Waves & Dolphins
19/12/2011
Dear All,
Just wanted to share a little story with you, one of these experiences that put a smile on my face. Last week I got a call from Mike Bosman a fellow Dutchman and a great lover of all to do with the Ocean. Pedro he says we are going Paddle boarding on Saturday morning at 8o clock so we meet at 7.45 behind the Praça in Vale do Lobo. The man is mad I thought it's the first week of December, also known as winter and Sinterklaas just left town, everybody is walking up and down with Christmas Trees and Father Christmas is on his way down from the North Pole, we could hit an Iceberg.
But I went any way and on Saturday morning 7.45 I was standing on the beach in Vale do Lobo, whilst the Sun was rising over Faro Island. Mike arrived wearing some very strange looking socks, I think his Grandmother can actually knit individual toes and we got our wet suits on. A bit later James that owns the restaurant Breeze and Dick arrived. Here we are before 8 in the morning 3 guys on the good side of Middle age, extremely wind swept and interesting, ready to challenge the elements and even more ourselves.
But to my surprise the water was warm and the Sun was belting its heat with a fanatic effort. After some time of practise I heard somebody shout, look a Dolphin and yes there it was a fin coming in and out of the water. Off we went in the direction of the fin but all of a sudden there where more fins 3, 5, and 10 up to 20 shooting from left to right. The Dolphins where hunting we realised, fish where shooting out of the water and the Dolphins came shooting straight after them. We actually saw Dolphins jumping with a great big fish in there mouths, what a sight. But one thing I have to tell you in all honesty, you have no idea how big these Fish are until they are jumping around you whilst you are standing on a plank. All of a sudden you start thinking about that Whale that jumped on a sail boat and broke the boat in two. This whole experience lasted about 15 to 20 minutes and it was absolutely great. Than we surfed the waves, that where moderately small but look a lot bigger when you are standing on one, or at least we tried, but I am sure we all got some waves. Mike was hanging 5 and we had a great time.
After this James had his restaurant ready for breakfast so we all feasted on the full English whilst sitting on this terrace smack bang on the beach.
Now the reason I want to share this experience with you is simple, we all run around like mad being busy with no time to enjoy the little thing in life, but sometimes we just got to stop and think, what did I just do lets put this memory in a special box and open it from time to time, I call them feel good boxes.
I am sure you are all thinking, yes that must be great Paddle boarding between the hunting Dolphins but that is not what I mean. What I mean is there is nothing better than a full English breakfast after some serious exercise. Just joking you are right this Dolphin experience put a smile on my face and made me realize why I came down to Portugal in the first place and sometimes we just need to remember the small good thing in life to feel a whole lot better about who we are and what we do.
Now for those of you that would like to try SUP or STAND UP PADDLE give me a call and I will tell you when the next session is. We will lend you a board and a suit, just come down and give it a try.
By the way Breeze is open during the winter and they do some great food so go and check it out. Its on the Beach in the Vale do Lobo Praça and if you are lucky you will find some good looking Guys riding the waves and hanging five.
Go and make sure your smile box is full.
Again I felt the need to put the pen on the paper and tell you about my life.
And for all that live in the Algarve check here www.sierranevadapenthouse.com the rental information of a very Luxury and spacious Penthouse in Sierra Nevada, Spain.
Because when you mix the beach with the snow, your life will be in a good flow.
Have a Great Christmas and a Super Happy New Year.
Kind Regards
Pedro van Riet |
