Worldwide Travel

Item Description

Unique opportunity to spend 7 days and 6 nights relaxing aboard a luxurious houseboat from Forever Resorts! Unequaled for relaxation and environmental quality, there’s not a better way to enjoy these beautiful desert destinations than from the comforts of a Forever Houseboat.

You and up to 9 of your guests will depart from your choice of Nevada destinations: Cottonwood Cove Resort & Marina on Lake Mohave, or Callville Bay Resort & Marina on Lake Mead. As captain aboard your own luxury houseboat, you'll cruise in style and comfort. Sleeping up to 10 comfortably in 4 queen beds plus a queen sofa sleeper, each houseboat is furnished with all the luxuries of home including baths, central A/C, gas grill, and fully equipped kitchen. Cool off with a refreshing plunge into the lake, relax atop the 500 sq.ft. sundeck with wet bar, and spend your nights stargazing, fishing or grilling the catch of the day.

The custom houseboats, manufactured to safety standards certified by the National Marine Manufacture Association, are built with your comfort and the environment in mind. The houseboats are manufactured with extreme care and pride by Fun Country Marine Industries (Muncie, Indiana), a Forever Resort, the first houseboat manufacture to achieve ISO 14001:2004 certification for their EMS in the nation. The floating "green" houseboats are specifically designed for maximum safety and minimal environmental impact, guaranteeing durability, form, and function - a home on the water that exceeds industry standards.

Forever Houseboats, made with recyclable non-pollution and maintenance-free aluminum hulls, are powered by Evinrude “Ultra Low” emission outboard engines and generators that use biodegradable animal safe antifreeze. The houseboat fleet is equipped with compact fluorescent lighting, carpeting made from recycled plastic bottles, counter tops and rub rails made with recycled materials, energy efficient electric refrigerators, and low-flow shower heads and water faucets. Plus many houseboats in the fleet are equipped with solar electrical inverter panels, as well as larger holding tanks so that gray water is not discharged into lakes or waterways.

Check out Forever Resorts website at  www.foreverresorts.com

Item Special Note

Based on space availability, Holidays excluded. Customer is responsible for: all applicable taxes, fuel, optional damage waiver, insurance, and personal transportation to/from marina, food, beverages and miscellaneous sundry items not included in this donation. Trip valid from 9/8/09 - 6/30/2010. A refundable confirmation/damage deposit of the first day rental is required to confirm reservation.

Foever Resorts Green Practices

Forever Resorts demonstrates ecologically sustainable tourism with a focus for experiencing natural areas and encourage environmental education, conservation and the general appreciation for the outdoors.

Since 2003, Callville Bay Marina and Cottonwood Cove Marina, both Forever Resort properties, have implemented a formal Environmental Management System called Forever Earth which was certified to ISO 14001:2004. Cottonwood Cove Resort & Marina, a Forever Resort on Lake Mohave, Nevada is building the first LEED-certified building on the water (scheduled for completion in 2009).

Ongoing property recycling is implemented in all public areas including resort rooms, houseboat rentals and offices. Green purchasing is utilized throughout the property for operations, housekeeping, maintenance, restaurant and retail areas of the resort. In the property gift stores they offer environmentally responsible products including apparel, gifts and consumer products made with recycled content. Employee environmental training is an ongoing program to educate the staff.

Forever Resorts and its partners organize a community outreach through the Forever Earth program, a floating environmental sience and learning center aboard the Forever Houseboat, educating students of all ages about the ecology of Lake Mead, water conservation, and the value of our public lands. It is available to agencies, organizations, researchers, educators, and groups, and serves four principal purposes: 1) Environmental Education; 2) Scientific Studies/Research; 3) Water Quality Monitoring and 4) Command Post. By understanding the importance of our water resources in the desert, students formulate personal stewardship actions they share with other students and Southern Nevada residents.

All Forever Resorts locations are EPA Energy Star Partners. Forever Resorts is one of one hundred charter partners in Take Pride in America, a national partnership that recruits, supports and recognizes volunteers who work to improve the special legacy all Americans share - our public lands and waters. Through environmental clean up programs and Forever Earth Day events, held at Forever Resorts locations throughout the US, the partnership reinforces Forever Earth's environmental programs.

Partnering with the National Park Service, Outside Las Vegas, Nevada & Arizona Game & Fish, the Nevada Scuba Retail Association and a number of vendors and businesses, certified divers and land support volunteers gather annually on three separate occasions to participate in Forever Earth Ecology Dives & Lake Shore Clean Ups. Since 1997, through the efforts of the annual Forever Earth events in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area at Forever Resorts locations, a total of 127,574 pounds of trash have been removed from the water and shoreline of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area by 3,281 volunteers and divers working 26,248 hours.

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If you need assistance with the purchase of this package or any other items on TIES eco-holiday auction: please contact ecoDestinations@ecotourism.org or +1 202-506-5033 x14.

If you are the successful bidder, you will receive an email from TIES with the certificate confirming your purchase within 24 hours of the auction close. All TIES eco-holiday auction items are valid for one year (excluding the blackout dates noted in the item description) unless otherwise stated. The winner will receive contact details of the trip provider(s) to make travel arrangements.

All proceeds raised from your purchase of this trip will go directly to The International Ecotourism Society to support their numerous projects in support of responsible travel worldwide.