It helps also when the wind blows like that and the sun shines like this; everyone’s mood (which had been a bit subdued by lack of our usual trade winds courtesy of La Nina and El Nino this year wreaking havoc on weather systems) immediately improves. Smiling, busy, happy people fill the beach and the town looks exactly like I remember it arriving here 6 years ago and falling in love with that sight.

Luciano Gonzalez who works with us at Swell looked at Jim and I on the beach two days ago and said, ”my town is how it should be again, look at all the kites everywhere, it’s beautiful”.

Now my youngest son (10 years old) is beginning to learn this fantastic sport; Luciano is teaching him

In doing so, we have been targeted in various ways from our ‘competitors’, those people who feel most threatened by the apparent success of our business. Frustrated as they are with a lack of customers, they choose solely to lay blame on others, not looking to their own failings or lack of re-investment over the years. They have written false reviews on our place, tried to get us kicked out of our surf school, tried to make trouble with the taxi drivers for us, whined and moaned on the forums – all to no avail. Even though we were well aware of their tricks, we carried on, kept our heads down and did what we do best – hospitality for our guests.

Today though, when one person, who after trying to get work with us recently and being helped financially by both Jim and myself in the past, professing always to be a ‘friend’ and peace and love, etc…………then schemed and slithered like a sad, greasy little snake for his ‘boss’ whilst he tried everything he could to cause problems for us, smiled his two-faced grin at me in the Orange store, my resolve disappeared and despite my normal ‘English’ politeness, I gave to to him with both barrels; I won’t repeat what came out, but my God it felt so good to let it go

Our hotel has gained a strength now from it’s guests – quite hard to explain really.   With each week that goes by, the new arrivals seem to be ‘carried’ through their first ‘awkward’ feeling (if they have one at all) by the people who have been in the camp for a while, with friendly greetings and a warmth that makes everyone feel almost instantly at home.   Jim and I are enjoying the camaraderie that exists in the hotel and seems to go on and on, regardless of who arrives these days.

Below are some of the photos we have taken of our guests and my son Drew in the last days as they surfed or kite-boarded in this great town.

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.

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

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.

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.

It’s been exhilarating and tiring at the same time, but it’s done and we are proud and happy of the result.

If you want to see the pictures of the hotel completed, click on the word Swell above