I along with 39 other amazing women were part of the #JerseyLove social good retreat in Atlantic City about two weeks ago. Wow I still can’t believe it was two weeks ago already. Our goal for this trip….to bring back tourism to the shore! I recently read an article by PR Web that said together we reached over 5 million people with 80 million Twitter impressions! Seriously folks do you know how awesome this is? To have that kind of reach for a Social Good trip is a beautiful thing and shows the power of Social Media.

On Friday the 7th we headed over to D’Jais in Belmar for a day of fun in the sun. Only when we got there it was less sunny and more of a misty cloudy day. Some may have been bummed or worried we wouldn’t be able to surf but I was in heaven. The smell of the sea water, the cool breeze, the mist in the air and I swear I could smell the sand. It was all amazing and I was just too happy to be back near the ocean to be worried about anything. Alas I was not the only one who wouldn’t be swayed and there was surfing adventures to be had along with surf skimming. Are you wondering what surf skimming is? I had no idea until meeting up with Ben from D6 Sports. But I am getting ahead of myself. First lets talk about the amazing time we had while at D’Jais.

At D’Jais we all gathered around to present the Mayor, Mayor Matt with a $5,000 donation from the amazing D6 Sports crew for the Belmar Relief and Recovery Foundation. It was a very emotional moment for many of us there but a moment none of us would have missed for the world. I have never met a mayor of any town prior to this moment, but I am honored that I was in Mayor Matts presence that day. He was such an eloquent speaker and I absolutely loved that he thought of women’s and mother’s opinions when talking about cleaning up the beach and rebuilding it. Afterwards we were served more amazing food. You know the salad with the cranberries, walnuts and feta with raspberry vinaigrette that everyone has raved about for oh boy forever now? Yeah I tried it for the first time while we were there and I actually had two helpings of it. It was that good.

After lunch a few of us took to the ocean along with the D6 Sports crew and some surf instructors for lessons on using Hang Ten surfboards. While the adults were mastering the art of surfing the kids were having a blast trying out the D6 SurfSkimmer.

Our amazing group of instructors.

An instructor modeling the surf skimmer for us.

It was so much fun watching the kids concentrate on what they had to do and try try try as hard as they could to master the SurfSkimmer. One thing I personally loved about the Surf Skimmer is that it has the handle. Having that handle makes a huge difference in helping little one’s keep their balance while skimming along the water. And as your child gets older and/or get’s the hang of the board you can remove the handle for a more tradition skimmer experience. Ben was amazing with the kids by going out there and showing them what exactly they needed to instead of just telling them. I am sure that made understand what was needed to be done in order to master the Surf Skimmer all the more easier for the kids to grasp.

If you are a beach going family be sure to check out the D6 Surf Skimmer, and as an added bonus type in “jerseylove”  to take 20% off your board. If you’d like to learn more about D6 check out their Facebook page, Twitter and Website for all of the latest news. 

If you are in interested in learning more about D’Jais you can find them on Facebook, Twitter and their Website. Also my friend Lisa posted a very touching post about D’Jais personal story and dealing with the after affects of Hurricane Sandy here. Also if you are local or ever in the area and are close enough to go eat at D’Jais may I suggest the Disco Fries. Don’t let the description scare you off, they.are.amazing! Seriously best fries I have ever had. 

Disclaimer:  I was not paid to attend this trip or to write this post. Lodging, food and events were provided by Caesar’s Entertainment & D6 Sports.  As always, all opinions expressed are my own.