Albufeira

Our day started early, getting to the dive shop for 8AM. Jo and Steve quickly outfitted us and we had our BCDs set up with enough tanks for 2 dives in their van within 30 minutes. Jo, a late 40 something, absolute badass woman was going to be our dive master for the day. She had come to Albuferia 18 years ago and after Steve taught her to dive, she then went on to become the highest certified diver in the Algarve region! I felt confident exploring new waters with her as our guide. On route to the marina, our excitement was palpable. Two Swiss women (one originally from my current North Vancouver neighbourhood!) and an older British man joined us.

The first dive site was only 10 minutes from the marina. It was called Pedra do Alto, max depth 16M, with 12+ meters of visibility and waters of 18*C. It was beautiful. We were joined by playful octopi, large squid (usually only seen 1-2 times a year), and innumerable tropical fish. The squid came so close to me that I had to move so it wouldn’t hit me! Vanessa celebrated her first dive fully certified and we explored under the waves for almost a full hour. The next site, Rocky, was just a ways further down the reef and had a max depth of 12M, 12+ meters visibility and the water warmed to 19*C. Another beautiful site with lots of eels, more octopi and one shy squid. Our team eventually ascended back to the surface. Everyone’s face was plastered with a smile as we chatted about all the exciting animals we encountered. A quick ride back to shore in the zodiac and we were back in the van.

Due to inclement bad weather, a tour later in the week was moved up to this afternoon, making this day filled to the brim with adventure. We had a huge lunch, then grabbed an Uber back to the marina for the next step in our busy itinerary.

We took a two hulled boat 40 minutes down the coastline to the Benagil cave region. Here sandstone cliffs are carved into huge caves, caverns, tunnels and where the stone is almost completely washed away, huge stand alone columns of red in the sea.

We quickly transferred from our boat to standup paddles boards and we meandered our way into the famous Benagil cave. ************

After soaking in the warm waters within the cave and taking innumerable photos, it was back on the standup paddle boards to further explore the coast line. We went through a cave, under many arches and cruised for over a kilometre before catching our boat back.

As we were just setting off, dark shapes on the horizon caught my eye, I pointed to the driver and asked “are those dolphins?”, he quickly put the boat into gear and zipped over to where I had gestured. A pod of 8 dolphins ** began to playfully circle our boat. They came within touching distance and seemed to be just as excited to see us as we were them.

When they were done with us and set off further our to sea, we turned around and headed back to the marina. Once again, exhausted and ready for bed. But first dinner! We had a quick bite at a pizza spot with lots of local sangria . Then off to bed for another day of diving tomorrow!Read more