Cabarete Blog » swell surf camp

Kite boarding Cabarete

CabareteBlog — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:07:15 +0000

Our wind kicked in this week; it’s been a while since we had it really blowing. The Swell team took to the van and drove to La Boca to begin a down wind ride in the waves. It is also a few months since I had some spare time to go. It was so much fun – we were yelling and shouting in the waves as we rode towards Cabarete. The wind had to have been 25 knots by the time we got there.

My abs and shoulders are sore after so long out of the water but it’s worth the discomfort

Coco…..

Ken being attacked by the dogs

me, Luciano, Kelvin, Ken, Will

Kiteboarding Dominican Republic

CabareteBlog — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:17:33 +0000

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 coast of Cape Verde and slowly cross the Atlantic towards us in the Dominican Republic. Each one normally ends up passing north or swerving south of the Island. North is good; then we get the benefit of the swell (waves) coming off the edge of the storm – south is not so good as we on the North Coast rarely receive the swell. Luckily, north is more common and we are watching the next one forming in the mid-Atlantic now. The bad news is that the storms block the normally strong trade winds we use to kite. Still, there’s always Spinning to get a bit of a workout and we’ll both be on a bike tonight at 6.30pm

I didn’t really come here to work!

CabareteBlog — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 19:46:09 +0000

I sent a mail to one of my mates this morning – he was asking, what r you doing for lunch today. For the first time in 5 years, I had to reply, sorry, but we’re too busy! Blimey, he replied, that’s something you don’t hear very often here.

I think we have had about 7 meetings in the last 3 days in a few different places. It’s all a bit corporate for the Caribbean, but the good news is that we are making progress on all fronts.

We have another meeting in a few minutes re the surf camp and then at 6, I get together with the team of Instructors from Cabarete Spinning to sort out the new timetable of spinning both in Cabarete and at Breezes Hotel in Sosua.

Meanwhile, the foundations were poured for the surf camp yesterday and now the walls are starting to go up. I’ve also been negotiating with people who bought spinning bikes from me in the past to buy them back as we need more and quickly!

That’s all for now ……. will post some construction pics later – check back if you like the look of foundations……..

Swell Surf Camp, Cabarete – opens November 2009.

Latest construction pics of Swell Surf Camp, Cabarete.

CabareteBlog — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 18:03:09 +0000

Weather is a bit yukky – some rain and a lot of cloud, but the nice thing is it cooled down a lot as the two days previously, it was sooooo hot and with no wind, we were all dying.

The construction continues at speed. First, they are concentrating on the perimeter walls to secure the site. Then the foundations (seen shuttered in the photos) will be poured – the foundations will be platform, or ‘floating’ foundations.

Swell Surf Camp, Cabarete – opens November 2009.

Spring Break (Semana Santa)

CabareteBlog — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 19:16:43 +0000

We are bracing ourselves here for the busiest week for Cabarete each year. This town has long been the choice of thousands of Dominicans to take their spring break.

It begins this Wednesday/Thursday and by Friday, the town will be positively heaving. If you picture the Dominican Republic as a little poor Caribbean Island, you would be wrong. First of all the island is HUGE and mountainous. Secondly, many Dominicans are very RICH. Little Cabarete will be full this weekend of very expensive SUV’s and women dressed to the nines. It will be bedlam and a party to end all parties will begin as soon as the boring religious part is out of the way at midnight on Friday. Friday afternoon, all will be quiet and tranquillo but once the witching hour passes, the music will be cranked up (no, REALLY cranked up) and the fun begins.

Before all this happens, the government ship in marshalls to line the roads and the beaches. Why? Well, because in a country that has no real enforced driving laws (remember they sell liquor at the gas stations) the Dominicans drink and drink and drink and drive. Jim and I laughed hard yesterday when we were stopped in a routine road block for checking driver documents – the policeman very politely told Jim that it was illegal to smoke in a vehicle. As he was talking, we all watched, in a two lane street, four vehicles all overtaking side by side – oncoming traffic swerving to avoid them all. In front of us was a truck with about 20 Dominicans piled high on top of dangerously stacked furniture – but we smiled politely at the policeman and shook out heads as we drove away.

Anyway back to Semana Santa, the marshalls stand with red flags and try to get everyone to slow down – it works for a while, until about Sunday, after one or two of the marshalls have been hit and then they kind of give up and join in the party. Marshalls on the beach are there to try and stop people swimming after drinking, which basically means that no-one can swim as everyones been drinking anyway. I think they save people’s lives on the whole, but normally at least one person drowns in the bay each Easter weekend – sad, but true.

So, everyone comes to Cabarete and every Cabarete resident braces themselves for the onslaught. If you haven’t got enough cash from the ATM by wednesday, forget it, you are broke until the following Tuesday as by Friday, every available peso has been withdrawn.

Hmmmm, but here’s a thing, why would Columbus waterpark close for two days this week? We only found out after a wasted journey there today.

Still plenty of entertainment in store for us this weekend. Ciao