The Perfect Personal Floatation Device for My SUP and Kayaking

M16 Stand UP Paddleboard Personal Floatation Device — Loving my new, low profile, personal floatation device.

As a daily Stand Up Paddle Boarder, I just wanted to say I love my new, light, low profile, M16 inflatable belt pack PFD. It provides 25.6 lbs of buoyancy. It’s USCG approved. And on hot days when I paddle board, I no longer have to suffer while I am drenched in sweat. I guess that’s a sign I am a fairly good paddle board enthusiast, since 99.9% of my time is spent above water. Well, except when my 90 pound dog decides to jump off and take me with him.

I love to Stand Up Paddleboard around the lake where I live when I’m at my California home. On hot days like today, when the temperature gets above 90, it’s way too hot to wear a regular bulky life jacket like I’ve always done while water skiing on our boat. I am not the best water skier so unlike SUP, I do spend a great deal of the time, cooled off in the water, with that sport.

If you’re a competent swimmer and not engaging in water sports that involve routine water impact like water skiing, then a low-profile fanny pack style PFD might be the perfect solution for kayaking or SUP.

It’s very comfortable as long I make sure the Velcro is completely covered on the back where my skin touches the flap.

I have been using my new Onyx M-16 manual inflatable belt pack for a few weeks now and love it.

It’s surprisingly lightweight and has a convenient D ring where I keep my whistle (that’s a law; did you know that?) and my key to my car or home. The waist strap is adjustable and the low profile design doesn’t impede my paddling.

I have not had to rearm it yet but I have included a short video to demonstrate how easy it is, should you have to:

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Testimonials

Rose’s Story

I first made Carmel’s acquaintance from taking one of her amazing online courses in 2004 on how to become a travel writer and travel for free/comped.

I immediately put her easy-to-follow instruction into practice and began comping vacations to South Padre Island, Houston, San Antonio, and many other travel destinations for me and my family. I even learned from Carmel how to start my own column where I have comped travel and dining for over 14 years now, thanks to her teaching and coaching.

Eventually, Carmel and I met in person when she came to Texas on a comped travel writing trip with two of her daughters, and we became fast friends which led to me managing her book signings in South Texas and I was thrilled to facilitate her coming to teach a seminar for the Writers League of Texas where she taught dozens of us how to comp travel all over the world. She is a wonderful mother, writer, and coach. I am honored to be her student and friend.

Tanya’s Story

With her homeschool coaching and knowledge of the biomedical options available for autism, as well as experience training life-saving service dogs for dozens of families who recommended her to us, we were able to start a treatment path for our son that brings those dreams of his future back into possibility.

Simmons Family’s Story

Carmel has coached us in our ASD journey, and has limitless compassion, empathy, and understanding about what special needs parents and families face.

Noah’s Story

Carmel Mooney was highly recommended to us by several families she had trained service dogs for. We were amazed when we met some of these dogs and saw what they did for their handlers. Carmel helped us with finding the perfect puppy from a reputable breeder. She did a special temperament test with each puppy in his litter to narrow down the right dog for us to choose and then began coaching us through obedience training when Rowan was only 9 weeks old, which took about a year. When it came to the advanced task training, she coached us and taught us how to train Rowan to do exactly what our son needed for independence.

Noah can now do so many things we never thought possible before. Rowan is a wonderful addition to our family and has opened up limitless possibilities for Noah. We can travel now, and spent the holidays with our family on the east coast and we even traveled by airplane with Rowan and had no issues. We are eternally grateful for Rowan and for Carmel’s expertise.

Victoria’s Story

My life was already great, but then I took Carmel Mooney’s “Been There Comped That” class and it got even better.

Britt’s Exemption Story

Carmel Mooney coordinated an appointment for me with a doctor who got me everything I needed to send to my boss. Now there are two of us at my job who are exercising our freedom because of Carmel’s help.

Lacie’s Story

I would recommend her to any friends that need help getting started in the right direction when it comes to organizational coaching.

Leal Family’s Homeschool and Exemption Story

Making the transition from public school to homeschooling was scary. Carmel took the fear away by showing us how to make it fun and flexible

Laura and Johnny’s Exemption and Ivermectin Story

Carmel is an absolute wealth of knowledge, information, contacts, and connections in this medical freedom warriors battle!

Dawn’s Story

When our son was diagnosed on the autism spectrum. I found Carmel’s knowledge and expertise, along with her support, to be of great value in our search for solutions.

Stephanie’s Exemption Story, Registered Nurse

Thank you so much for your referral to Dr XXX and Dr XXXX. They wrote for me and for my children. I am forever grateful for your guidance.

Miller Family’s Exemption Story

We were very nervous when mandates put us in a position to choose between our jobs, school choice for our girls, and our religious convictions.

Reena’s Exemption Story

I have reached back in the U.S. I don’t know how to thank you enough for getting me connected to Dr. XXXXXX. She gave me a medical exemption letter. I didn’t know if they would allow me to board.

Faith’s Homeschool Story

Perhaps the most valuable tool I gained from being homeschooled was learning to think for myself.

David’s Exemption Story

I highly recommend using Carmel in any realm of medical freedom. Five stars from me.

Sue’s Deliverance Story

I first met Carmel back in 2002 while taking some of her courses on writing and publishing. She became instrumental as a writing coach in helping me to get several books published and in growing my world-wide deliverance ministry for demonic harassment victims.

Catherine’s Exemption Story

My exemption was approved! Wow. Usually they take a week. That was literally 8 hours.

Thank you Carmel Mooney!

Jen’s Story

Having a seizure disorder made life very difficult for me in many ways. I had heard that a seizure alert dog could be a huge help but most organizations charged over $10,000 for a trained service dog. I interviewed a few families who had gotten life saving service dogs trained by Carmel Mooney and I decided to work with her. Carmel was able to coach me on how to train my dog for a tiny fraction of what most organizations charged. We worked together for almost a year and a half until Beau was task trained to reliably alert to my seziures. He is the love of my life and I get compliments on his abilities everywhere I go. Carmel empowered me to train my service dog beyond anything I could have ever accomplished on my own.

Beau is a Godsend and allows me the freedom to live my life without limits. Thank you Carmel.

Ashley’s Exemption Story

Carmel got me an appointment with someone who knew how to get me an exemption that would get accepted and honored.

Rachel’s Exemption Story

Carmel helped me by providing me with resources for getting me a religious and a medical exemption. She is truly amazing and God sent! I would recommend her to anybody!

Angela’s Exemption Story

Hey Carmel,

I would like to let you know that my husband got his medical exemption and it worked well.

Now we are back in my homecountry.

Thank you very much.

Dan’s Story

Her focus is professionalism and integrity and I wish more travel writers, bloggers, and vloggers would learn from her.

Manny’s Exemption Story

I took the monthly exemption webinar that Carmel offers with Alan Phillips JD. It was over four hours of intensive information and guidance.

Kim’s Deliverance Story

Carmel is finally someone I can truly be myself with. I’ve always felt so safe telling her what’s going on. When I first met her, I was experiencing a lot of anxiety and health challenges along with low self-esteem.

John’s Story

I took one of Carmel’s seminars on writing and publishing. I then hired her to ghost write a book for me, a trade paperback, for my work in the publishing field.

Reynolds Family’s Homeschool and Exemption Story

Raising two teens is hard enough until you throw in the Pandemic and all the craziness that our kids were forced to endure in public school.

Emily’s Exemption Story

The medical freedom doc you referred me to was kind, generous, compassionate, empathetic and respectful, and got me the help I needed quickly by telemedicine appointment.

Elliott’s Exemption Story

For those of you thinking about caving in and getting the vaccine I implore you not to. I was close to caving myself, as my education was on the line with one semester before graduation. It would have meant years of time and money wasted.

Lori’s story:

I have worked with Carmel as a travel writer for many years. I have hosted Carmel on press trips and FAM tours and have found her to be a pleasure to work with as a travel journalist.

She is a woman of ethics in both the business world and in her personal life and a true media professional who delivers what she promises.

I love how she coaches others who love to travel, how to break in to travel writing, and how to comp travel with professionalism. She is a well-respected source of information and has a passion for teaching others how to do what she loves to do, traveling for free while sharing her love and enthusiasm for writing, story-telling, travel and tourism.

Carmel has become a friend and colleague in the travel and tourism arena and is respected and admired by many of my CVB colleagues in travel and tourism across the nation.

Lance’s Exemption Story

Carmel, Just wanted to tell you I got an email this morning from my employer. My religious exemption was accepted!

Defeating Your Inner Demons, Book Testimonial

I have never recommended a book on spiritual warfare more highly than this one.

I learned more from just the few pages of information in the PREFACE of Carmel Mooney’s book, Defeating Your Inner Demons, than I have in entire volumes on the subject.

Carmel’s down-to-earth conversational writing style makes you feel like you are sitting in the living room with a longtime friend who sincerely desires to help you with some tough life issues…except as she works through certain experiences and situations with her very keen expertise, she points out that these are actually major spiritual battles that you might have been engaged in for decades, and then proceeds to equip you to conquer them once and for all!

Sherri’s Story

A few years ago, I took a (comped) travel writing class with Carmel. My main goal was to learn how to write text to accompany my photography.
Not only did her class help me with that, but I learned how to travel for free as a travel writer. It was one of the most valuable and fun classes I have ever taken.

She has been quite an inspiration to me through the years and she continues to amaze me with her talents.

~Sherri

Abigail’s Exemption Story

Carmel prayerfully consulted with me as to how I could maintain my current employment while staying true to my spiritual beliefs. I am thankful that with her help I was able to reach an accommodation with my employer.

Mitchell Family’s Homeschool and Exemption Story

Originally we had planned to get Carmel’s help to learn how to set up a low cost homeschool for our girls as we prepared to move from California to South Carolina.

Marvin’s Exemption Story

It seems like only yesterday that I was just days from being terminated. I was reaching out to all my social media friends for advice from whom to get help. An RN whose name begins with an “A” suggested that I contact Carmel Lee Mooney for medical freedom coaching.
I attended a vaccine rights webinar with Carmel Lee Mooney and one of her legal experts on vaccine rights in the workplace.

I went home after that with a glimmer of hope that I might be able to keep my job.

Here it is a year later, I am still working and I have never had to compromise my DNA purity for someone who never cared about my civil rights. Carmel Lee Mooney was a blessing from God when I was hurting.

Thank you for all you’ve done Carmel!

Cache’s Story

I’m excited for the opportunities that her life coaching, through a biblical perspective, bring to me and others.

Chele’s Exemption Story

We need to stick and fight together!! I GOT MY EXEMPTION APPROVED! Do not give up!

Michelle’s Story

Since working with Carmel, I have successfully launched a business, gone back to school to further my education, and began a new life after divorce, that honors me and my passions.

Joe’s Exemption Story

I was about ready to retire early and give up my career of over 28 years until I found out I had options from coaching with Carmel Lee Mooney. If you are feeling the heat and aren’t sure who to turn to, I recommend Carmel.

Carmel Mooney has a book and online course that changed my life. Lynn’s Story

Carmel Mooney has a book and online course that changed my life. With Carmel Mooney’s help and guidance within just a few weeks I was able to put her expert instruction into action. Over the past year or so, we have enjoyed free golf vacations, dinners, and resort stays. We’re having a great time, and don’t have to pay for it! I wished I did this years ago.
I would highly recommend her book, online courses, and coaching.

Carmel Mooney is a highly respected and regarded coach and had coached a few people who I know personally. She came highly recommended and now I know why.

Robert & Nancy’s Story

We have found Carmel Lee Mooney to be very knowledgeable and supportive particularly in the areas of special needs and autism resources such as service animals, service dogs, essential oils, and nutrition. Carmel is exceptionally dedicated to the special needs community and it shows with her empathy and servant attitude. She has always been willing to share her experience to help Nancy and I with Lily.

We have trusted, and will continue to trust, Carmel’s experience and knowledge to help guide us. We obtained a chocolate lab Ema as a therapy dog for Lily (and the rest of the family). Ema is from a local breeder in our area, who had years before, worked with Carmel training service dogs, and who spoke very highly of Carmel and knew of her commitment to special needs kids and their families.

To sum it up we are grateful for Carmel’s involvement in our lives and to the Autism community.

Kindest Regards,

Robert and Nancy

Nikki’s Exemption Story

After coaching with Carmel Lee Mooney, I was referred to a doctor who was able to provide me with the exemption I needed before the deadline. At least for now, I can continue my internship and can still go after my dreams. Thank you Carmel. I am sending others in my program to you as well.

Jack’s Story:

Over the years, Carmel coached me in my life goal to become a high school history teacher and believed in me and assisted me in overcoming huge challenges with my disabilities.

Alicia’s Exemption Story

I coached with Carmel Mooney and she introduced me to a health care provider and to a pastor who wrote me an exemption for testing and the shot. My job has given me no hassles.

Picarzo Family’s Exemption Story

A friend referred us to Carmel Mooney. She provided us with a consultation where she decided who we needed to contact to get the exemptions my husband needed to keep his job and not comply to certain things we were not willing to budge on.

Mike’s Story

Whether you’re hoping to improve your personal or professional life, Carmel gives you the tools, encouragement, and insights, to help you set and attain reachable goals and stay on track.

Kathy’s Medical Freedom Story

Carmel Lee Mooney guided me and connected me to the resources I needed to make science-based, informed decisions about my health with regards to masks and vaccine choice.

Scott and Kathleen’s Story

CAUTION: before you decide to read her book or coach with Carmel, practice pulling your ripcord — you have no idea where this adventure could lead.

Juan’s Exemption Story

Thank you so much for your help ! I got approved today for the exemption!!!!

Prayers felt ! I would feel honored if you used my testimonial.

God is so good !

Juan

David and Amanda’s Exemption Story

We needed a medical exemption for travel to our home in Fiji from the USA. A friend from Fiji connected us to Carmel Lee Mooney because he had successfully worked with Carmel about a year ago and had gotten a successful exemption with her help.

We coached with Carmel on a Thursday and by Friday afternoon we not only had an exemption from one of her medical freedom doctors but it was also accepted by Fiji Airways. All of this was accomplished in about 24 hours time! We hope this testimonial encourages others to contract Carmel.

Melissa’s Exemption Story

I just wanted to let you know my religious exemption has been approved!! I’m over the moon with excitement and I almost cried!!

Berardi Family’s Homeschooling and Exemption Story

Bria had a severe vaccine reaction as a toddler and there was no way we could possibly subject her to more health issues or challenges with the vaccine mandates.

Tia’s Story

I have suffered from generalized anxiety and Asperger’s and didn’t think college would be a goal that I could easily attain.

After getting and training my service dog Beethoven, I am now in my third year of college, thanks to Carmel Mooney.

Carmel coached me through the process of getting the right dog through temperament testing, socializing it, and then task training it to assist me with my challenges. We are part of a group of graduated service dogs that Carmel has trained and helped people train themselves. Belonging to this group of other service dog owners, has helped me overcome some of my social deficits and it keeps Beethoven on his toes as well, especially when we do drills and outings with the other families and their dogs. We have both made several friends in the group and I cannot tell you how thankful I am for Beethoven. I can’t wait until he crosses the stage with me at my college graduation later this year.

Miguel’s Exemption Story

Carmel,

Just wanted to let you know that my exemption has been approved and I am now registered for my spring classes! Thank you for all your help, I couldn’t have done it without you!

Miguel

Gemma’s Story

My disability kept me from doing most of the things people my age can do. I had heard of and seen service dogs and what they can do but it seemed way out of my price range as most non-profits charge over $12,000 for a service dog that can do the tasks I need.

I had heard about Carmel Mooney and how she had trained over five dozen service dogs successfully around the country. I found four people on the west coast who she had trained dogs for who let me come and meet their dogs and see them in action. Then I hired Carmel Mooney to help me acquire the perfect dog and to train it. The cost to coach with Carmel and have her help me train my own service dog, was a tiny cost compared to getting a service dog from a large national organization.

Pepe and I are inseparable. He is my best friend and companion but best of all he keeps me safe and never leaves my side. Pepe and I will always be grateful for Carmel and all she has done for both of us.