Cabarete in the Dominican Republic is considered to be one of the best kitesurfing spots in the world. This is one of the main reasons why we decided to check it out!
Route: Tallinn-Brussels-Santo Domingo-Cabarete-Punta Cana-Brussels-Copenhagen-Tallinn.
Participants: 10 adults + 1 child + 2 babies.
Time: February-March 2018
Duration: 21 days
Every once in a while we plan a longer surfing trip somewhere far away and this year it was time to discover the Carribeans. As Cabarete is holding its position among the world top kitesurfing spots, we had to go and check it out. The planning of the trip was quite tiredsome as we’re a group of 13 and wanted to visit many different places. When we go that far we always like to get to know the country a bit more than just the surfing spot, which is the reason why we decided to go also to Santo Domingo and Punta Cana.
The beginning of our trip was exhausting due to the headwind from Brussels to Santo Domingo. Thanks to the weather our flight took 12 hours instead of 10. Nevertheless we forgot the annoying flight as soon as we stepped into the warm night. We had organized a transfer to the airport to pick us all up and take us to our hotel Tau Casa Conde, which is a small decent hotel in the downtown. As it was night time and we were all so tired due to time difference, we went straight to bed and hoped that children would get used to the time soon. Luckily we have such great babies that we didn’t have to spend the night in the lobby playing with them and they slept nicely till 6am local time (for us it was already midday).
The following morning we walked around Santo Domingo city center and some of us visited the Los Tres Ojos caves and park a bit further away. As it was warm and sunny (in Estonia we had minus degrees and snow) we were taking really easy. At 2pm we had tranfer waiting for us to start our journey to Cabarete. You always know that when you’re checking the duration from A to B in Google maps or even with the locals, you need to add at least an hour or two to get the real duration, but it’s still so annoying when the journey takes longer than foreseen. We arrived 2 hours later to our hotel not because we were making stops or anything, but we were going just so slowly. Crossing the mountains seemed almost impossible with the bus we had…
Anyway in Cabarete there are three main beaches – Cabarete, Kite Beach and Playa Encuentro. The Cabarete beach is the so-called main beach in the center of the village and used for both windsurfing and kitesurfing. The Kite Beach is only meant for kitesurfing and Playa Encuentro surfing. We decided to stay in Kite Beach as we were all kitesurfers and didn’t mind staying a bit further from the village center.
The entire time in Cabarete (14 days) we stayed in the Kite Beach Hotel which location is absolutely superb. It’s straight on the beach so no hassle with dragging the gear around. On arrival we were a bit disappointed as we had booked a deluxe apartment with 3 bedrooms, but the apartment didn’t seem as on the pictures and was a bit dirty. However, after some noise in the morning, they cleaned the entire apartment and fixed some lamps etc., so that it was fine afterall. We had our room right next to the pool and the cafe, and you could see the action on the beach from our balcony. Location wise it is the best place we have stayed on our trips so far.
The weather this year was upside down in Cabarete. As the first few mornings were rainy and the weather cleared around midday we asked the locals if it’s normal like this. They said sadly that not at all and they cannot understand even themselves how much it had rained this year. Still the light rain in the mornings didn’t stop us to enjoy our holiday. Probably it was even for the best, because otherwise we would have got sunburnt the first few days.
It’s typical for Cabarete that its quiet in the morning and the wind starts to pick up in the afternoon. Our first session was in the first afternoon in Cabarete and oh boy how tricky it was to get used to the conditions. The waves were somehow coming from mixed directions so that at first there were a couple of nice faceplants before we understood how it worked (had not seen anything like that before). The waves themselves were not that high making them bearable both for beginners and advanced riders. Yet there is a reef quite close by so that if you’d like some bigger waves, you head there. We, unfortunately, are still too afraid of them. Luckily there were no big breaking waves on the shore, which made it quite easy to go to the water. The water was so warm and not enormously salty, which made riding nice (no tingling eyes!). Fortunately there were no jellyfish or sea urchins!!! Having foilboarders around was unusual and took a while to get used to, because in Estonia you don’t meet them a lot and therefore sensing their movement was quite tricky. Must say still is. There wasn’t as much traffic as we predicted, therefore it was a good session for the first day.
The next day was our Estonia’s Independence Day – 100 years old. We celebrated it with our blue, black and white tricolore on a palm tree and some kiting. The wind was constant between 6-8 m/s. The second day on the water was more relaxed, but still good.
Most of our evenings we spent in Cabarete village, which is a small bohemian village with one main road and a beach full of restaurants. People are very welcoming, but we advise you to take care of your belongings.
The next two days, unfortunately, were zero wind days. We rented cars and went to discover Puerto Plata. Puerto Plata is the closest big city to Cabarete village. We visited the highest mountain Pico Isabel del Torres, which you can access with a cable car, and the 27 Charcos in Damajagua. Both worth visiting!
On the third no wind day (or as it seemed in the morning) we visited the Playa Encuentro where some of us tried so-called real surfing. After a couple of hours we had to return our cars and headed back home. It was great pleasure to see kites up in the air. The afternoon was another success – steady 6-8 m/s wind.
The following day we rented SUP boards and went to have fun in the reef waves. For us it was the first time trying to surf the waves with a SUP board. We had such a great time there! Would definitely do it again. The day after was another successful kiting day till the storm reached us….
Due to a storm in Florida, huge waves were heading towards us. In the beginning we thought it was just a joke, but at midnight when the first wave hit our beach and flooded the entire beach bar and pool area, we were sure it’s wasn’t a joke after all. We were watching the sea and waves from the pool area when the first wave came. It was something we hadn’t experienced before. The water was just coming and coming. Everyone started running and panicking. One of us even fell in the pool as got hit with a grabage can. Mighty nature!
Thanks to the storm the 4m waves welcomed us the following day. Unfortunately we are afraid of such conditions and stayed on the shore, but guys went to try. For sure for most of the kiters it was a fun day, but some needed rescuing. OK, lets be honest – some include also us. Our experience with very strong/gusty winds ended Anne-Mai sending her kite up on tree and Triin needed some help on water. Here we would like point out that when you try somebody else’s kite, it takes some time to get a hang of it and maybe the strongest winds aren’t the best conditions where to try something new.
It’s good that there are local kiters (true professionals) who head to save people right away, when they see that someone has dropped their kite in the water. They easily take your kite in one hand and head back to the shore and then head back to save the swimming person. On the beach you tip them as much as you think your life is worth 🙂 Two of our group needed rescuing and it was a terrifying experience any of them would like to have again. Yet for us it was amusing to watch enormously high jumps and all the fun in the waves…
The next day surprised us even bigger waves that had reached our hotel. There was no sand strip anymore, just water. The waves constantly hit our hotel, the bar and the pool were full of sand, the waves reached already the rooms. The owner of the hotel was running around with insurance company to capture the situation. Some of us were moved to other rooms, because the floors were already flooded. Although it was quite fun to watch the miracles of the nature, we were happy that we were leaving Cabarete on the next day. Especially happy was our 6 year old travel buddy, who got a really big scare.
All in all we were satisfied that we visited Cabarete and got to know the conditions over there. For beginners it is a bit tricky over there due to deep water and the waves, but for intermediate and advanced kiters it’s perfect. We expected a bit more windy days, but the weather is always unpredictable. It’s just the way it is.
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