Surf, Spirit, and Justice
Reclaiming the Ocean for Dominican Women & Girls
Our Story
In the Dominican Republic, the ocean has been a space of exclusion from colonial history to modern-day tourism. While surfing thrives here, Dominican women and girls are often left on the shore. Yemaya Surf was founded in 2021 to change that. We combine surfing, Afro-Indigenous spirituality, and environmental justice to create healing, equity, and climate action.
Our mission is to create space and opportunity for Dominicans, especially Black & Indigenous women and girls, to reclaim their right to the ocean through surfing, cultural reconnection, and climate justice.
Why Yemaya?
Named for the Orisha of the ocean, Yemaya represents nurturing, resilience, and ancestral strength. Like her, we protect and empower our communities through the sacred power of water.
Our Founder
Hola, I’m Ysanet—I am a mother, a community organizer, a racial justice facilitator, daughter of the Caribbean, and founder of Yemaya Surf.
My journey with climate activism began ten years ago in New York City but five years ago I moved back to my native country of the Dominican Republic where I learned to surf in the coastal town of Cabarete. However, when I looked around in the water or the shore I saw no women who looked like me, my mother, or my aunts. The only Dominicans in the water were male instructors working for foreign tourists. No one spoke of Yemaya, our ocean Orisha. No one connected surfing to our right to protect these shores.
That’s why I created Yemaya Surf so that Black Dominican women and girls learn to surf WHILE reclaiming the ocean as sacred space and climate justice frontline.
Our Work
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Surf Therapy & Lessons
Free surfing lessons & classes every Saturday for women and girls from marginalized Dominican communities. Our participants receive surfing instruction from experienced local surfers, emphasizing the connection between riding the waves, our emotional wellbeing, and respecting the ocean. We ensure to remove barriers that exist for locals to access the ocean by providing transportation, childcare, and post-surf snack.
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Ridge to Reef (R2R) Climate Justice Projects & Education
We host climate justice workshops once a month that trace the connections between mountain forests, rivers, and coral reefs—offering an ecosystem-wide view of environmental health and community well-being. Our most recent project has been focused on planting mangrove seedlings in the Lagunas de Cabarete y Goleta. This lagoon is the backyard of all the women and girls in Yemaya and it is in urgent need of mangrove forest restoration. Mangroves stabilize the Dominican Republic’s coastline, prevent erosion, and protect against storm surges.
The Ocean Belongs to Everyone, Help Us Reclaim It.
Support Yemaya Surf
The north coast of the Dominican Republic holds world-class waves—and a 500-year legacy of exclusion. Since Columbus landed in Puerto Plata, access to the ocean has been shaped by colonialism, racism, and gender barriers. Today, Afro-Dominican and Indigenous women and girls are still told the sea isn’t for them, while foreign-owned resorts and surf camps profit from their ancestral shores.
At the same time, climate chaos displaces coastal communities. Hurricanes tear through homes, while deforestation and government neglect leave locals—especially women—to bear the burden.
Yemaya Surf flips this script.
We combine surfing, Afro-Indigenous healing, and climate justice to ensure Dominican women and girls aren’t just included in ocean spaces—they lead them.
But we can’t do it alone. For years, our founder Ysanet Batista self-funded this work. Now, we’re asking you to join the tide.
Your Donation Creates Ripples of Change
$50
Surf lesson for one girl
Like 14-year-old Ana, who overcame her fear of the water and now teaches others.
$150
Climate justice workshop
Funds tools for women to restore mangroves—their best defense against hurricanes.
$500
Sponsors 10 surfers for a month
The cost of wetsuits, boards, and trauma-informed coaching for a whole cohort.
$2,000+
Makes summer camp a reality
A week of surf therapy, climate education, and leadership training for 30 girls.
Every year, rising seas and tourism gentrification push Dominicans further from their coasts. But with your help, we’re..
✅ Training the DR’s first generation of Black women surf instructors
✅ Planting mangroves to shield vulnerable neighborhoods
✅ Proving that justice in the ocean starts with joy