Cayo Coco Cuba 2018

Cayo Guillermo, Cuba - 2019

Friends and Family	Las Brisas, Huatulco	Visiting Pierre and Lynn
Biking in Italy	Cuba	Ted's best photos

The beach in front of our hotel
Once again Louise and I were able to join our friends Kirk and Barb from Nobleford, along with 25 or so other kitesurfers, primarily from Southern Alberta, in Cayo Guillermo, Cuba(Insert link) for two weeks of sun, fun and kitesurfing. This year, our friends Bernd and Angela (from Grande Prairie) also joined us, but only for the first week. We have known them for almost 30 years, but work and geography have prevented us from getting together as often as we would like. Possibly now that Bernd and I are both retired, we will be able to get together more often.	Pelican
The view from our room	We all stayed at the Iberostar Daiquiri resort. It now seems to have fully recovered from the hurricane which destroyed a lot of it two years ago. As always, the staff were extremely welcoming and friendly. Our first week was constant sun, light breezes and generally beautiful weather…great for anyone who is not a kite surfer. Other than an hour or so of wind when we first got there (late on the first day), and then a bit more - early the next morning, there really wasn't any great wind all week. The forecast kept promising some wind, but then changed. Even without kitesurfing, however, we had a great week.
After the first week, Bernd, Angela, and about 2/3 of our group headed home. Of course the wind then turned on like a switch and we had four or five days of very good kiting. I am just learning kiting, and it is slow progress because I don't get out often. It is hard to kitesurf at home because there isn't a good place to launch on our lake, and I am the only one there that kitesurfs; so I usually windsurf or windfoil when it is windy. The last time I kitesurfed was last year in Cuba. Soooo… it takes some time to get back in the saddle (or harness).	Winding up my lines after a good session!
Ted Kiting	My first attempt resulted in a big walk back up the beach after crashing my kite a number of times and ending up way down wind. From there, everything got better, and the last day, I really felt in control and could go anywhere I wanted. I keep thinking I will give up kitesurfing, but then I go out and have a lot of fun, and I think maybe I will give it more of a chance. I think the thing that makes Cuba special, apart from it being an amazing place to learn kiting, is the Southern Alberta Kite group and all the friends and socializing. It really is a special trip.
The wind shut down again the day before we left, so our last day was a relaxing day of packing and socializing. I hope we can make it work again next year. A big thankyou to Kirk and Barb for organizing it an pushing us to go! There are a few photos below, but there are more photos on my Flickr site here!	Louise taking an Aquasize class
Sunrise in Toronto on the way down	Crab Dinner
Louise and Angela The staff kept asking them if they were sisters! They are very much alike in many ways...	Coconut and Rum on the Beach
Kirk	Brent
Darren	Doug
Pam and Barb	Pat
Mariola and Mike	John
Ryan with Ian	Mike
Steve - who sails at Buffalo Lake!	Pat, Mike and Dale
Marc from Quebec City	Bernard, at 72 still windsurfs - learned kiting at 65
Birds on a dock	Ted Kiting
Lots of kites!
Sunset
Back Row: Claude, Pat, Lester, Dale, Brent, and Mike 2nd Row: Jamie, Jain, John, Bernd, Angela, Pam, and Doug 3rd Row: Adam, Judy, Donna, Barb Amanda, Louise, Lane, and Chris 4th Row: Char (with Jax - Jaxon), Gen, Dave, Kirk, ........................ and Ted Front Row: Ryan (with Ian), Matthew and Ella (Dave and Gen's kids) Missing from photo are Pat's dad Stan, Mike and Mariola, and Steve and Darren who joined us a couple of days later. Also missing are my new friends Bernard and Marc from Quebec City.


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