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!

So here’s the rating for our surf camp.
Real clients, real reviews, none of that fake inflated stuff that a lot of other business have.
Contact the clients if you want via our facebook page.

We are very happy that our clients were happy on their surf holiday in cabarete with us.
So far we have seen clients return within 2-3 months to see for another trip, some of them have been back 3 times already, and we haven’t been open for a year yet.

What else has been going on?
Excellent surf in the morning, good stand up paddle surfing on the reef in Cabarete, and kitesurf lessons in the afternoon.

Even better, cleaner and bigger swell predicted for this weekend.

Hasta pronto
Swell Surf camp team

Martha is going to help Clare in the officer with the arrivals / organizing and answering the emails that clients send.
JP will be the helping Luciano, which is great, since Luciano has been working very hard in the last year and can now start to have more days off, once every while.
JP surfs, SUP’s, windsurfs and loves riding waves with his kites, so if anyone needs tips and guidance on that aspect of kiting, he’s the man to talk to ( so is Luciano BTW)

here’s some pics from this morning, waves were not great, but the light was lovely and the clients caught some good waves. ( mind you it was only half the camp present on the beach, since the other half was still on bed recovering from a party night out in Cabarete’s bars).

What else is going on/ what’s new?

We have restructred our Surf lessons at Encuentro, to make sure that besides having the best accomodation, our surf lessons will also be the best there are available with propper coaching and guidance. So if you need a good surf school / lessons at Encuentro: Swell Surf hotel is the place.

And here’s the video.
If you want to see it in HD , then click on the vimeo logo to watch it there in better quality.

What else has been going on at Swell?
We closed for 10 days, to tidy , renovate and built some new stuff, to make sure Swell will remain.
“The best place for surfers in Cabarete”
-JP has arrived as the latest addition to the Swell Staff (Martha is coming next week)
-New Stand up paddle boards are ordered and on their way to Cabarete.
-Big swell at the moment that will stick around for the next week, so expect more surfing and SUP pics and videos.
-Swell is also starting to be very full for the coming winter, so if you want to stay with us > Book….sooner rather than later….

Hasta Pronto
Team Swell

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)

Nice title huh?
Well clearly we think so, and it’s good to see that our clients that have been visiting us in the last 8 months agree with us. The reviews of Swell Cabarete Surf camp have been great, we hear the feedback from the clients when they are with us in Cabarete, by email when the leave, on our Swell Surf Camp facebook page and on Review sites like tripadvisor ( were we even had some locals competitors post ridiculous false reviews, but fortunately they were flagged quickly by tripadvisor staff).

We are very happy with the kind words of our clients, and even happier when they have been returning in large numbers for a second (or even 3rd) visit back in 7 months.

So by the looks of it, it’s going to be a very happy and busy winter season with certain weeks already pretty much fully booked already, so if you are reading this and are thinking about coming down this 2010/2011 surf season in Cabarete; send an enquiry to Swell cabarete surf camp sooner rather than later to avoid disappointmen!

There’s another thing that makes me personally very happy and that is how the garden is growing, it’s really looking great.
Here’s some pics from the last week

Swell Surf camp

More Surf camp

And even More surf camp garden

happy surf camp client

Ok, forecast looks great for the next week, new camera should be back from the repair, so good pics to follow.
Oh and this is what i got up to today:
Testing the new waterproof GoPro camera ( expect to see a lot of action shots this winter from it)

Windsurfing in Cabarete

Hasta Pronto

team Swell Surf camp

It’s the middle of April now and the big wave season has ended, so does that mean that the surf season has ended?
No!
For beginners and intermediate surfers the fun begins now. With waves between waist and head high on average for the next 4 months, this is the time for you to improve your surfing skills here in Cabarete.

We are the newest and best surf school in Cabarete, why? Because we are the only surf school in Cabarete that teaches with the safest and easiest boards to learn surfing on: Bic soft surfboards.
They surf well, and are made of a hard inside core, but a soft outside, therefor, if you fall on the board, no injury will come of it. The other reason why the Swell surf school has such great results with introducing people to the sport of surfing is because Luciano Gonzalez is a top surf instructor: Speaks very good English, is very patient, a good surfer himself , and knows all the theories behind teaching people how to surf in a safe and fun way.

The next week looks perfect for learning to surf: perfect chest high waves, clean sets, hardly any wind and a lovely temperature.

Are you interested in learning to surf? Check this page on Swell Surf camp’s Cabarete surf school and then get in touch with us.
Not a client of Swell but still want to learn to surf? If we have space we do at times teach clients that are not staying with us. But send us an email first.

See you in the water this summer!

Regards

Swell Surf Camp

Strong wind and solid 2,5 overhead waves created the perfect setting for a photoshoot of Luciano Gonzalez riding strapless on a surfboard at Encuentro, the local surf spot here in Cabarete.
How big was it?

How was Luciano Gonzalez handling those waves…………. very well………why? Because he is one of the best wave kite surfers in the world.

How did he handle riding strapless in those big waves…….excellent…….most of the time……

At the moment 2 very talented film guys are making a movie about Luciano and Swell, and this epic day of kitesurfing at Encuentro, cabarete will be in it…stay tuned.

Want to improve your wave riding skills with a kite? Luciano works for Swell Surf camp full time, and especially in the summer months he will be available for our kite surf guests to give clinics and advanced kite lessons.

You like some white water?

Expect a lot more photo’s from the clients who are going to be staying at Swell in the next couple of weeks, since we just got our new big 400 MM Canon lens today, and the first batch of pics are looking very promising.

Clare and myself love taking pictures, and when there’s half descent surf we will be at the beach at Encuentro taking pictures of our clients who are staying with us this winter. Speaking of which, the reservations are coming in very very quick and as a result very soon we will be full for a whole bunch of weeks, so if you are thinking about staying at our hotel in Cabarete, make sure you make your reservation ASAP.

Ok, here’s the first few pictures shot with the new canon lens.

Here’s the sign that my parents made for our surf camp. I think it looks great ( I hope they didn’t look at a picture of me surfing when they designed it, since the surfers’s style is uuuuuhhhmmmm ‘interesting’)

Here’s a picture from 500 metere distance looking towards Happy surf’s kite surf school in Cabarete

Picture of the garden at Swell Cabarete surf camp

Mats the birthday boy, (who also happens to look scarily like Jack Johnson)

Last but not least , here’s Cam, he might pretend to be a mean bad ass on this picture but in reality he is a super friendly chap from Canada.

Hope you’ll come back soon here to see the surf action shots taken at Encuentro, (or better book a stay with us and have your pic displayed here

have a good day
Hasta Pronto
Swell surf camp team

Now, the first clients have left our new surf hotel with big smiles on their faces, they had good surf sessions at Encuentro and a few lucky ones we took to some secret surf spots here on the North Coast and they were in awe how good the surf was, and that was without a good swell running. other clients booked the surf lessons with Luciano Gonzalez and had a great time learning to surf at Encuentro in a safe and fun way.

Eddie: partied like a rockstar and surfed……with….style ( and a hangover)

Up on the board on the first day

Some more tips and lessons

Our surf school at Encuentro

What else?

Party off course, what most clients didn’t realize is that Cabarete isn’t just for an active water sport holiday but also a great place to party hard and until the early hours, and since we at Swell are located in the perfect position for this in town (everything is within walking distance to the bars and restaurants in town) there clients were out lots of nights of the week, but they never missed a surf session.

After the party and surfing? Hammock time

So all in all the Swell surf camp has been tested properly, everything is working as it should and all the clients, as well as family and friends were all very impressed with how good the vibe is in our new place, but also how comfortable the rooms are.

Lots of inquiries are coming in for this winter, and a fair amount of weeks were are already fully booked with all 24 beds taken; should be a very good and fun winter here in Cabarete for Swell staff and more importantly the clients that are going to visit us. We’ll make sure we will do everything we can to make their Caribbean surf holiday and big success, so they leave with a big smile on their face.

See you soon.