What is the first thing you do when you arrive at your hotel on holiday? You’ve got it, you run as fast as you can down to the beach to check it out. What colour is the sand, how’s the sea, are there any shells and sea weed, any crabs or little fishes, and has any one built a sandcastle yet?

If you are staying in the north of the Dominican Republic your sand is going to be a dark golden colour and if you are holidaying in the south of the island your sand will be a white colour. The sea on the north coast is a dark blue colour and usually has lots of great waves to jump in and out of while the sea on the south coast is a light blue, transparent colour and is very flat and shallow which is great for walking and wading in for miles around.

This is because the north is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and in the south is surrounded by the Caribbean Sea!

Sandcastle Building

What you will need..............

Sandcastles are a great way for your whole family to become involved in a fun project. Even your little baby sister or brother can join in too!

Remember there is no wrong way to build a sandcastle, but if you want to truly build the sandcastle of your dreams then there are a few tricks of the trade that are worth knowing about…..

Getting Started

Top Trick
The most essential ingredient of any good sandcastle is water.Dry sand is simply impossible to work with and will not mold or stand up. Water will act as glue for your sand and bind together the individual sand grains to allow your sculptures, turrets and molded sand to stay in place and hold its shape.

First: Location, location, location...........
Find a level sandy area along the shore, not too far from the water but not too close either as you don’t want your creations to be washed away by the incoming tide.

Second: The Base/Platform
When you have your spot, pour several buckets of water onto your location. Next over your wet spot create a sand pile that is a good few feet high and keep soaking it with buckets of water. Pack this all firmly with your hands and squeeze out the excess water. Now you have the perfect platform for your castle...........

Third: The Central Tower
Usually the central tower is in the middle of your platform and is the highest of all your towers and the biggest. Leave your buckets and pails alone for just a minute because you are going to make this tower with your hands. Remember the sand needs to be very wet; this will shape and glue your tower so it can eventually support its own weight.
Using your hands make a patty or hamburger shape of very wet sand, it needs to be several inches thick.  Shape the sand patty/hamburger in your hands, leveling and making it a thick flat round shape.  This might take a couple of times getting used to as the sand will be quite wet and gooey. Place your patty/hamburger in the middle of your platform. Next make a new patty/hamburger but slightly smaller than the first one and put this gently on top too and so on and so on until you have a tall tower.  It should be thick at the bottom and have a wide base then taper towards the top. As you are building your tower, gently with your hands smooth over the sides.

Fourth: Towers:
Towers can be clustered around your central tower in any random pattern or geometric design like a star shape for example.  The towers then become the anchor points for all your walls.

Fifth: Walls:
Walls are great to build and they connect all of your towers together giving your sandcastle its classic castle shape.  It's best to use your hands for the walls.  The easiest way is to get a clump of wet sand in your hands and gently press your hands together to squeeze out the excess water and then place the clump where it is needed to make your wall.  Keep on doing this with lots of clumps of wet sand to build a strong sturdy wall.  Remember to make your walls thick and strong they should be wider at the bottom and as you make them higher taper them off a bit.

Sixth:Arches:
Arches are brilliantly simple to do. Choose one of your walls you would like to be made into an archway.  Just gently tunnel your way through the wall at its base. Then carefully enlarge and shape the opening into the form of an archway. Using your plastic knife shave off the excess sand to make your archway. Shaving is easier and gentler for the sand rather than your hands.

Seventh: Ramps:
Ramps are built like the walls and can easily be turned into stair cases too. Steep ramps make good staircases, just carve out the stairs using your plastic knife. Gentle ramps can be made into walkways or moats around your castle.

Get Building!

Tools of the Trade

Remember sandcastles are gentle constructions and using a plastic spoon to scoop away sand or a plastic knife to shave and carve shapes and stairs is often better to use than your own hands.  Keep a few in your pail or buckets, even plastic straws can be used for etching patterns and designs on your turrets and walls or a plastic pen.

A plastic fork is great for scraping along walls and turrets to give a textured exterior. Decoration Ask your whole family to join in and scout along the shoreline and beach to find anything that can be used to decorate your castle. Pebbles, shells, feathers, seaweed, little pieces of driftwood, the choice and design are all down to your special vivid imagination.

Sandcastle building is fun for the whole family and can keep you occupied for more than a few hours on a hot sunny day. Remember your sunscreens and hats.  Bring your camera to take a photo of your masterpiece and remember that you can always build a bigger and better one tomorrow and that the fun in doing it is what gives you and your family the joy of being together.

IMPORTANT SANDCASTLE INFOMATION

Don't forget if you’re are going to the north of the Dominican Republic in February, then remember that in the town of Cabarete usually around the 18^th there will be a huge sandcastle building competition on the beach and you can watch the true professionals at work. Castles, pyramids, sky scrapers, mermaids, boats, motorbikes, lions and tigers, dolphins are just some of the amazing sand castles and sculptures you’ll get to see!!

Send us your Sandcastle Photos

Send your sandcastle photo to The Editor at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , with your name, age and which hotel you stayed in and we'll add it to our "Sandacastle" photo album so you can show all of your friends and family !