I’ve been home almost a month, but I’ve only made it about halfway through our Portugal trip on my blog… well, all I can say is life is busy! 🙂

Let’s pick back up in the Algarve. We arrived by bus from Lisbon on Wed, June 18, then had our AirBnb switcheroo on Thurs, June 19. That brings us to Fri, June 20 – our sea kayaking adventure! It was an early morning for our crew – we had to arrive to the meeting location at 8 am. It was about a 30-min Uber ride from Ferragudo to Praia do Carvalho where we met our tour company, BrotheRootz.

We had a short hike down to the beach from the parking area. On the way down, we had to pass through a tunnel carved into the rock. After a short safety briefing, we loaded into our kayaks and were off!

Charlotte was my kayaking buddy for this adventure. Lizzie paired off with Ker, my mom was with Michael, and JR flew solo. We all did really well paddling and navigating the kayaks. I was very impressed with the girls – they pretty much paddled the entire time and never complained!

For much of the tour we paddled along the gorgeous Algarvian coast, in awe of the unique rock formations contrasting with the beautiful blue-green sea. But, the really cool thing about this tour was the caves!

We were able to enter in several coastal caves, including the stunning Benagil Cave. This is one of the main tourist attractions in the area. The Benagil Cave is unique because it has a circular opening at the top, allowing light to pour in the grotto. It was definitely worth the visit!

We ended the tour with a visit to these beautiful arches just a little farther down from Benagil, then paddled back to Praia do Carvalho. The whole trip was about 3 hours – a perfect amount of time.

Famished from all that paddling in the sun, we enjoyed a fresh fruit smoothie from a food truck back in the parking area. Then, we caught an Uber back to Ferragudo where we enjoyed an afternoon dip in the pool at our AirBnb.