Adventure

Wind, Waves and Wellness in the Dominican Republic

By David Godsall

You don’t have to be obsessed with flying kites to fall in love with Cabarete. But it helps.

At the end of a rutted dirt track that runs about a half mile north from the main road, there’s a sign advertising the following: “Surf, Kite, Yoga.” I was at Encuentro Beach, the best surf spot in the Dominican Republic and a contender for best in the Caribbean, but I hardly saw anyone surfing. There were two girls from Spain taking a lesson and a family from Melbourne just messing around in the waves – nowhere near the crowd I’d expected. Surfers are early risers, and I’d arrived a little late after taking time to enjoy a very special mahi mahi sandwich at one of the places up by the highway. Still, if this was the best spot in the country, where was everyone? “Kite Beach,” answered Marcus, the German owner of 321takeoff, a local surfing and kiteboarding school. “Wind’s up.”

The north shore of the DR, near Cabarete, is a great surfing destination, with a rare combination of warm water, forgiving conditions and (evidently) small crowds. It’s also a wellness destination to rival anything in California or Hawaii, with veteran practitioners like Montreal’s Chantal Martin operating warm, welcoming holistic studios. And the food, a spicy hybrid blending Spanish techniques with fresh Caribbean ingredients and influences stretching from Peru to Japan, rivals anything in the islands. But none of these things fully explains why the area’s boutique hotels and beachfront restaurants are attracting more and more people every year. Turns out it’s all about the wind.

An ever-growing global community of wandering wind-worshippers has decided that Cabarete is where they’re going to get their kicks in the chilly months. (And by kicks, I mean flying 30 feet through the air hanging onto a huge kite full of warm Caribbean breezes.) Initially a world-renowned windsurfing destination, Cabarete has been colonized by kiteboarders. The sport, like wakeboarding with a high-tech foil-shaped kite instead of a boat, is an obsession that’s overtaken a rapidly growing number of board-sport enthusiasts looking for thrills that don’t require a slope, wave or motor. As the site of the most consistent wind in a warm place within a short flight from major North American hubs, the DR’s north shore is now the dominant winter roost for these strange, colorful birds.

Realizing I’d chosen the wrong sport for this particular afternoon, I headed toward the Cosmic Kite Lounge, a combination bar-restaurant-kiteboarding school, where local prodigy Alex Soto, one of the top competitors in the world, had me strap into a harness and go fly a kite. After a period I’d rather not disclose, I was out on the water and had my first chance to look back at Cabarete. This gorgeous beach town is only a 40-minute drive from the high-rise resort strip in Puerto Plata, but I couldn’t spot a building taller than five stories. Back on dry land, I asked someone tanned enough to have been there a while why the development hadn’t been more intense. His response, credible or not, speaks to the power of a passionate subculture to preserve the places they love: “Buildings block the wind, man.”

As I woke up the next morning in my thatched-roof luxury cabana at beachfront eco-retreat Natura Cabañas, I reflected on my options for the day. Another kiteboarding session, maybe? I could head down to the beach for a surf or go snorkeling on one of the many nearby reefs. I could even do a little yoga without ever leaving the property, since Natura hosts one of the top hatha instructors in the country. Instead, I went for a short hike in the hills to check out some of the waterfalls I’d been hearing about, then made my way back to my cabana to enjoy the signature “Natura Shrimp” in the hammock on my porch.

The lesson of places like this is that you really don’t need to be part of a subculture like Cabarete’s wind junkies to enjoy the fruits of their obsession. You just go where the wind takes you.

(David Godsall, editor of onAir, has recently added a new obsession to his list.)

TOP IMAGE: DREAMBUZ/HEGE HOLT
KITEBOARDING: THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC MINISTRY OF TOURISM
CABANA: COURTESY NATURA CABAÑAS