Macao Surf Camp Review

After my trip to Surf Tours Nicaragua in October to learn how to surf I had definitely caught the surfer bug. I wasn’t able to get up at the time. I blame the ridiculously large waves and my ability to overthink things 🙂 I needed to try again and soon! When I found out that this year’s BCBD Transformation Retreat (a fitness retreat I’ve gone on for the past 2 years) was in Punta Cana I looked up the best surf camps according to Trip Advisor. I contacted Macao Surf Camp in Punta Cana and convinced 6 other girls from the BCBD retreat to come with me! It was ranked #2 out of 58 for Boat Tours & Water Sports in Punta Cana and had a 99% rating out of 511 reviews.

We booked private instructors for the cost of a group lesson at $95 USD each. We also paid $20 USD for photos & videos of our experience which was amazingly done. They got so many shots of us! It was definitely well worth the cost.

We started the day being picked up by Rafael, one of the camp owners, in the camp van and were shuttled to and from our resort easily. We got rash guards to wear in the water, and took cheesy shots on the beach. We got our lesson on the beach which started with how to pop up instruction, how to stand on the board and then safety rules. I love that I inadvertently found a Christian surf camp. They said a blessing for safety before we hit the ocean which was really moving for me and made me feel safe and secure.

Our instructors carried our boards down the beach to the beginner area of easy white water. Then it was like a high school gym class. They lined up and started pointing at us. We laughed and paired off with instructors. Then it was off into the water with us. I struggled my first few times to get up. So I did my standard knee ride…

And starfish wipe out!

…and then bam I was on my feet and so happy and so excited! I got to ride the board a few dozen times into the beach and was so happy & proud.

At the one-hour mark they feed us fresh coconut water, fresh coconut meat scraped out of our coconuts & a mini banana!

The instructors were fun and I had fun yelling my instructor’s name really loudly with different sayings: “Alfredo, I’m coming don’t worry about me.” “Alfredo get me a good wave!” “Alfredo take a selfie with me!!!” “Alfredo smile!” and “Alfredo, I got up! Are you proud of me!?”. My friend Katie, who was scared to go, but was a total trooper really rocked that board like a pro! We even got a high five-shot!

My only complaint is that we were really packed together as a group and we’re pretty much on top of each other. As beginners, it really scared us and several times I had to jump off my board to avoid hitting someone at one point my instructor almost pushed me right into my friend Erin but I screamed for him to stop. Other than that the positives outweighed the cons. The instructors were great and even took a post-surf selfie with me!

I definitely recommend this camp to anyone who wants to learn how to surf!