I used them for Peru back in 2003. I'm glad I went with them instead of Wavehunters for this trip because the placed we stayed at was right in front of La Isla, the break you see here, which is a fun right hand wave.
I used Wavehunters for Costa Rica and El Salvador and was happy with them too, but for Peru, I would recommend Surfers Express. The place was called La Isla Guest House. Sandro is the host. The guy is Peruvian hardcore. It was like this almost everyday we were there, and La Isla was less crowded than the Pico Alto house that Wavehunters puts you up in. I'm sure they're ok too though. I've heard nothing but good things about Oscar at Pico Alto.
Lima is Heaven. Yeah you gotta be careful where you go, but I highly recommend getting a ride in (about an hour to/from the camp) to Lima and going out. We went to a ladies night at "Traffic", a nightclub in Miraflores (Lima). Beautiful girls with no snotty attitudes. Just real, genuine people down there.
You can't go wrong in Peru, no matter where you are. Yeah the water is cool, but so what. The consistent surf makes up for it. To the far left is "Contiki", a smaller sister wave that must be conquered before the famous Pico Alto around to the right, but packing some punch nevertheless. Pico Alto was breaking, but I didn't have the balls to surf this 1/4mile, offshore reef by myself, even though I was equiped properly with a 7'9"gun. Contiki was ballsy enough solo on this trip. Next time!
I trunked it for the 15 minute paddle out there with a sleeveless vest this day, but most surfers wore 3/2s, but I was fine for about an hour. Water temp in April was about 62F. Never got below head high for the 8 days we were there.
I am looking into taking a 3-5 day surf trip somewhere warm during the summer. Mexico, Florida, Costa Rica, Dominican, I really don't care where..as long as there is some nice beginner surf and relative safety. My budget is $500, any suggestions?
Go late summer. Temps are in the high 80's. Water is for trunkin it. For $500 you could stay in a campground for a week and still have plenty of money for hangin' out. You're likely to get some clean swell but not massive. Hurricaine swells can be epic if you get one. Stay in Buxton or Avon and you can surf both North or South of the Cape Hatteras. This virtually guarantees offshore winds on a beach somewhere.
My parents own a condo right inside north Dominican in a great kite/wind/wave surfing place called caberete. It is where i learned how to surf last year and where i cant wait to get back to this year. www.seasidesuite.com
Stayed at Cabarete Surf Camp for $20/night (back in 2003). A German guy name Alli owns it. You get breakfast and dinner included. The town itself has some nightlife and was generally pretty safe. You can hop on a moto for like $1-$2 roundtrip and one of the locals will take you on the back of his motorcycle (just hold onto your board for dear life!) to Encuentro, the local surfing hotspot. Tell them when you want to be picked up and they are there on time! I left my stuff on the beach with no problem. This spot has had some access issues as of late but I think it's still open. I think they want to develop it, which would be awful because it's beautiful and reletively untouched. Northern DR has more onshore conditions, but you can get it good early in the am, and it's alot less crowded than neighboring Puerto Rico. Puerto Plata airport is about 25 minutes away. Check for surfboard embargos before booking. The camp rents board, which is what I did for the 3 days I was there. Nice people down there.
KOA campground in Rodanthe, Outer Banks, NC has some fun sandbars to surf on. It's fairly reasonable with some nice restaurants nearby.
just came back from the dr bout a month ago,,,cabarete has great surf,,,surfed it alone 4 a week,,,solid 6-8ft and glassy,,,,,best sessions are early morn and late afternoons,,,,,sweet sweet beach break and not too many kiteboarders to jumbie your vibes,,,stay away from the kiteboarders,,,they dominate the coast,,,hit it hard and have fun,,,the exchange rate is,,,,24 pesos to 1can$,,,,and 30 pesos to the us$,,,and b vry wary of cabbies and professional girls tryin to haggle you 4 a buck,,,,find 1 cabbie and use him all week or as long as you go,,,they'll usually have a card or a contact number u can get,,,,,if u want post and ill send you a couple of numbers u can call when u get there,,,these guys were vry cool and helpful...
so go hard and have fun,,,,,and may the swell gods b with u
dont bother w/ wavehunters. you'll end up paying 2X what it would cost to do it yourself. locals will respect you more if you go it alone. a lot of locals are getting ticked off in central america because wavehunters adds vanfulls of inexperienced surfers to already crowded lineups that have no respect or ettiquette. they think that just because they threw down $1700 for a 10 day trip that they can take all the waves they want.
the surfex deals look reasonable, although it can always be done for less. package trips are good for short trips if you dont want to worry about booking the right hotel or hitting the right break on the right day.
