5/27/06--Word from the front

 

We arrived in Cabarete about 3pm. No troubles with the flights. We skipped Miami Customs with the roundrip AA booking - bags were checked through. That was a pain last year claiming bags and waiting through customs. First sense of Dominica was the hot thick air. Hard to breath! Not sweating yet! The mariachi band was palying in the terminal to get us into the Dominican spirit.

Our arranged taxi never showed. The onlyglitch with Vela so far. We easily got a taxi to town. The Hotel Valero is again beautiful. Nothing like the ocean out your door and an infinity pool to cool down in after sailing. The wind was 20knts when we arrived, so we immediately changed, put on sunblock and walked doewn to Vela. Because we had been here last year, we skipped the orientation and got on the water immediately. It was 4:30 and we were getting an evening session.! We were on 100 litre boards with 6.0's and the waves were about four feet! A great fist session! Afterwards, we went right to dinner with the Vela group. We hit one of our favorite places, Alis surf camp. It is a large three story high thatched roof with seating for abut 40 people. We had awsome fresh grilled Dorado for about nine bucks! Lot to drink, and quite a party with the 15 others from Vela. Amazingly, there are about 10 people that were here from last years trip. It is nice to know some other windsurfers. After dinner, we went to our favorite place-- LAX bar. Several more drinks. We topped last year definitely!

Waiting for Sunday!

cio! Brent