First off, very  happy to see lots of return guests at Swell in the next month.

Early morning sunrise at our local surf beach

Norm, as usual has brought the wind back with him; one of the luckiest men when it comes to picking the right time versus conditions in Cabarete, he’s back for the 5th time.  Daniel’s already here for his 2nd visit and right now is on the beach taking a kite lessons with Luciano.  Chris arrives for his 3rd visit in a few days and following him will be Joanne, Jamie, Pat, Danielle, Stan, Jeanne and also a lot of brand new guests joining the ever-growing Swell family. Everyone is welcome!

The surf has been good, consistent fun waves; ranging from shoulder to double over head.

We had some epic sessions at out favourite spot:

Morgan, our Australian client got a lot of good waves this day.

Martha, the excellent manager at Swell also caught some good right handers

And even I caught a few good lefts.

Now, not meaning to upset any of our North American friends, some more snow storms across the US would be welcome, as they often turn into a great North swell for us here in the Dominican Republic.

What else has been going here at Swell?

We launched the new website, http://www.swellsurfcamp.com

What other places can you find Swell:

on Google +:

https://plus.google.com/100365096369531562266/posts

 Facebook  fan page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Swell-Surf-Camp/162734790410280.

We won the 2011 Travellers choice award on tripadvisor:

Find photo’s of Swell Surf camp on Flickr

Or watch our video’s on Vimeo

Want to join us this season?

There are some some spaces open, but not for very long, so best to send Martha a quick email via this page:

Http://www.swellsurfcamp.com/contact.html

See you soon!

We are going to keep it brief here today, since there’s fun surf here in Cabarete and some wind in the afternoon for kitesurfing so we’d rather be out than being stuck behind the Swell Surf camp computer.

What’s going on?

Well summer surf has been very good, lots of fun surfing days in Cabarete  with waves in the waist to head high range. For kitesurfing this has also been one of the best summers here in Cabarete in many years with steady trade winds.

We have a new surf instructor coming in a few days, he’ll be the first fully qualified Australian and BSA surf instructor in Cabarete. His name is Jake and we at Swell look forward to having him become part of the Swell Surf camp team.

Reviews?

Yes the reviews keep coming in on our surf camp. See the Tripadvisor Swell Surf Camp page

Video

Yes we had time to make a video with a compilation of pictures from our guests from the  first 1,5 years.

Ok, that’s it for now, don’t forget to hit the ‘LIKE’ button on the Surf camp’s facebook page

See you soon here in Cabarete

Swell Surf Camp

ps: regarding the title of this post: Best surf Camp? yes that’s what we strive to be

In no particular order:

1. The kitesurfing season has started here in Cabarete; the last few days we had great wind; 20 knots plus,  sunny skies and the semana santa crowds of the last week have all left the town.
2. The surf has been great too, solid waves in the 4-6′ range make for great early morning surf or SUP sessions at Encuentro.
3. Luciano Gonzalez, our surf and kite surf specialist once again won the Cabarete master of the Ocean competition, making it 4 in total ( he says he wants 10 title’s like Kelly Slater)
4. Our ‘new’ surf instructor Brock is still working out every day and looking very fit, his surf skills are also becoming very impressive, ( now he needs to learn to kitesurf, and maybe windsurf?)
5. The new huge solid oak wood table has arrived, and it’s a stunning masterpiece , right in the center of Swell Surf Camp
6. Clients keep sending rave reviews to tripadvisor about our place ( we don’t ask them to, and contrary to most other places in cabarete we offer no incentive for them to do so), see Swell reviews here
7. We have seen many return clients coming back for a 2nd, 3rd or even 4th time ( in 18 months of being open)
8. We had a couple that stayed with us, then moved to a what they thought was a ‘similar place to Swell’, after 2 days the clients came back to Swell, saying that this place at Encuentro was in absolutely no way similar to Swell, for comforts, vibe, quality and location.
9. It’s going to be a busy summer looking at the amount of reservations that are already in, certain summer weeks are already fully booked, so if you want to come, book asap.
10. Something new is in the making at Swell……more on this in a few weeks…..

The new table

Luciano with Swell’s windsurf rig ( is there a cooler sail in Cabarete? we think not)

Gonazalez taking his 4th Cabarete’s Master of the Ocean title.

We have more plans for 2011, but we’ll have to wait with the announcement of this news.

Meanwhile here’s some Swell Surf camp pictures from the last few weeks:
Renee surfing at Encuentro

New Swell staff JP and Martha

Swell staff @ a photoshoot wave kiting at Encuentro

Luciano hitting the lip, I think it’s safe to say that nobody does this better than him.

JP hitting it nicely

Martha having fun.

That’s it for now, have fun & keep smiling.

Hmm…. I’d love to think it’s because we have the best location, equipment and staff working for us. But the reality is that what makes Swell the best surf camp in Cabarete…The Dominican republic…The Caribbean….or even the world?

It’s the great clients that we seem to attract.
We have been getting people come and stay with us:
-Of all different age groups , between 11 and 64.
-From all over the world.
-Singles, couples and families.
-People that are into different types of activities, mostly surfers and kitesurfers, but we also get people that come for wakeboarding, horseriding, diving and Stand up paddle surfing (SUP) in Cabarete.

We have been very lucky that since we started we constantly seem to have a full house with at least 10 people staying with us, some for 3 days some for 2 months.

Here’s some pics from the last group of clients at Swell Surf camp.

Here’s Simon and Dave after returning from an all night party in town ( picture taken at 11.00 AM)

Why is Swell such a great surf camp in Cabarete? The following picture sums it up:
Some playing table tennis, some reading, some sleeping /lounging on the bean bags, and some in the pool (not in photo)

Ok, winter / hurricane swells are on their way in Cabarete, so aks for availability and get on a flight and join us in the Caribbean.

Hasta Pronto

(oh and i forgot to mention I bought a nice wide angle lens, so you’ll see a lot more funny close up pics like this one)

Starting on the 16th of June the PKRA Cabarete kitesurf world cup is held right here at Cabarete’s main beach, Bozo. I will be cheering for dutch world champion Kevin Langeree and Youri Zoon, Clare and the kids will be cheering for the English people on tour.

Another exciting event is the World cup of football, needless to say not taking place in Cabarete , but can be watched at all the local Cabarete bars on big wide screen tv’s. England just had a dissapointing start against the USA, Holland is up on Monday against Denmark.

What’s been going on at Swell in the last few weeks?

More repeat clients coming back, people that initially stayed with us in February and March have returned for more kite surfing,SUP and surfing so clearly these clients like Cabarete and Swell surf camp which we are very happy about.
Another good thing was that ,what was supposed to be a quiet month, May, turned out the be pretty much the busiest month we have had since opening 5 months ago. The rest of Cabarete town was almost dead and Swell had almost 100% occupancy with a great buzz and vibe going.

We have started the first ‘expansion’ of Swell: a new kite / surf storage room, so all your gear can be nicely stored away within the camp.

What have we been up to besides work?
-Drew (13 years) is really into his kitesurfing these days.
-Euan (10 years) is starting to learn the kitesurfing with Luciano.
-Clare is loving the stand up paddle surfing, and is also trying to squeze a few kite surf hours in the afternoon when she has time.
-I have been sharing my windsurfing kit with Luciano, we both really enjoy being back doing the windsurf thing. ( in fact I am looking for a good 5.2 wavesail so if anyone has a good windsurf sail for sale, let me know).

Next few weeks
Lots of clients coming to swell to learn kitesurfing, surfing, SUP and some windsurfers as well, so should be good if this wind stays here.
More cheering for the football matches and the kiteboard worldcup.
Maybe a few parties?

Join us in the Caribbean surf town of Cabarete

Hasta pronto
Team Swell surf camp

A typical day at Swell:
Every morning our clients get up at 6.00 ( if they want), have a quick snack and fresh coffee to go, head to Encuentro for surf lessons by Luciano, who by now is one of the best and most experienced surf instructors at Encuentro beach.
Surf lessons take about 2 hours, and the experienced surfers grab a surfboard from our 35+ range of boards. At around 10.00 everybody is back at the Surf camp for more fresh coffee and a super healthy and big breakfast at the camp.
For breakfast our clients have the choice of:

Or all of the above!
Some people will just keep on eating…and that’s fine..we don’t want anyone to go hungry.

After the breakfast people chill for a while, play some table tennis or pool and then head back for a second surf session or surf lesson.

The last few days there has been absolutely no wind ( sorry kite surfers) but the people that want to learn Stand up paddle surfing (SUP) have been very happy. Conditions for learning this exciting new sport have never been better: super glassy and small and gentle waves in Cabarete bay’s reef ( deep enough , so no danger).

Swell Co-founder Clare has really been making big progress in the SUP department: catching long rides and having a blast.

We at Swell have the best SUP boards for beginners and experts surfers in Cabarete:
3 x large 11′+boards, for learning the SUP basics.
1 x 9’6” Mctavish allround waveboard
1 x 8’5” Starboard pocket rockets for shortboard style SUP surfing for the people with experience.

and..
More boards on the way.

Anyway….back to a typical day at Swell……..
For the people that want to do other activities, Cabarete has plenty to offer:
- Canyoning
- Wake boarding
- Spinning
- Yoga
- Horse riding
- Mountain biking
- Enduro dirt bike tours

Dinners at Swell are usually a group event: Go to a local restaurant ( at least 10 good restaurants within 5 minute walk) and a few times per week we cook food for the clients at Swell in the camp itself.
In the evening for those that still have any energy left over it’s party time in Cabarete, until……well as late (or early) as you want.

Party on the beach in Cabarete is legendary: chill vibe, flip flops, merengue, salsa, regeaton, locals, tourists, expats & everybody having a good time together.

Luciano invited 2 of his kite friends, Moe and Calivin

Here’s some pics of this excellent kitesurfing day

From left to Right: Clare, Luciano, kalvin, Ken and my best friend from Holland Willie.

Willie and Ken getting ready for some good kitesurfing

Luciano showing of his new strapless kites tricks

ken getting “attacked” by the dogs.

Willie kitesurfing to cabarete

Our friend Coco also showed up at la Boca

The wind didn’t full cooperate, which is normal this time of the year, so the windsurf event wasn’t full finished, but that didn’t matter, the results that mattered where in and Swell’s own Luciano Gonzalez took the title righfully back.

I think there was no question about who was the best overall surfer and kitesurfer in the comp. Luciano’s surfing has been killer, ripping Encuentro’s waves every morning, taking spinning classes with Clare’s for his Fitness and stamina has paid off. Clear winner without a doubt.

Here’s some kitesurf pictures from him

More ripping the waves:

Congrats to Luciano
aspiring to be a Master of the ocean? Luciano gives surf and kite surf lessons here in Cabarete for Swell surf camp clients

Why is Cabarete learn to kite paradise?
-Warm water
-Steady trade winds
-Side onshore winds ( so you always float back in if something bad happens)
-Large beaches

When is the best time to learn to kite surf in Cabarete?
The strongest winds are to be found in Cabarete between March and September, however year round you can find at least 3-4 days with enough (10+ knots) wind to start kitesurfing.

Where can I find the best Kite surf school in Cabarete?
There’s a lot of kitesurf schools in Cabarete ( 10+) but not all are recommended, what to look for in a kite school?

So where do I go when I want to learn how to kite in Cabarete?
We work with 2 good schools in Cabarete, that have been in business for 5+ years and a solid track record for teaching kiteboarding in a safe and fun way.

Alternatively for if a clients at Swell wants to be taught by Luciano Gonzalez, our in house pro, then that can also be arranged. We at Swell kite school have the latest 2010 kites / boards helmets and vests.

More info about learning to kite surf in Cabarete can be found here. Or just contact us via this page

Oh and in case I forget, we at Swell wish Luciano Gonzalez good luck in trying to win the 2010 Master of the Ocean event , held at Playa Encuentro,.
He has trained and worked hard enough for it.