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Never ones to miss a good surf party, Rincon locals and long-time friends, DC Shoes Sales Rep, Rene DiCristina, and Surf Caribe Contributing Photographer, Osiris Torres, were on hand for all the action.

The warm up slideshow was as of much interest to the crowd and the featured presentations.

On hand with featured photographer and Surf Caribe Contributor, Jim Crotty (center), were Terry Hall (left), and his wife, Kathy (right).

Standing room only for the Fresh Produce Tour at JD’s Café Teatro & Bar.

The packed house was glued to both of the two large format projection screens for the main event of the evening.

The good vibes were flowing all around the bar at JD’s for the Fresh Produce Tour.

Ernie Alvarez, and his significant other, Camille Splain, were stoked to see the documentation of last summer’s SUP circumnavigation of Puerto Rico.

Everyone in the house was amped to see some of the island’s best surf photography from the calendar year of 2010.

When the “Chris Dennis – Between Worlds” trailer hit the screens no one moved a muscle and remained glued to the imagery of this moving motion picture sneak preview.

Round about midnight Jomo Pemberton & the Jah Seeds Band hit the stage and the party really started rocking.

Despite minimal lighting equipment, Jomo Pemberton created an ambiance that was groovy on an irie level.

Jomo kept the crowd dancing for two solid hours.

Photos and article by Steve Fitzpatrick

Surfing slideshows can be pretty classic affairs. Loads of amped surfers all packed into a dimly lit space with grog and aphrodisiacs flowing freely to enhance the experience of reliving some of the best moments of surf captured by dedicated lensmen (and women) stalking the waters of any particular corner of our wave-soaked universe.

Legendary Australian surf photographer and former ASL (Australian Surfing Life) Photo Editor, Lee Pegus, summed it up well, “The best parties I have ever been to were some of the slide nights we used to run for ASL. But the all-time best slideshows were the ones Jeff Divine used to put together at the SURFER house at Log Cabins on Oahu every winter. We would all get a few slides together, and BOOM, it was epic!”

And so it was that Surf Caribe hatched the idea to create a similar event, but with more promotion, more visual entertainment, and a live band to stoke out the local surf community with the best surf photography from five of Puerto Rico’s top surf photographers. With the collaboration of David Dedos and Global Beat Sounds, JD’s Café Teatro & Bar was secured as the location, and Jomo Pemberton & the Jah Seeds Band as the musical entertainment.

With a selection of images from Jim Crotty, Manny “gOnzo” González, Angelo Cordero, Sara Díaz-Velarde, and Steve Fitzpatrick, the slideshow was of top-notch quality and the kind off which no one in attendance wanted take their eyes. Lots of hoots were heard from the crowd during the 15-minute presentation that was followed by a sneak peak trailer of the soon-to-be-released documentary film on up-and-coming Trinidad & Tobago local, Chris Dennis, and his 2010 assault on the WQS tour. “Chris Dennis – Between Worlds” followed the young upstart surfer during his day-to-day life on Trinidad as well as during several of his WQS forays in Brazil and other international destinations during which he rose to a ranking of 310 despite having absolutely no sponsorship of which to speak.

Following the film, Global Beat Sounds kept the wall-to-wall crowd entertained before Jomo Pemberton & the Jah Seeds Band hit the stage right around midnight for two 45-minute sets that had the full house swaying to original reggae beats and covers of many classics.

Gracing the walls of JD’s throughout was the work of another up-and-coming talent in the Caribbean surf scene, artist Fiore De Castro, whose depiction of Kelly Slater’s signature hack during his semifinal heat of the recent Rip Curl Pro Search seen in so many photographs both in print and online was a central topic of conversation throughout the evening.

With so much entertainment and good vibes flowing during the event, it was 2:00 am before the band stopped playing, and as the party spilled into the JD’s parking lot 4:00 am arrived before anyone realized the sun would soon be rising. And as the crowd filtered into the parking lot at JD’s the good vibes of the first stop on Surf Caribe’s Fresh Produce Tour went along with each and every person in attendance and continued to propagate throughout the following day.

But none of the good vibes of the Fresh Produce Tour could have been possible without the generous support of the sponsors that backed the event. On behalf of Surf Caribe, JD’s Café Teatro & Bar, Global Beat Sounds, and Jomo Pemberton & the Jah Seeds Band we would like to extend our most since thanks to Ramey West Extreme, Paco’s Mexican Restaurant, Gaya, Freestyle Watches, Natural Awakenings, DC Shoes, and One Ten Thai for their belief and confidence in the Surf Caribe mission.

The next stop on the Fresh Produce Tour is still undecided and in production, but stay tuned to Surf Caribe for all the details as they become available and don’t miss your opportunity to witness the best surf photography and videography to be seen anywhere in the Caribbean and groove to the beats of some of the region’s top musical talents.