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.

Simple:

-We are the ONLY purpose built surf camp for and BY surfers in Cabarete

A lot of other places claim this too, but here’s our video evidence that owners and managers at Swell are really fanatical about the sports that we teach in.

Here’s Luciano (Swell’s sport manager) Kitesurfing

Here’s Jim (co-owner of Swell) stand up paddle surfing.

Here’s Jim once again, paddle surfing, windsurfing and kitesurfing.

So if you want a real watersport experience staying at a place where the managers and owners can help you with local knowledge, you know where to go to.

Oh, and here’s some of the recent tripadvisor reviews about Swell Surf Camp.

See you in the water soon (keep in mind to book months in advance if you intend on staying at Swell, we fill up quickly)

Hasta pronto

team Swell Surf camp Cabarete, Dominican Republic

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

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

I went out for one of my best Stand up paddle boarding (SUP) sessions that I ever had.
Rode my smallest Starboard 8’5” ‘Pocket Rocket’ and caught some beautifull and big 1,5 to double overhead waves. Only 2 other people out on the ‘secret’ reef here in Cabarete.

Here’s some pics that Clare took of me Paddle surfing.

Empty wall ahead of me.

Good left hander on the reef

Good size drops

This whole week looks like were are going to get epic surfing conditions from Hurricane Igor.
I’ll keep you updated here.
hasta luego
Jim

Or do you want to have a comfortable surf holiday with nice beds, clean surroundings and have surf lessons from an instructor that actually knows how to surf (in fact surfs very well)?

OK, in the last paragraph I am talking about our place and the first example, well a few people in this town know who I am referring to.

Here’s some pictures we took this morning of our guests, most of them went surfing. Some of them are already very experienced, some of them are completely new to the sport of surfing. One thing they had in common, they all had a blast.
The waves were small today at Encuentro, but it was glassy, not very crowded , warm, and mostly sunny, until one cloud came and brought spectacular rain and rainbow with it.

Luciano was working hard again as well giving the surf lessons

Mother and son going surfing together

The whole family surfing togther:

Jay showing off his California style:

The youngest family member, but he rips it up in the surf:

Swell surf camp and the dogs:

More fun summer surf on the way this week, Swell is pretty much fully booked for the next weeks, so should be very good vibes and hopefully some good waves for the surfers and some wind in the afternoon for the kitesurfers.
Going to cabarete on a surf holiday? Don’t be fooled by imitators: Swell is the only purpose built surf camp in cabarete; by and for surfers.

Http://www.swellsurfcamp.com

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.

We had a group of surfers last week and they had some energy left after the excellent morning surf so they went out with us for a 1,5 hour introductory SUP lesson.
We teach at Cabarete bay when the water is flat and not much of a shorebreak to keep the SUP lesson fun and safe.

First some instruction on the land about stand up paddle boarding safety and procedures etc.

Getting in the water.

First paddling on the knees, than the trick to stand up straight.

And off you go, first time standing up on a SUP board and immediately good posture for Debby.

And here’s some stand up paddle pictures from this summer when I was out by myself as usual in Cabarete Bay

How good does this wave look for stand up paddle surfing in cabarete:

No crowds, no hassle, fun SUP in the Caribbean

For the people that already know how to SUP, we rent our boards as well, we have SUP boards in our rental pool, 2 x Naish 11’6”, 1 x 11’4” and 1 x 8’5” Starboard Pocket Rocket, we have 3 carbon paddles and 1 allow adjustable Naish paddle.
I think it’s safe to say that Cabarete is become THE SUP destination in the caribbean, we have the flat water in the lagoon like Punta Cana but also the waves on the reef to play with. Come and join us.