned before, five years ago Costa Maya was the place to be, now it’s here on Sunset Beach. It’s like being on the Costa Maya 5 years ago, Playa del Carmen 15 years ago, or Cancun 35 years ago. Except here, you get to see the sunset, and there’s a shipload of shells. If I have conveyed the reality of the dream to you with these words, then I will see you soon!

Life is only so long… Make the most of it!!

Ted Myers

The Coconut Palm is one of the very few palm species that makes up its own genus, although years of cultivation in tropical climates have given us somewhere around 80 named varieties. Coconut Palms are believed to have originated in south-east Asia. Probably the best known palm in the world, the coconut is a symbol of all things tropical. Mature Coconut Palms can reach heights of up to 100 feet, with a trunk that is characteristically slim, often leaning, solitary, and ringed with scars from previous growth. Its fruit is oval, generally large, and in early stages of ripening is yellow or green. The coconuts themselves turn dry and brown upon ripening fully.

The Royal Palm is easily identified by its towering, very light gray trunk and bright glossy crown shaft. Mature trees will grow up to 80 feet and their leaves, (known as ‘fronds’) can grow up to 15 feet in length. Curiously, for such a massive tree, the fruit of the Royal Palm is quite small, only ½ inch in diameter and the bloom originates below the crown shaft. Known as an ‘even’ grower, these trees are often used to line avenues and streets throughout the towns and cities of the Caribbean.

A very pretty, slender-stemmed palm with glossy, dark green, circular fronds that have drooping leaf tips. Young Chit Palms are a few feet tall and are found throughout the forests of the Caribbean. Chit Palms are also known as the ‘Thatch Palm’ because of the width of their fronds and the fact that they make a great material for the construction of thatch roofs for huts and lean-tos.

The Queen Palm has glossy green fronds that are lush and showy, and it is widely used in the decorating of the roadways throughout the towns of the Caribbean. Capable of heights up to 60 feet, these trees can be extremely graceful with their light-weight fronds dancing in the breeze. Queen Palms have solitary gray trunks, which are ringed with old leaf bases. The Queen Palm’s flower stalk originates from among the leaf base, and bears a small yellow fruit that blossoms a number of times throughout the year.

Andrew Synyshyn

How Sunsets Work

When the sun is high in the sky it generally appears white because all the wavelengths of visible light reach an observer’s eyes with almost equal intensity. As the sun begins to sink toward the horizon, the light from the sun enters the atmosphere at a much lower angle and consequently must travel through much more of the atmosphere before being seen by an observer. This increase in the amount of atmosphere means that there are more air molecules scattering the shorter wavelengths of light (violet and blue), and only the longer wavelengths (yellow, orange and red) are able to penetrate through the atmosphere.

Types of Sunsets

The size and concentration of atmospheric particles in the path of incoming sunlight determine the type of sunset observed. When sunlight encounters very few particles in the atmosphere, most wavelengths of light reach the observer’s eyes with almost equal intensity.The reduced scattering produces the white or yellow sunsets commonly observed in the Rocky Mountains, where the atmosphere typically contains fewer dust and assorted particles.

As incoming sunlightpasses through a more dense atmosphere, shorter wavelengths of light (violet and blue) are efficiently scattered away by particles suspended in the atmosphere. This allows predominantly yellow and red wavelengths of light to reach the observer’s eyes, producing a yellowish-red sunset. 

Spectacular Sunsets on the Yucatan Penninsula

When incoming sunlight encounters a heavy concentration of particles in the atmosphere, the shorter wavelengths of light (violet and blue) are scattered away, resulting in a red sunset. Red sunsets are often observed from a beach because of the high concentration of salt particles suspended in the air over the oceans. These particles effectively scatter shorter wavelengths of light, producing red sunsets. Dust and ash particles injected into the atmosphere by volcanic eruptions can also cause red sunsets.

Twilight – Because of the refraction of sunlight by the atmosphere itself, the sun will appear to be higher in the sky than it actually is. The combination of refraction and scattering of sunlight by atmospheric particles is responsible for producing twilight, the brightness in the sky we observe even though the sun is below the horizon.

NEWS FLASH – You now have the exclusive ability to watch spectacular sunsets every night from the comfort of your own beach home on Mexico’s beautiful Yucatan Peninsula. For more information, contact your Trans Caribbean Trust sales associate and ask about our newest beach front development, SUNSET BEACH!

Andrew Synyshyn