My name is Derek Melvin and I came to Mexico for the first time in 1999 on a sailboat and fell in love with the lifestyle and the people. I stayed in Puerto Aventuras for a few months then headed back to Boston where I grew up and worked as a chef. Two years later I moved from Boston to Mexico full time and bought my first condo at the age of 22 in a small town called Puerto Aventuras. At that point I stated a new job as a Merchant Marine which gave me the freedom to live in Mexico 6 months out of the year and 6 months on the ship.

While living in Puerto Aventuras I met my lovely wife of 5 years, Jessica. In 2007 I had the bright idea that I wanted to move back to New England so we did. That was not the smartest thing I ever did and we sold our condo, cars and toys. We moved to Naples, Maine and moved into a house on Brandy pond where we lived for 4 years and loved every minute of it. But we still talked about someday moving back to Puerto. So in July of 2011, I called an old friend of mine that I knew was still in the Riviera Maya to see what he was up to and I come to find out that old friend of mine had the most successful real estate company in Mexico. He offered me a job and without even thinking or talking to my wife about it, I said "I will see you in a few months".

So once again we sold our house, cars and toys, packed up all of our things, including the dog, and moved back down to the Riviera Maya.