Updates, The Season is Almost Over

As the surf season in Rincon winds down and we near our second year in Rincon, we've come to appreciate the seasonal aspect of Rincon as a tourist town and the impact it has on local business.  Many business owners leave town during the summer months and up until November, especially surf-related businesses.  Generally the surf season is November to April, but July is a big month for Puerto Ricans to vacation and Rincon is a big wedding destination, so the early summer months can be worthwhile for local hotels and restaurants, dive shops and other activity providers.


We work with so many tourist related businesses to promote Rincon as a tourist destination, but find ourselves looking forward to the days when the beaches are less crowded.   I can only imagine how the local Puerto Ricans surfers feel about it.  I've heard grumblings in the water and on the beaches before, but the tourism isn't going away and the town of Rincon and its residents, with some exceptions, seem to have embraced the tourist dollars.  I suppose Rincon is similar to the rest of Puerto Rico in that tourism is one of its fastest and only growing industries.

Lately I've been hearing about problems with local businesses on the beach wanting to monopolize the beaches, so that only 1 business could rent surfboards or give surf lessons on a particular beach.  The Department of Natural Resources issues permits for these businesses and is responsible for finding abuses.  If only one surf instructor can operate at Maria's Beach for instance, that is bad for tourism.  Competition fosters better service and more accountability.  I believe in regulating the businesses at the beaches, surf instructors should know CPR for example and food vendors should be responsible for keeping the beaches clean, but the permits issued by the DRNA don't address these issues, they just hand the key to the beach to the person with the most influence or connections. 

Permits should be required for businesses to operate, especially near the beaches where dangerous conditions and environmental concerns need to be addressed.  The process of getting those permits needs to be fair and transparent, the permits themselves should be limited, but should not create monopolies on the beach.  Rincon has many qualified, long-time residents who make their livings from the beach and enough tourists to support them,  it would be a shame to see small-town politics and petty jealousy spoil those tourists' experience.

Season's Around the Corner....

I've been away from Blogspot for awhile, working on other projects, so here's a few updates...
The hurricane season has been very kind to PR, so far, Earl brought a lot of wind and our power was out for about 24 hours, but for the most part Rincon didn't suffer much damage.  I know a few people had their power out for quite awhile 4, 5 days in some cases and that is a concern as the storm wasn't a direct hit, what's gonna happen when we get one that hits us head on?  There were lots of palms down on Corcega Beach and lots more erosion on all the beaches, but that's what storms do.

Igor went north of the island, but brought some fantastic surf to Rincon and all of the west coast beaches.  I hadn't seen Tres Palmas break like everyone says it can, but Igor brought it out.  See the picture above.  Not a surfer, I was able to get some nice photographs though.  Hopefully this is just the start of a big surf season.

People are starting to trickle back into town, the "snowbirds" who move between the states and here, you can see it on the roads and restaurants and bars.  I know the economy is everyone's minds these days and things are no different here in Rincon.  I have seen some new construction, most notably a townhome project near the marina and what looks like an apartment building down the street from our house.  Like most vacation destinations, Rincon is struggling to draw the amount of tourists it had a few years ago and businesses who thought those times would last forever will fall by the wayside.

When we came here last year I was surprised at how many businesses were for rent in the plaza.  This past year we lost 2 more, West Coast Surf Shop and Ice Chill n Grill.  Superfoods, an organic market and deli a few miles away in the Pueblo may be closing or up for sale and The Spot, a restaurant in the marina has closed with a new owner hopefully taking over. 

On a good note, there is a new Thai restaurant opening in Puntas called Ode to the Elephants and Club Nautico, in the marina has been remodeled and has much improved food done by the people who own the Shipwreck. Surfrider has moved their offices above and Rincon Sailing has set up shop there as well. The Black Eagle Marina will benefit from these moves, in fact already has as Surfrider has focused on cleaning it up and planting new trees. (see video here)  But I would really like to see our town Plaza revived.  The renovations completed a few years ago are being wasted by a lack of use, especially during the evenings.  More restaurants, art galleries, live music and events in the plaza will help change the perception of the downtown area of Rincon, but we need business owners willing to set up shop and we need a government that will work to bring them here.

The Rip Curl Pro Search Surfing contest is coming to either Isabela or Aguadilla at the end of October and will bring great recognition to the west coast of Puerto Rico.  Rincon may have been able to draw on its own history, beaches and surf in the past, but to survive as a tourist destination this town need to ride on someone else's coattails for awhile, be it Aguadilla or Isabela and while we're at it, let's pair up and promote all 3 towns as a destination for surfers, beach goers and people seeking a Caribbean experience without a passport.  The Porta del Sol, is how the folks at the Puerto Rican Tourism Company is marketing this area of the island and that's great, but their marketing dollars are spread between the other areas of the island as well, I suggest a tourism organization centered on these towns that have similar offerings and cater to similar travelers.  Maybe a good idea, but like most things nothing that will get done unless someone leads the charge....

Rincon.org

Rincon.org is the website of the Tourism Association of Rincon, TAR, and Cyndi and I are proud to say we are behind the new design of the website. TAR brings local businesses in Rincon together for the purpose of tourism, but it is also a great networking opportunity for new businesses. Cyndi joined with Rincon Sports Massage before we got to Rincon and has met a lot of great clients and friends as a result. Our business, 413 Geek was hired to redesign the website when the previous web designer announced a hefty price increase for the maintenance of the site. A redesign was long overdue, the old site had broken links, drop down menus and long, long pages that took forever to load. There was a lot of good information on the site, but it had been added to so often, it had become unorganized and redundant.
The website is the main benefit of becoming a TAR member and the old site wasn't serving its members as well as it could. Rincon.org has always been the most popularly searched site for Rincon, but we want it to be easy to get to and easy to navigate. But mainly we want to make the site to serve potential tourists as well as its members, listings that are organized, up to date and easy to find, important information, but not too much information, and photographs that show the beauty and fun in Rincon.
But I also think the website is just a start, there are things like the Rincon International Film Festival and the Mayaguez 2010 Games that local business owners can be a part of, but there needs to be organization and communication between owners, planners and back to potential visitors, TAR can be a big part of this communication. Cyndi and I are so excited to be able to play a part in the process. We decided a year ago that this is our town and we look forward to participating in the future of Rincon.