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May 25, 1999      Richard wrote, “After six and a half months of healing and rebuilding, we are ON OUR WAY!”     With light easterly breezes and three-foot rollers, they sailed out through the cut in the reef and drank a toast to the memory of Robert Gates-- and to David, Felipe, Marcos, Silva, Tim and all the others in Xcalak who helped put the Ocean Gypsy back together.

Richard Sugerman - Telling His Story .

    I climbed aboard the Ocean Gypsy in Belize City for the final leg to Placencia. Ran Villanueva, a native Belizean, came along too to help navigate the shallow waters inside the reef. Richard perched on his stool at the helm, wiped sweat from his brow with the back of his free hand and commented, “If it ain't hard work, it ain’t much of a dream.” 

    With that we floated through a seamless cocoon of aquamarine sky and water for nine hours. While Linda and I chatted and read in the back of the boat, Ran stood on the prow, scanning the waters, one hand a visor against the sun, the other pointing the way for Richard to weave through the maze of barely submerged coral reef. As the sun dropped behind the Mayan Mountains, we sailed around the tip of the peninsula into the lagoon behind Placencia.

    Ran had every nuance of the labyrinth lagoons written on his genes, so it didn’t matter that the Gypsy’s running lights weren’t working on that moonless night. He quietly directed Richard around vine and mangrove shadows and around inky twists and turns until we glided to a stop at a narrow wooden pier, where we disembarked.

    “Eight Bells. As one watch ends, another begins.”

EPILOGUE

The following excerpts are from letters written by Linda and Richard from their new home in Placencia, Belize.

July 1999  ~from Richard
 ....All the locals are sure our business will make it because NO ONE else offers overnight trips to the reef or cays. 

November 1999  ~from Linda
We’re coming up to the wire on getting the boat ready to make money and we need it bad. We’re down to robbing piggy banks! Except for working on the boat, I haven’t had time to do much but some physical therapy with an 18 month old CP child that I’m seeing a couple of times a week. The parents are superb people...they own a local grocery, so, after five months working gratis, you could say I WILL WORK FOR FOOD! I have! I can’t legally work for money or even volunteer yet because of Belize’s labor laws. Come see us! The following items will get you in the door: Skippy Peanut butter, Caffeine-free Diet Coke, a couple of good videos, and BAGELS! Oh, and Whiskas Bits of Beef Cat Food.
 

February 2000  ~from Richard
The Ocean Gypsy is ready for charters! Due to the slow pace down here in the tropics we’re getting a much later start than we’d hoped. 

March 3, 2000  ~from Richard 
Life in Belize is beautiful and wild, but a little ragged around the edges. Sometimes the electricity is out, sometimes the water, and sometimes the phones. The unpaved roads are murder on everyone’s vehicles and nobody cares about being “on time” for anything. It’s still not clear to me whether Belize with its high cost of living will ever be competitive in tourism with Mexico, 
Guatemala, and Honduras. 

There are seven things one needs to live comfortably here: patience, money (milk: $5 a gallon), bug spray, patience, money, more bug spray, and a good sense of humor. 

For anyone considering quitting their jobs and chasing their dreams, I would say,  "Do lots of research, bring lots of money, try to find a strong, smart local partner for any business ventures and try like hell to avoid any and all natural disasters." 

As far as our two-year experiment goes, I don’t know -- the bottom line is money. We’ve lost 16 months to salvage and rehabilitation.  I think it’s clear that the Ocean Gypsy will be a money -maker, but we can’t wait much longer for that to happen.

March 4, 2000   ~from Linda
It’s taking longer and is more difficult than we thought it would be to get the word out about our charters...One of the problems for under-capitalized expats (like us) in a third world country is that you need an umbilical cord to the U.S. There are constant problems “getting things” from home including money (even your own), living conveniences, knowledge and skill about parts and repairs. It’s like trying to import a piece of home to put up down here  -- sort of like living in an aquarium.   I think we’re part of a new breed of expats who keep ties to the country of origin, and more importantly, to the people we left behind. We go home every few months to see family and to stock up on stuff we miss. In reality, we live in two places.

Richard and I didn’t leave for Belize out of dissatisfaction with the U.S.. We were simply looking for a place where Richard could sail year round and where we could afford to live on what we imagined would be a limited income. We’ve never been rich, so we had no illusions of striking it rich, or even living in an upgraded manner. 

March 5, 2000  ~from Richard
We’re about tapped out financially.  We barely had enough money for this venture when we started, and that assumed we’d be earning money in November of ‘98. It took too long to rebuild and advertising has been too little, too late. Within a month, we’ll know if we can stay. I’m doing everything I can to keep the faith....

March 7, 2000   ~from Linda and Richard
Our first two charters were a success! Nigel, our Rastafarian guide, caught  one fish after another including a 15 lb. red snapper and a big barracuda. Then he cooked them to perfection. The snorkeling was phenomenal and the guests quickly lost track of the hours and the days.We saw manta rays and 50-foot whale sharks!  The whale sharks are beautiful, docile creatures 
longer than our boat! We’re planning  3-5 day charters so that  passengers can swim and snorkel with the whale sharks or just sit on the Ocean Gypsy and watch them drift by.

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