From: KOD
Date: Sat Feb 22, 2003
Subject: Dominican Republic Recap
Hey Kooks!
Kudos to you chargers who braved the blizzard’s epic conditions. Whoo
Hoo pretty scary. The Dominican Republic is beautiful winter
surf destination. It compares favorably with Puerto Rico, with
generally friendlier people and a pretty much non-existant surf
hype and hassle.
Fringnut showed me the way to Encuentro where he was
shacked up at the Cocoanut Palms resort. For the first week I was in
Puerto Plata which is about a 40 minute drive from Sosua and Cabarete
where most of the surfing takes place. The latter towns are
internationally famous wind and kite surfing destinations but there is a relatively small number of wave surfers.
I surfed some outer reefs at Playa Dorado in Puerto Plata right off the Paradise Beach Club Resort
where I was staying with hordes of Canadian Jean Guy types.
I became somewhat of a novelty because the local beach guys
claimed they had never seen anyone surf the outer reefs
before. I was alone so it was a bit spooky paddling out a
half mile across the lagoons and then surfing the 3-5 ft surf
by myself. The winds come up pretty strong around mid
morning most days so the best surfing was early.
There were some more extreme looking reef passes but I stayed on the
more mellow rolling ones since I was solo, in one session
venturing onto a more lined up left section for a while.
Tourists and locals on skiffs would drift and watch me surf
for a while as a curiosity.
The surf at Encuentro was a lot more accessible once you got the beach with a nice channel up the
middle of the left and right breaks which coincided in the middle and
looked like it might even close out on a big swell. The left hander
on the Pt. was pretty hollow and a little sectioney. The main reef
break was predominantly a right hander and pretty mellow. Size got up
to around 6-8 Ft. on a couple of days.
Commuting to the surf at Encuentro was somewhat of a hassle with the Dominican style of driving
around tour bus eating potholes into oncoming traffic. Every trip
became a bit of an adventure so when my flight was cancelled due to
the blizzard I relocated to the “Breezes” resort which was about 3
miles from Encuentro.
There I discovered a private left hander that I surfed a couple of mornings solo. It was alot of fun and was a little
smaller and mellower than the left hander at Encuentro, plus I had it
all to myself! Waves were consistent in the chest to head high range
throughout the trip, with bigger days mixed in, on the trade wind
swells. The surf wasn’t as clean as on the West coast of PR but the
lack of wave competition and mellowness of the scene was perfect for
the 40-something surfer who wasn’t in the best of shape.
I surfed a couple hours almost every morning and then at the “Breezes” Resort in Sosua in the afternoons I took up with the circus by participating in
their flying trapeze clinic for three days. I was invited to
participate in their first trapeze show of the season where I was
successfully caught and then got some rope burns crashing
while attempting a double back flip dismount. With the flying trapeze
and rock climbing pillar for afternoon fun and terrific entertainment
and all inclusive food “Breezes” in Sosua gets my nod for tops in the
area. Also checked out “Hideaway Beach” which was OK and the
Frincter’s choice “Cocoanut Palms” which was very nice. If you don’t
need the luxury digs there are plenty of dives and lesser hotels and
motels in Cabarete. Do it kOOKs!
- KO3
