We woke up in Carvoeiro in our very nice room with a genuinely breathtaking view. The whole resort was basically one giant fabulous view. Our room had it, breakfast had it, the walkways had it. Almost everywhere you looked, there was cliff, ocean, and bright Algarve sun. The only exception was the construction happening below us, where they were building some kind of sea wall or walkway because apparently their little beach keeps getting washed away. But if you angled yourself just right, you could mostly ignore the construction site
We had breakfast looking out over the water, then headed out for our 12:30 pm kayaking tour. The meeting point was only about ten minutes away in the next town, but the drive was complicated enough to add a few extra minutes to the eta. There were steep little streets, sharp curves, and a few turns where the road dropped off just enough to make the rental car feel wider than it was.
We almost missed the parking lot, but eventually found it and still showed up about thirty minutes early. Then we waited. A few people were late, and the guide kept saying "we're like an airplane" and "we will just leave without them", but we did not actually get on the water until almost 1:00. Definitely not like an airline
Eventually, we got our kayak, pushed off from shore, and headed into the Atlantic. The water was cold, but the day was sunny with a few fluffy clouds, and the ocean postcard-bright turquoise.
We started with Benagil Cave, which was beautiful and also very clearly not a secret. There were a lot of tourists, though apparently still not as many as there are in peak season. After that, we moved toward a second cave with a much smaller entrance. The plan was to time the waves, follow the guides, and basically lie down in the kayak to squeeze through the opening.
The first guide went in. We were first in line, waiting for the signal. The second guide gave us the go-ahead, so we started paddling toward the entrance. Then two other kayaks came right up behind us, and suddenly the first guide started yelling for everyone to go back. The tide was too high.
This is where things got slightly spicy.
No one else in the group seemed to know how to kayak, and we were pinned near the mouth of the cave while everyone behind us tried to reverse without actually reversing. Kaylea was holding us off the rocks with her hands. At one point, she turned around and physically pushed another kayak backward because they could not figure out how to move. It was got a little stressful, especially when it looked like our faces were likely to be pushed into the rocks.
We finally got out of the cave entrance, recovered from the brief panic, and made our way around to the other side. There was another entrance there, still low, but not quite as tight. We had to use our hands along the rock to pull ourselves through. Inside, the cave was mostly dark and we followed our guide’s voice through to the main chamber. From inside, the first entrance we had tried to use was just a tiny sliver.
The guide seemed genuinely surprised. He said the tide had come up earlier than expected, which was both interesting and not the most comforting thing to hear while sitting in a kayak inside a dark cave.
We turned around and went back the way we came.
After that, the rest of the tour was much calmer. We explored a few more caves, many with holes in the roof, and in some places hikers were looking down at us from above. It was a fun way to see the cliffs from the water.
There was another couple from the States on the tour, Jess and Shane, who reminded us a lot of a couple we know back home. We fell in with them pretty quickly and agreed to take pictures of each other and send them over WhatsApp afterward.
The last stop on the kayak trip was a beautiful little beach area with arches and rocks jutting out of the water. A few French guys from our tour climbed up and jumped from a small ledge, but the water was way too cold for us. Our tour guides literally turned to look the other way during the cliff jumping. "I didn't see anything. Don't tell my boss." It was still the Atlantic, no matter how pretty it looked.
On the way back, Aaron got to chat with the guide in German for a bit. The guide was a big surfer and clearly loved being on the water. He was also very German in his mannerisms, in a way that made Aaron feel like his German practice had found him.
There was one other couple on the tour that we kept noticing. Every time we looked over, the girl was fully reclined in the kayak doing absolutely nothing while the guy did all the paddling and steering. Very princess treatment. Honestly, respect to her. But it was also fun being the strongest kayak in the group.
At one point Jess mentioned that her muscles were getting tired, and Kaylea and Aaron both realized we did not feel a thing. Yay for weightlifting and weekly rowing.
We made it back to shore, rinsed off, exchanged WhatsApp info for pictures, and headed back to the hotel. We changed quickly for lunch with the vague idea that we might lay out afterward.
At lunch, we ordered food and decided sangria sounded good. For some reason, sangria here only seems to come in a liter pitcher, which is approximately four to five glasses. This was a happy mistake.
We ate out on a balcony overlooking the ocean, stretched out on a lounger-style sofa, drinking sangria in the sun. Kaylea almost fell asleep right there, so we decided the responsible thing to do was go upstairs and nap off the sun and the sangria.
This was also when we realized the sun had won. Aaron’s feet were fine, but his shins were burned because he had rolled up his pant legs in the kayak. Kaylea’s shins were also burned, thanks to some uneven sunscreen distribution. Apparently the lower shin is where sunscreen discipline goes to die.
We napped for a bit, then got up and headed down for dinner. We took a tuk-tuk, and the driver showed us a boardwalk that led to a restaurant carved into the cliffside. We made note of that for later.
Dinner was at a Thai restaurant run by an Irishman and his Thai wife, because apparently that is exactly the kind of thing you find in the Algarve. The food was excellent. They did not have Thai tea, which was disappointing, but everything else was superb.
After dinner, we walked to a place called the Round Up Saloon, a western-themed bar with karaoke. Yes, a western bar in Portugal. Cultural appropriation had entered the chat.
It turned out that British people mostly like to karaoke to Frank Sinatra, so we stayed for one beer and then bounced.
We ended the night back at the hotel in the jacuzzi, then watched a movie in bed. It was a good Portugal day: a little sunburned, a little salty, slightly sangria’d, and very ready to sleep.
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