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Is Cabarete Good for Beginners?

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Galeltic
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Re: Is Cabarete Good for Beginners?

Postby Galeltic » Sun Mar 03, 2013 2:42 am

Caesar wrote:
Galeltic wrote:Hola
como esta ? jajajaja
i was there for 3 wks at kitebeach hotel and i noticed that dominica local kiters doesnt respect what learner's way so they usually block them ... What ashamed on local kiters always think of own kitebeach is belong to hotels ... one local kiter got jump up air and almost hit me , also i saw learner's way where i stop and let her go but other kiter didnt get heed what i done then hit me and my kite got tangled with his kite then i released it and swam quickly toward beach to get kite but how nice kid got my kite then i got it ....... what heavy traffic there by domonica kiters ,who should go other beach to kiting ! yes good food at extremekiting cafe booth
Mate, wherever you go in the world, it is (almost) everywhere the same: 'F**k off- I'm living here and this is my kite spot...'
:(

Let's start another tread- "Most offensive kiters"
On top of my list is: El Yaque-Venezuela (((why? :cool2: )))

Cheers
Caesar 8)

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Re: Is Cabarete Good for Beginners?

Postby ashley » Mon Mar 04, 2013 12:41 am

It is tough to learn in cabarete but if you can get it there y hare good most places.
Just got back from three weeks there and what a great time. There is more space on bozo beach, just have have to get out past the shore break and all is good. Very choppy too but all good fun
Enjoy

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Re: Is Cabarete Good for Beginners?

Postby Galeltic » Mon Mar 04, 2013 12:56 am

ashley wrote:It is tough to learn in cabarete but if you can get it there y hare good most places.
Just got back from three weeks there and what a great time. There is more space on bozo beach, just have have to get out past the shore break and all is good. Very choppy too but all good fun
Enjoy

correct about bozo beach is better place for beginner but not much choppy in summer

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Re: Is Cabarete Good for Beginners?

Postby Oldfartkiter » Mon Mar 18, 2013 2:22 pm

Having learned to kite at Kite Beach in Cabarete I found the local kiters to be very helpful in retrieving my board and even my kite on many, many occasions. As a late starter (age 69) they seemed to keep an eye on me and render assistance when needed. If I can learn to kite at Kite Beach I'm sure the average person can. As far as the restaurants are concerned one just needs to know where to go to enjoy delicious food at extremely low prices. For example: Ali's surf camp, Gordito's, Mami's, La China, Dick's for breakfast, and The German Restaurant as well as many in Sosua.

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Re: Is Cabarete Good for Beginners?

Postby extremecabarete » Wed Mar 20, 2013 1:07 am

Oldfartkiter wrote:Having learned to kite at Kite Beach in Cabarete I found the local kiters to be very helpful in retrieving my board and even my kite on many, many occasions. As a late starter (age 69) they seemed to keep an eye on me and render assistance when needed. If I can learn to kite at Kite Beach I'm sure the average person can. As far as the restaurants are concerned one just needs to know where to go to enjoy delicious food at extremely low prices. For example: Ali's surf camp, Gordito's, Mami's, La China, Dick's for breakfast, and The German Restaurant as well as many in Sosua.
Glad you had a great time, and it's good to see that at 69 you are still learning new sports!

eXtreme Cabarete
www.extremehotels.com

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Re: Is Cabarete Good for Beginners?

Postby cemdev » Fri Aug 02, 2013 12:57 am

For beginners: (my opinion based on having learned in Cabarete)

Kite Beach gets very crowded. Nicely protected by the reef at the top end, so water is flat enough to learn easily. Water is too deep for your instructor to be out there with you. VERY friendly crowd, and generally will help with retrieving boards, kites, bodies if you get stuck out there.

Bozo Beach (just one beach over). Choppier. Much bigger kiting area. Less crowded. Don't expect any rescue here. Not an ideal place for your first few sessions on a board, but after that, consider it, I prefer Bozo over Kite beach just because of the amount of traffic.

You'll almost certainly learn more quickly in flat, shallower water, but TONS of people learn in Cabarete. It might take an extra hour or two of lessons, and it will be a little harder, but there's no reason why you can't do it.

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Re: Is Cabarete Good for Beginners?

Postby TheJoe » Fri Aug 02, 2013 2:14 am

Can you? Yes you can.

Is there better places to learn? Of course there is.

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Re: Is Cabarete Good for Beginners?

Postby Certeza » Fri Aug 02, 2013 5:51 pm

I also learned on Kite Beach in Cabarete. It is very crowded. The kiting area is about the size of 3 football fields lined up end to end, and there are typically around 100 kiters there each day. Maybe about 50-60 on the water at one time. Generally, this area isn't like that one island in the pacific where locals try to run everyone else out of the water. The locals in Cabarete are very friendly. Most of them work at the kite schools, or hang out at the schools during low wind with their buddies. If they were constantly intimidating the tourists, the many schools and instructors would be on their case pretty quick. Kiteboarding is the main draw for the region and tourism provides the bulk of the local economy.

The beauty of Kite Beach for a beginner is that the wind is typically constant, at a good velocity, and not gusty. It's hard for a beginner to learn in >30knot winds, and also hard to learn below 12 knots. Ideally, the wind would be steady at 20knots. I was there for a week, and for 6 of the days we had ~20knot steady winds from about 1pm-4pm. Before noon, it was typically 10-15knots, and after 5pm it was getting up to 25-30knots.

There are always people ready to help you out on that beach. Sometimes it is because they are just nice. Other times it is because you might be endangering others. There are literally 10-20 instructors on the beach at any given time, so there are plenty of skilled people to lend you a hand.

The food on the beach is NOT CHEAP. The locals cannot afford to eat at the restaurants that tourists frequent. Further into the city there are more economical options selling more typical Dominican fare (rice, black beans, chicken, plantains). Throughout the Caribbean, the Spanish speaking countries refer to what the locals eat as "tipico", "platos tipicos", or "comida tipica". Ask locals (those not working at a beach restaurant or hotel) for places that serve this type of food and it will be cheaper, but you might be venturing through areas that aren't as safe for tourists, especially after dark. If you just want good food at typical everyday America prices, some have already been suggested here for $7-15 per meal. The nicer beach restaurants will be $15-35. Don't expect to get a decent meal for less than $5 like some other places in the Caribbean.

Now for the negatives. The water is deep. Deep water means larger swells. Fortunately, kite beach has a protective reef that helps prevent really large swells with breaking waves, but the swells still get to about 2-3 feet, especially at high tide. So when you are learning to body drag off shore, the beginner will need to learn how to body drag with his head turned and not looking up at the kite, unless he likes to drink salt water. The next negative is that during the summer, the waves start to erode the beach away, and it gets very small for the number of people. For a beginner, this means that launching and landing on the beach are a bit more tricky due to being forced right up next to the trees that cause turbulence. Not a problem in the winter when the beach builds back up. The last negative for a true beginner is that the beach and dominant wind direction is oriented for goofy foot water starts. This is unnatural for most beginners who typically prefer a regular stance.

After learning there, coming back home and riding the flat freshwater was a dream.


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