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 [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Grass is going into the surf camp garden now. All the windows are fitted and next week, all the bathroom equipment will be in.
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 [...]
Two days of rather frustrating ‘nearly-wind’ but not…… Many of the tourists here do the right thing and bring their 10/11/12 metre kites (or even larger) but Jim and I have 7’s and 9’s and the last couple of days it just wasn’t quite enough to ride.
Mid-August/September is storm season; the storms form off the [...]
The pool lights working on the Swell pool. It looks so nice and once filled with water the pool lights will appear as tiny stars on the water, moving as the water moves. Thanks Ian Patry
So tomorrow I leave for Miami to shop for the Swell surf camp furniture and fittings. With a budget of $30,000 more or less, it will be quite a task but I am really looking forward to it! Starting from scratch is great fun and I have enjoyed the interior design aspect. [...]