Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Visiting Cabarete, Dominican Republic: The Kiteboarding Capital of the World!

Cabarete, Dominican Republic is located just an hour away from Puerto Plata. We took a taxi and visited this little village located on the coast.  This small Caribbean town has the reputation of having the most fantastic kitesurfing conditions in the world.



Cabarete is a small town with a bohemian vibe. There are surf shops with all kinds of water sports equipment.  Young people are everywhere. Visitors from all over the world come to kiteboard and learn to kiteboard.  



Kiteboarding is a hot new water sport Cabarete matches with it perfectly. Accordingly, some of the greatest in this sport have chosen Cabarete as their regular training camp to practice the sport all year round. Cabarete hosts the largest kiteboarding event in the world during the third week of June. Most of the world's best come to Cabarete to compete in perfect conditions.  

Kiteboarding, also known as kitesurfing, is a surface water sport combining aspects of wakeboarding, windsurfing, surfing, paragliding, and gymnastics into one extreme sport. A kitesurfer or kiteboarder harnesses the power of the wind with a large controllable power kite to be propelled across the water on a kiteboard similar to a small surfboard, with or without foot-straps. 


There are several renown kitesurfing schools in Cabarete.  Kitesurfing schools provide courses and lessons to teach skills including kite launching, flying, landing, usage of the bar, lines and safety devices.  
We asked about basic lessons.  Basic lessons include three 90-minute courses on three consecutive days for $250.  By day two, you are on the water kiteboarding. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to devote to kitesurfing school, but it sure looked like a lot of fun!
 






Cabarete has other water sports as well.  We watched windsurfers struggle to get their boards into the surf.  Looks like windsurfing requires more strength and skill than kiteboarding.  







Cabarete has sailing, too. We saw a little regatta and watched the sailboats come in to the beach. 









The sailboats were hauled out of the water by strong young men using small trailers on wheels.








If you are looking for an action packed watersports vacation, Cabarete, Dominican Republic is the place to go!

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