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.
Hurrah! Energetic Tricia has brought a great new cafe to Cabarete, sited 1 km out of the town (short moto ride towards Sosua). She’s buying organic coffee direct from the makers and having it roasted to produce a flavor that is quite unique and quite the nicest I ever tried (move over Starbucks).
I am in half a mind not to write this as the place will rapidly become too busy and we’ll miss out perhaps, but on the other hand, having invested a ton in a great coffee machine and other stuff, she and Freddy deserve real success. They are also running tours up to the coffee producers and doing FREE delivery on food orders in Cabarete; good job Trish (just don’t sell all those yummy bacon egg and cheese bagels i love so much).
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 
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.


It has been an exhausting, fun, interesting, eye-opening 3 weeks since Swell opened it’s doors.
Jim, my partner had done a great job on marketing the hotel that we have been inundated with inquiries and clients. We have had some hairy moments and some of the best laughs I can remember in years.
What chance of your first ever paying client turning out to be someone who had to say the least, some emotional issues, turning out to have spent several times in re-hab prior to ending up in the surf camp staying with us? This person put us through some hoops and tested our patience to the limits, but we made it through and out the other side to enjoy the company of our other guests to the degree that we laughed until we cried a few times with Brian, Sam, Nick and a few others.
There was no time to Blog or report – but looking back on the first 3 weeks, we are extremely proud of our team and the fact that very satisfied customers left us promising to return again in the near future.