A Beach Wheelchair Vacation in Puerto Vallarta

So I just got back from a "vacation" in Puerto Vallarta. Happily I spent a lot of time delivering and picking up wheelchairs. I can't believe how many people need our help. We rented to a nice man named Wayne who tore all of the ligaments in his ankle on the second day of his vacation. He had rigged up a pair of crutches with flip flops attached to the bottom so he could maneuver the sand. Brilliant, but he was much more comfortable in one of the beach wheelchairs. I keep asking people how they found out about Beach Crossers. I've done a lot of tweeting, blogging, youtube, and the like to get noticed by Google. It must be working because they found us by doing a Google search for wheelchair rentals in Bucerias. Our next rental was to a woman who broke her knee cap on the second day of vacation. Anita used the beach wheelchair around the resort and then moved to a villa in El Centro. The DeBug wasn't getting in and out of the shops the way they wanted, so we took them a manual wheelchair. It would be much easier to get into the shops downtown, but they couldn't get down their street!  That was the same problem we had when we tried doing downtown with Mom in her transport chair. Anita quickly moved back to the beach wheelchair and we actually ran into her on the Malecon enjoying all that the downtown area has to offer. We also rented a power chair to Rick at the Mayan marina this week. He suffers from Fribromyalgia which was causing his some problems with his knees. He is a large man of nearly 300 pounds. He found the Rascal to be very comfortable and easy to maneuver. We also had our first Beach Stroller rental while I was in town. A very nice woman, Somia staying at the RIU Vallarta. They had been limited to the resort area because they were traveling with two autistic children. They decided that in order to visit the downtown area (and enjoy it) they would need to contain the children. They rented the beach stroller for easy movement in the downtown area. It worked like a charm. They had a great trip to the Malecon and easily crossed both Los Muertos Beach and the cobblestone streets of El Centro. We've been happy with our new products, the Hippocampe and the Sand Rider. Both meet the needs of specific clients. We have been really surprised that we are renting so many power chairs and scooters. We are planning to expand our inventory of both of those, add manual chairs that have leg extensions for those injured travelers, and are in the process of getting hourly or daily rentals available in Sayulita. Keep an eye on our progress at BeachCrossers.com

Expanded Wheelchair Options for Puerto Vallarta Beaches

Beach wheelchair rentals in Puerto Vallarta and Nuevo Vallarta is turning out to be a lot of fun and very rewarding. We meet the most awesome people and are truly blessed to provide such a wonderful service. We are expanding our product list. These are our current products and who we think they are best suited for.

1. We have several De Bug beach wheelchairs. This chair is super comfortable and moves across the sand easily. I think this is a great chair for the occasional user. What I mean is someone who gets stuck in a cast just before or during their vacation, someone who is having a knee replacement in Mexico but still wants to enjoy the sites, someone who walks around okay, but has trouble on the sand. The chair is easily pushed by anyone regardless of previous chair pushing experience.

2. We have the Hippocampe beach wheelchair. I think this chair is pretty unique and is probably not for everyone. However, the person who wants this chair would not be happy with any of our other products. The Hippocampe is very low to the ground. It makes it perfect for children, or for adults that are able to self-transfer to the beach, kayak, jet ski, etc. It would be difficult to get to the low chair for elderly or others who are used to using their legs to help. The chair has interchangeable tires so you can self propel or relax and let someone else do the pushing. It also has a front tow rope so pulling is another option. It is a slick looking sporty chair. I think the athlete with limited mobility is the perfect person for this chair. It breaks down easily so you can take it with you for jungle or cobble stone. Definitely for the young and/or active.

3. Our newest addition to the beach wheelchair product line is the Sand Rider. It is similar to the Hippocampe in its sporty look. It has the big balloon tires, which you can push yourself on hard sand (although you get sand on your hands) and it is super easy to push across the beach. It is different because it is not so low to the ground. That makes it much easier for people of all ages to get in and out of the chair. It doesn't fit through all standard doorways, but breaks down easily for traveling to other locations.

That's it for the beach. We have a couple of different power chair options

1. We have the Porche of wheelchairs and I mean it was actually designed by Porche. Alber Adventure is a luxury chair beyond compare! This chair is not designed for the beach, but is ideal for traveling around the resort area in style. It is all terrain so it can take the downtown area much better than other power chairs. It is not light weight however so just won't work on the sand. This chair has all the bells and whistles; turn signals, horn, head lights, etc. This is a chair you can feel like you are on vacation while riding around.

2. The Invacare Proto and
3. The Rascal are pretty similar in their benefits and would be a personal preference as to which was preferred. I think the same client would be happy with either chair. Both are comfortable and allow for riders up to 300 lbs. Both maneuver small spaces pretty well. The chair on the Pronto is more padded, but both are equally comfortable. Either of these chairs would be perfect for running around the resort or down to Starbucks at Paradise Plaza.

We've also added walkers to our product line. I had no idea it would be such a popular item. We have the heavy duty version with a seat and brakes. Clients up to 300 lbs are no problem for this model.

Since delivery and pickup are included with all rentals (3 day minimum rental) you can choose the mobility device that is perfect for you. Let's say you decide the Adventure luxury chair is right for you, but one day you want to go from Paradise Village to Bucerias by way of the beach. Don't hesitate to ask about 1 day beach wheelchair rentals. If they are not rented we are happy to accommodate.

Most of the chairs come with accessories as well. Don't forget an umbrella and cup holder to enjoy your day to the fullest.

We got our Hippocampe Beach Wheelchair to Vallarta

It finally arrived. We've been anxious to see this beach wheelchair in person. We've talked to some people who have used the Hippocampe, but nothing is like seeing it for yourself. At Beach Crossers, we want to have products that meet the needs of every person with mobility limitations. We have a friend who lost his legs in Afghanistan. He is very physically fit. I mean in the Olympic athlete kind of way. We had him in mind when we selected this chair. It has wheels that are wide so that they can go on the beach, but it is still self propelled. It has interchangeable balloon tires if you want to be pushed or pulled along instead. It is low to the ground, for easy transfers to the sand, a kayak, or maybe a jet ski. It also floats. That means he could wheel himself right into the water, swim for a while, and then wheel himself out again. Of course there is a rope on the front so someone else could pull him out as well. It is super cool! I hope he comes to Vallarta soon to try it out. It seems like it will be a great option for children as well. Being low to the ground is a plus. It also packs away into a travel bag that will fit easily into the trunk of a car. Do I sound like an info-mercial?We are happy extremely with our DeBug wheelchairs and find them so easy to push across the sand. For most people, that is going to be just the thing. I think people who end up in a cast right before or during their vacation will like that option best because they are so easy to maneuver. However, it is nice to have an option for those that would rather push them self. We've chatted with a few people who spend their lives in a wheelchair and 100% of them said they would rather push for themselves. We will have to get the new beach wheelchair down to the beautiful Vallarta sand and give it a try. Will be tweeting some pictures!

Our first and favorite customers ... so far!

I decided to write a little about our first customers, Jason and Jennifer Lind because they were and continue to be such a blessing to us. You can read their review on Yelp, if you can find us there. You have to actually search for Beach Crossers, because if you search for beach wheelchairs Vallarta nothing comes up. Maybe in time that will improve. Anyway, they thought they had a beach wheelchair lined up for their son (who has never been mobile) months before their trip. It turns out that their travel agent was wrong. When they thought they arranged a chair there weren't even any beach wheelchairs in Vallarta. During that time when they thought they had a reservation, we started up Beach Crossers. So when they found that they didn't have anything arranged they started looking and came across our website. They were so happy to find us and we were so happy to have someone find us. It worked out perfectly. If the agent hadn't been mistaken, they would have found that there were no chairs in Vallarta and probably would not have looked again at a later date. We delivered their wheelchair to RIU Palace in Nuevo Vallarta and met the nicest family. They used the beach wheelchair every day and were kind enough to send us pictures of their vacation so we could see the smiles on all of their faces. We have a few pictures of the family on our website and I think they posted a couple on Yelp as well. Since heading home, they have sent us information about the company that did their airport transfer, written an awesome review, and kept in touch. They have been actively promoting our business in the Midwest! We are so thankful to have met the Lind family. Sometimes starting a business can be a struggle, but Beach Crossers has built in the intrinsic reward of helping people. That is so rewarding that there is no hesitation to keep jumping hoops. Because, as Mahatma Gandhi said, "A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history." We are going to change lives!

Importing Beach Wheelchairs to Vallarta

So, we've been working to get our wheelchair rental business off the ground and I've shared some of the many obstacles and hoops we've jumped or are still jumping through.  Customs was a hoop we hadn't anticipated. So, the name of our company is Beach Crossers. We have a few wheelchairs that belonged to us before starting the business since both Mom and Grandma used wheelchairs. If you've read previous blogs, you know that traveling with Mom in her wheelchair was the inspiration for us to start this big adventure. We want to help people get to the beach in Puerto Vallarta and Nuevo Vallarta. That is why we were shocked to pay 36% in customs fees to bring wheelchairs into Mexico. And here is big news to us. You pay that fee on the tax and shipping for your merchandise as well! So, for example, let's round off some numbers and see how this works. We have a shipment of beach wheelchairs coming from DeBug in Florida. Let's say it's invoiced for about $4000.00 USD. Florida tax rate is ??? let's say about 8% so that is added to the invoice as (I'm not the math teacher in the family, but ...) I get $320 in tax. Then you can add the $1200 for shipping and you get a total of $5,520 that you get to pay duty on. At 36% that comes to $1987.20 added to the cost of getting the wheel chairs into Vallarta. I thought it was strange to pay duty on tax and shipping, but the really weird thing is that there doesn't seem to be a formula to tell you how much you will have to pay. It seems to depend completely on what the custom's officer thinks of the chairs. One custom's agent says, "Oh, wheel chairs don't get charged duty" and another says "those are a luxury item". It turns out that you can be charged from 0-140% duty. Maybe there is a formula somewhere, but we can't figure it out. On the other hand, we've been charged about 36 percent on each of our shipments. Needless to say, that significantly reduces the number of chairs that a start-up company can have for starting up!!!  Not surprising, we jumped from the black to the red without blinking. We'd been told that it would happen, but we hoped it wouldn't happen in such a big way. Of course, we ordered chairs based on how much capital we had and even left a little cushion. But, the chairs are arriving and we are finding ways to cover the additional 36%. Our custom's agent tells us that if we have a "medical permission" that we won't have to pay duty. What is that? No one seems to know. My guess is that it is for the patient, but the custom's form says you don't have to pay duty for a personal device anyway, so maybe that's not it. We continue to push forward through the many obstacles because we believe this is a good thing for the people who live in Vallarta and those that visit. We have already helped a few people and it is a huge blessing. Therefore, we carry on.

Renting Wheelchairs in Vallarta

Starting an international business has a lot of hoops, but the satisfaction that we get from renting the chairs makes it more than worth the hassle. Our first rental was to a nice young man named Zach. I hope to have pictures soon. Zach is 19 years old an non-mobile. He used the beach wheelchair every day during his stay at RIU Palace in Nuevo Vallarta. We were so happy to provide that opportunity for Zach and his family, Jason and Jennifer. They were the perfect first customers.  Today we had a phone call from a man who has a family coming to Puerto Vallarta next week. Two family members are non-mobile. He was hoping that the site he found on the Internet was true and that there really were beach wheelchairs here in Puerto Vallarta. We can't wait to make their visit so much better by providing the beach wheelchairs. Today was the best of all. We were in the lobby of Paradise Village after the member's party and there was a nice family from California in the lobby with their mother in a wheelchair. We so wished we could have gotten our Mom to the beach that we had to offer the chair to these lovely people. The chair wasn't rented this evening anyway. When the daughter commented "I might just cry" I told her I thought I was going to cry first. It is so very satisfying. Beach Crossers may just allow us to live in this paradise, help others, and have a secure retirement. What more could a person ask for?

Rentals in Puerto Vallarta

We've been looking for a long term rental in Puerto Vallarta. There are several good sources of information. Craigslist has a good variety of tourist and local rental options. It's a little confusing because you can't tell if the prices are in dollars or pesos, but after opening each page you get that information. There are several rental companies in PV that have a good variety of rentals. We've found some great options at Vistalegre.com.  They seem to have the most long term rentals in the downtown area. The best source for cost efficiency seems to be the mano y mano online classified ads. They have the most rentals and definitely the most outside of the tourist areas. If you're looking for an authentic experience then that is a great option for information. We haven't rented anything yet. So far we have been comparing neighborhoods and amenities. We're looking for a place where we can store our wheelchair, have 2-3 bedrooms, off street parking, walk-ability, and ideally a pool. It's a long list, but we have found several great options. We're going to wait until we get to PV in a couple of weeks and start looking at the properties we've got on our list. I will add that our friends in vallarta have told us a couple of neighborhoods we are not allowed to look in. Top of the list is Ramblases. They didn't say why, but indicated that they wouldn't let friend or family move into that neighborhood.  That's good enough for me. The difference in price between monthly and annual rentals is huge. Usually as much as 1200 monthly is as low as 500 per month annually. Definitely worth looking at a year's lease. However, be prepared to pay for the entire year up front and in cash. I'll add to this post after we actually rent something.