it's all fun and games...

on my time off, i head out of the kitchen, and onto the sand. Snorkeling, SCUBA, swimming, walking the beach, these relaxing beach activities have been great. Volleyball's fun, too, but a bit too strenuous (and sweaty in the midday sun) for my current lifestyle to make it a daily habit. My island world has been missing something, something along the lines of lawn games.


project: coconut bocce! 


After some rough planning, I sought out Marlon, ones of the groundskeepers. He's worked with boats before, and I had an idea. He'd never heard of bocce ball or seen a photo, but after explaining the game, was right on board with me. A few details slipped through the cracks during the creation process, for example, I had to demonstrate (by chucking the ball) that without proper weighting, the balls would be useless. 


The dried coconut shell is cut in half (to remove any extra meat), filled with sand and sealed with a thick layer of boat resin. Marlon's final prototype was great- the finishing touch was to add the painted details to create the different teams. Throw them in a sugar sack and head to the beach! The coconuts are not all the same size, but Marlon had the foresight to pair similar sized balls for the same team. He even found a plastic ball washed up on the beach and sealed it to use as the jack! The one concern was: would the balls crack if they hit each other during an intense game?

inaugural game of bocce on playa iguana

the answer: nope! The jack got a good crack in it during a heated round, but the set is holding up really well! Also present: plenty of opportunities for (in)appropriate coconut jokes. Grab a Toña and meet me at the beach! 


coming soon: other uses for coconut (like, say, cooking with it)