TRAVEL SEA & WATER - dominican republic cabarete viva wyndham

Cabarete, a 24/ 7 spot for sports and entertainment

July / August 2011

Our adventure in the Dominican Republic begins with the landing at La Romana airport. Despite the frantic search for a cheap flight over there, the best option was to take advantage of a complete package by Margo'-Eden Viaggi (Italian tour operator), with 2 weeks in Cabarete at the Viva Windham Tangerine resort (in all inclusive) and a week off in Boca Chica.

After 9 hours of flight, we approached the long transfer to Cabarete with  truly holiday spirit and during the 5 hours we were able to admire the lush green island (surprisingly for ours expectations), with its mountainous interior and its poor and remote villages. Starting from scratch, we began to understand the Caribbean spirit also experimenting the reckless driving local style (unrespectful of almost every rule) in the streets of the capital town of Santo Domingo.

Once we met the usual tourists’ curiosity and crossed a 1000 m. altitude mountain pass, we reached the north-east coast of the island. We checked into the resort ready to spend our last stamina drops for a quick dinner and a restorative night's sleep.

Tagged as early birds due to a different time zone, we woke up with the sunrise and enjoyed the first view of the Caribbean Sea and the beach of Cabarete. The first breath was imbued with a sense of peace and relaxation, topped by the energy coming from the waves and the sharpness release of the morning breeze. 

The Cabarete bay is illuminated by a long stretch of white sand, crescent-shaped, fringed with palm trees, enclosed by a coral reef that, in linking the two promontories, is forming a huge natural basin filled, from late morning to night, by fans of SUP (stand up paddle), Sailing, Catamaran, Body Boarding, Kite Surfing and Wind Surfing.

A melting pot of human beings, where different races and skin color, are linked by a common passion for the wind and waves.

The breeze blows in the morning, to become more sustained and stable, up to 25 knots in the afternoon (the most windy months are July and August), with wind and waves side-shore in front of the town of Cabarete and on-shore in the center of the bay, where the Viva Tangerine  village is located.

To rent windsurfing equipments, we recommend the rent-center of Franz, a friendly and competent German guy, who lives in the Dominican Republic since 20 years ago and speaks 4 languages. It can be found on the beach at the beginning of the town, in less than 5 minutes walking from Viva Tangerine (rates: $ 20 an hour and 50 all day). For kite lovers, schools are located on both sides of the bay, but the lessons offered are very expensive (60-70 $ per hour).

We advice you to sight of some local guys, highly skilled with the kite in the shore-break waves,  willing to negotiate some lessons using his stuff. We managed to find some sessions for $ 10/hour, but punctuality and commitment were very low. Aligned with a perfect Caribbean-style, he will teach you only when his desire to kite performing in front of the large audience on the beach, will be temporarily dormant.

After a day of sun and sport, for those who still have a lack of fun and energy to fill it up, it’s enough to go to the village to find on the way  pubs and bars along the beach to have a beer or a drink under the stars and the Ojo disco later in the night. It takes no more than 10 mins walking barefoot in the sand even on the way back at midnight, no one has ever reported security problems.

To visit nearby places, do not miss the “guagua” experience, public buses heavily used by locals for their efficiency and cost (be informed on the prices of each route and the negotiation will become quick and painless - 30 pesos to Sosua and 50/70 Puerto Plata). Sometimes in poor condition and full as you cannot imagine of people, the driver, on request will collect and leave you wherever you want as long as you are ready to enjoy a full immersion with local people instead of tourists. An alternative less adventurous and cheap, is represented by “carritos”, cars used as taxis recognizable not by the color of the car itself but by the blue or gray sign on the roof. A third option for the shortest routes, are “motoconcho”, scooters ridden by two or three people and ideal to reach beaches and places next to you, but with a higher price per person and less safe because of the 2 wheels and the weather you may find.

A must-to-visit beach is Sosua, just 15 minutes far from Cabarete, preferably in the morning and on week days (during weekends local people from the countryside are storming to the coasts of the island). There you can appreciate in almost solitude, crystal clear water with no waves, incredibly quiet, which allow you to enjoy a relaxing swim and the coral reef in the middle of the bay to see colorful fishes 200m far from shore. Behind the beach small shacks used as shops teem all over the places, bars and restaurants from which you can enjoy breathtaking views and colors in front of a Dominican drink or a larger meal (chicken or shrimps).

The surf dream seen in many films can be faced at Encuentro (10 minutes far from Cabarete), a famous beach where early in the morning surfers make love with waves and fans enjoy their performance  on the board. You choose who do you want to be between the two. The spot in this season is open to everyone, beginners included, three schools offer either lessons or board only. In case you are a  point-break fan or a surf master you may want to wait until October / November or the  unpredictable arrival of some hurricane in the second half of August, in both cases the waves can reach 3/4m height.
Finally, we tested the experience of deep water sea fishing, starting from the beautiful marina of Puerto Plata and sailing out in the open Atlantic for about 20 miles. With 7 lines left to the sea behind the boat, we fished a 7 kg Dorado fish and almost caught a merlin lost with the bait; thanks to the beautiful boat and a nice Italian skipper, we fully enjoyed this half a day ocean trip. The best fishing season is in any case autumn and winter.

Backtracking is not always suitable for all experiences, but certainly for a human being in search of energy, challenge and curiosity, Cabarete is for sure a point of reference to recommend also to those who gets it busy just by watching sports and activities, rocked by the freshness of the wind that doesn’t make you regret to have chosen the Caribbean in summer, waiting to enjoy the hospitality and the delicious food that this place has to offer.

Over & Out

baldeagle