Here’s a real draw back to living in Cabarete for 6 years (and there are not many). At 46 years old, I am looking at my face and skin and realizing that even though I’ve been ‘creaming up’ everyday with high factor sun screen (50), I’m seeing too many signs of sun damage.

I don’t ‘sun-bathe’ and have a good ‘farmer tan’ but even just walking around to and from car, work, shops, beach, etc. is leaving marks.

Jim and I both bought ‘big’ hats yesterday; we probably look ridiculous but now it doesn’t matter anymore. When I go kite, I paste such a thick cream on that i do look like a ghost and I’m beginning to see why some notorious locals (that we used to giggle at) wear a full body suit when they are here in Cabarete.

Luciano is also creaming up; his dark skin will not protect him from a long day in the sun either; although, his great hair must help a bit.

If you want to spot us on the beach – look for the huge chequered hats and sunglasses We’re not hiding, just protecting.

I was particularly moved on Tuesday evening when the wind died, to watch a young disabled man taken to the water’s edge by his helpers and then gently carried into the sea. He shouted with joy in the waves – laughing and squealing. I guess he felt weightless in his life-jacket and his legs free to move.

At the same time, my children were body boarding close by and as the sun set, Jim took photos of the glassy water and of the bay which I am posting below. As the sky turned gradually more pink in the West, the full moon was rising in the East. It was one of those moments when we are reminded how special Cabarete is and how fortunate we are to live and work in such a great place.

You can check it on this link http://www.vimeo.com/9539480

It features Luciano Gonzalez, one of the most talented water sportsmen of the Dominican Republic and a lovely person too.  Luciano will be competing at the Master of the Ocean event taking place in Cabarete, beginning the 23rd February.

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.

I rarely enjoy a morning as much as I did this Sunday AM.

Drew and I left for Encuentro at 6am – I was so sleepy. It was worth it however. After 3 or 4 years of encouraging him to surf (after all, we have the perfect spot on our doorstep) he was never ‘hooked’.

That all changed recently and he cannot get enough of the water. No weekend lie-ins now, if he’s excited about going, it’s worth the effort of taking him and taking pictures.  Encuentro is a beautiful place to sit in the early mornings.  I wonder which other surf spots in the world are so well shaded by the trees?

As the construction of Swell gets towards the finish line, we are at the hotel several times each day.

We have been doing the garden this week – planting a huge variety of the kind of wonderful tropical plants and flowers that help to make this country as beautiful as it is. The draw back is that it is back-breaking work and we are falling into bed each evening, beaten by working hard in very high temperatures. In an hour and a half from now, we will be back again to work in the cooler evenings to finish.

I will post some pictures of our progress in the next days.

We open on December 1st and quite a few of the rooms are already booked out for December, January and February; quite amazing given that people have not seen what the camp really looks like on our website as we are not ready to take the final photos.

I did kite for 2 hours this week – that was wonderful. September has been as dry as a bone and windy too – not usual for this time of year.

This afternoon, we take delivery of another big container of furniture, etc. More and more enquiries to deal with each day – it looks like Christmas may already be pretty full!

We are not taking photos now (for publication) until completion as all the items currently being done are the finishing ones and we’d like to keep them under wraps until everything is ready.

Today we will go back to the Hospital to remove the gauze and stuff that it inside his nose still, despite his best efforts to sneeze it all out!

The surf camp doors are on now and today, the container arrives in Cabarete containing all the bathroom fittings, kitchen, furniture, etc. Everything looking very good indeed. Some sample colors have been painted on the wall so that we can choose the overall color scheme.