The Dominican Republic has a lot of waves on a long coast. Because this was our first international surf trip with three kids, we were looking for something easy, and we decided that the first half of our trip would be in the epicenter of Dominican surfing at Playa Encuentro. We wanted to see how easily we could get all three of the kids out of bed, sunscreened, fed and out the door in a relatively short time frame, so we stayed at the El Encuentro Surf Lodge, which is right across the street from the reef breaks. This turned out to be the perfect choice. We now realized how important convenience was while trying to keep three kids 4 and under in control. It took very little effort to go surfing, because of our location and was the perfect way to start our first trip as a family of 5. We turned our double stroller into a makeshift surfboard carrier and walked right across the street to surf every day. Lots of the locals were honking and throwing shakas out the window as they drove by, in support of our efforts to haul three kids, four surfboards and two backpacks in one trip. Not only did we feel like a traveling circus, apparently we looked like one too! Playa Encuentro had waves every single day, from a few feet overhead to waist high. It had enough power even on the really small days to get waves on our shortboards. We were also close enough to visit Laguna Dudu, Playa Preciosa and Playa Grande. Not only is Cabarete a surf hub that is close to the POP airport, its also near a lot of radical tourist attractions.
For the second half of the trip, we had to rely on some local help. Once you go northwest of Puerto Plata (which is near Cabarete), there’s a three hour stretch of coast towards Haiti that is rugged, isolated and rarely surfed. Outisde of Cabarete, there are almost no surfers. We wanted to see more of the DR and go surf places by ourselves. I got in touch with The Search DR, a group of local surfers that have been surfing these isolated spots for years. Because we still wanted the convenience and ease, they recommended we make our base further north of Puerto Plata, near multiple point breaks. They took us to spots that aren’t on the map and they helped us navigate some pretty gnarly setups. Without their advice on where to paddle out and where to kick out, we for sure would have stepped on or duck dove into the thousands of urchins that are all over the reefs. Up north, we checked out the teleférico and 27 charcos, which were absolutely amazing.
Surf at Playa Grande 
Surf at Playa Encuentro 
We would strongly recommend visiting the Dominican Republic for traveling surfers, adventurers or just beach goers. The country is beautiful, the culture is interesting and the people are friendly and fun!
