How will Baleal Surf Camp act in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Baleal Surf Camp was established in 1993 in Peniche, Portugal.
During all these years, we’ve always tried to convey to our customers and friends, from the 4 corners of the world, a genuine love for surfing, the unique sensation of sliding on the surface of the sea, driven by the force of the waves! And the possibility of meeting people from all over the world, driven by the same desire for freedom and camaraderie that the unique spirit of surfing provides!
We are currently facing the challenge of our lives since the Covid-19 pandemic decisively impacted the way we did business.
One thing is certain, though. The waves continue to roll every day, our staff remains active and eager to welcome you, our beach bar and surf centre is intact and Baleal Surf Camp will survive this situation and will remain a reference surf camp in Portugal and around the world!
And you will continue to have an unforgettable surfing experience!
Our guests and workers’ Health and Safety come first!
We’ve made several important decisions to safeguard the health and minimise contamination risks for all our customers and friends wishing to visit us who, at the same time, naturally, want to make sure they will be kept safe. Trust is only gained with a real and credible notion of security.
We’ve adhered to the Clean & Safe certification, under the supervision of Turismo de Portugal [Portugal’s Tourism Board], thus following the strict specifications it requires.
Our staff will be properly prepared and informed to receive our guests according to the new reality we face. The Baleal Surf Camp staff has received specific training to bring them up to date on the best practices according to the official information outlined by the Portuguese Directorate-General of Health.
We regret that, sometimes, all the preventive and sanitary measures can cause some inconvenience and delays in the operation of the various activities available at Baleal Surf Camp. However, it’s important to point out that all these changes are legally mandatory in Portugal, in the end serving to mitigate any possible contamination.
Below we list the various changes that Baleal Surf Camp has implemented, in its various areas of operation and in its different spaces, to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic.
What kind of accommodation is available?
- We’ve decided to use only the private apartments. We have 5 apartments with capacity for 2 people – up to 6 if the extra beds are used. Only people travelling together can stay in the same apartment.
- It won’t be possible to stay in our villas and in our second hostel. Why? We believe it won’t be safe to lodge people travelling from different locations in the same house, at the same time, sharing common areas such as living rooms, kitchens, and bathrooms.
- Exceptionally, we’ve kept our Baleal Hostel open, with capacity for 14 people, should a large group of people arrive together and need a large house as common accommodation.
Where is the Baleal Surf Camp reception?
The Baleal Surf Camp reception will remain at the Baleal Hostel. Our reception staff, working in an enclosed space, will wear masks at all times. In fact, this is a mandatory procedure for our clients, as it applies whenever we enter or stay in a public indoor space with common access. Due to the recommendations from the Portuguese Directorate-General of Health, a 2-meter distance between people in enclosed spaces must be kept. This means that there can only be one customer at a time in our reception area.
How do we sanitise the houses? What kind of sanitation procedures will we have?
Baleal Surf Camp is a company that takes sanitation and quality hygiene issues very seriously. Our customers have, in fact, proven this by awarding us a TripAdvisor rating of 4.5 out of 5. However, by joining the Clean & Safe Certification by Turismo de Portugal, our customers are guaranteed the highest standards of sanitation and disinfection of the accommodations, safeguarding all necessary sanitary procedures. We’ve created a protocol and a contingency plan defining the parameters and sequence of measures required, and our cleaning staff will follow this plan in a rigorous and professional manner.
How will you proceed regarding the various surfing equipment?
Wetsuits – In order to avoid possible contamination, we strongly advise our surf camp customers to always wear the same surfing wetsuit during their stay with us, taking it with them to their accommodations every day, and bringing it back clean the next day.
At the end of the week, your surfing wetsuit will be handed over to us, so we can disinfect it using an appropriate detergent (green detergent with active enzymes!). Following that, the wetsuit will be quarantined until it fully dries out and it can be used again on the following week.
Alternatively, we have an exclusive partnership with our Surfers Lab partner, offering our customers a 30 % discount when purchasing a new Ocean & Earth surfing wetsuit.
Surfboards – After each use, our surfboards will be properly disinfected with a water and bleach solution and, after a short drying time, they’ll be ready to be used again in complete safety.
At Baleal Surf Center, we’ll create a disinfection station, for both surfboards and wetsuits, for the proper disinfection of the equipment after every use.
After a drying period, they’ll be put back in the equipment station, clean and safe, in proper conditions to be used by a new student.
How will you organise your weekly surfing lessons from the surf camp programme?
Clients staying at our surf camp, namely in our private apartments, will have a surfing instructor exclusively for common users staying at this accommodation.
We believe that the best way to avoid large gatherings of students from different accommodations is to separate the groups by a criterion of stay in the same accommodations.
The 4/1 ratio we’ve always use at Baleal Surf Camp, of students to teacher, will remain and we will add one more surfing teacher if there are very different surfing levels within that group.
The daily classes schedule will be organized in a way to allow groups from different accommodations to have their surfing lessons at least 30 minutes apart between the beginning of each session.
We’ve decided that, this summer, surf camp students will have a private space for them in our shipping container, located on the beach in front of Bar do Bruno.
This way, the entire organization and articulation of our students belonging to the weekly surfing camp programme will be assured, and the safety levels will be guaranteed.
How will you organise your surfing school classes?
In the height of summer, we’ll separate our students from the surf camp from students taking surfing classes, therefore not saying at our houses.
This is possible because, during the months of July, August, and September, we have a shipping container to support the surf camp activity located directly on the beach.
There is a spatial organization that allows for a physical separation between the two types of students we have during the summer.
The surf school students will, thus, have plenty of space on our wooden deck in front of our surf centre to get equipped and prepare for their surfing lessons.
We will maintain, during the high season, our surfing school schedules, at 9.30 a.m. and at 12.00 noon special surfing lessons for children and families, our last lesson being at 3.00 p.m. You can also have a private surfing lesson.
Is it possible to let surfboards and wetsuits?
Yes, it’s possible. With our sanitation station operating next to our beach surf centre, you will be assured that, when you receive a surfboard or a surfing wetsuit, these have been thoroughly disinfected and are safe to use.
How will our customers be transported?
We will continue the transfer from the Peniche coach station to Baleal and back. And we’ll continue our guided tours as part of the weekly surf camp programme. However, we must obey the rule of transporting only 2/3 of the passengers in relation to the vehicle’s maximum capacity, the front seats being reserved only for the driver. Inside the vehicle, the use of a mask is mandatory. In our case, since we use 9-seater vans, we can carry 4 passengers plus the driver. After transporting a group in our vans, we proceed with its disinfection.