1
Feb
2010
North swell arrived today – it won’t last more than 5 days or so, so at 5.30am we were on the road with our clients to make the best of it. A spot of rain didn’t spoil our day 
looks at Dan’s smile – he was leaving this afternoon and had a blast on his last surf session.
28
Jan
2010
OK so nothing even changed for Cabarete after the awful earthquake in Haiti. Still Cabarete has apparently suffered somewhat from the association. It’s a shame for businesses who have made it through a difficult tourism year to have this one landed on them just as the world’s economy was looking up. Cabarete though has what it takes to survive and so it will.
We used the conditions of earlier in the week to get some photos of Luciano Gonzalez as he prepares for the Master of the Ocean event which will take place in February (roughly 3 weeks from now). Huge waves and good wind created a fine photo opportunity for this talented Dominican………. Luciano is looking for a Sponsor for his kite equipment by the way.
22
Jan
2010
We had a great day today at Playa Grande, surfing La Preciosa. We took all our clients there for a really nice day; small waves, but perfectly formed!
I have to remind people that Cabarete, and the whole of the Dominican Republic are completely unaffected by the earthquake that hit Haiti – we are all fine and there is NO damage at all here!! You will see from these photos that we were enjoying a beautiful sunny day and I took all these photos from the top of a cliff – standing a metre from a 50 metre drop – no, I was not worried that an earthquake would send me reeling over the edge.
13
Jan
2010
Cabarete unaffected by earthquake
Posted in SURF CAMP
For all those people who have been asking, Cabarete and most of the Dominican Republic suffered no damage at all from the earthquake which devastated Haiti yesterday evening.
I did not even feel the two tremors that were widely reported as being felt by most people in the town but I knew something was odd when China, one of the maids at Swell reported feeling the earth shaking. I checked the pool at the hotel and saw that the water was swilling from side to side and overspilling into the garden.
It all seemed like nothing really – no damage – so it was all the more difficult to see the devastation in neighbouring Haiti. Today has just been a sad day all round.
7
Jan
2010
2
Jan
2010
We had a lot of fun last night – lucky to have a great group of guests staying with us and no-one was shy to square dance the night away. Jane Palmieri (one of our guests) turns out to be a Caller and kept us on our feet. It’s a good workout!
On top of that, the surfing has been truly Epic for the last weeks; almost constant swells of 6 to 8 ft in a northerly direction – what could be better?
18
Dec
2009
Surfing Cabarete
Posted in SURF CAMP
A lovely morning at Encuentro and my first opportunity to use the new camera lens – got some nice surf shots (on a small day) but here’s my favourite picture of the morning 
13
Dec
2009
It’s been another good week in Cabarete and I’ve discovered that I forgot how fun it is to be busy. I sleep so well at night these days and it’s brought about normally by a good kind of exhaustion.
The reaction to the hotel has been extremely rewarding for us. It’s so nice to hear people laughing and having a good time, Jim and I are making new friends each day practically as people come and go. We’ve had to say goodbye to some people who I wish had been able to stay for much longer – so funny and entertaining they’ve been. There appears to be something special about people named Brian particularly – the two we have had staying here have been so much fun to have around. Jim’s new camera lens arrived yesterday and he’s barely been able to put it down since. Shame the rainy start to the day prevented some good surf photography taking place. Now everyone’s off to go wakeboarding
6
Dec
2009
I guess one of the most outstanding things about the last 3 weeks has been people’s reaction to Cabarete. For those who have not visited this town before and are just embarking on a surf trip and not much else, they are understandably amazed at what a great town Cabarete is.
For those who have surfed in Costa Rica, for example and had 4 hour post ‘plane transfers to find themselves in the middle of nowhere – facing good waves, yes, but otherwise nothing more, they are blown away by the fact that Cabarete has good surf AND so much to do and see afterwards.
Nick, one of our guests exclaimed, ”I can’t believe I didn’t know about the Dominican Republic before, but at least I have found it in November, giving me a chance to return again this winter”. The surf is good here, sometimes it is fantastic, always fun – but it’s the town that gets people again and again. We are starting to refer to the phenomenon as the ‘first day fall’ , meaning that however good the intentions of staying sober, that first night out on the town, where the atmosphere on the beach could well be unique, is resulting in most of our guests spending their first full day sleeping off the night before.
3
Dec
2009