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

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)

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

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.

• Steady tradewinds in the months between April and September
• For all level of windsurfers ( flat water and light wind in the morning, bump and jump conditions in the middle of  cabarete bay and the reef for wave riding and serious jumps for the advanced windsurfers.
• Abundance of good windsurf schools
• Great wind surf rental businesses
• Safe, no rocks or shallow reef
• Side onshore winds: something breaks you’ll come in safely
• Warm water and waves.

20 years ago windsurfing was all I ever wanted to do in life, things changed, I started surfing , then kitesurfing but recently I find myself more often on a windsurfer then with my kite surf equipment. Windsurfing remains a very challenging, physical and great sport.

The last 2 days I have been enjoying some superb windsurfing in cabarete with my newly assembled ‘old’ equipment. Solid 20 knots wind and some shoulder high waves made a great arena for practising my jumps and wave riding again.

So if you are into windsurfing and have nevere been to cabarete, come and check it out the summer, you will not be dissapointed.

Here’s some pics taken around Cabarete recently.

Windsurfer doing a frontloop at Encuentro

Windsurf equipment ready for usage at the master of the ocean in Cabarete

Another frontloop by a windsurfer at Encuentro

Oh and if you are coming to cabarete this summer, we have a purpose built hotel for windsurfers a few minutes walking distance to the windsurf beaches of Cabarete

More info at Swell Surf camp cabarete, budget accommodation for surfers, kite surfers and windsurfers

See you on the 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