Day 13: Black Sand Beach

We found it! There exists a tiny little stretch of black sand near Prainha that we enjoyed today. We packed up our usual beach necessities and settled in for a long day in the sand.

The first thing all of us white sand beach natives discovered… black sand is HOT!! Yikes! You can’t stand in the sand barefoot for more than a minute or your feet feel like they are on fire! But as the clouds rolled in and the sun moved toward the west, the temperatures dropped just enough to make the sand a nice place to warm up after a long swim. And the kids definitely had fun with that.

The rocks here were big and smooth – not anything like the black lava rocks we’ve grown accustomed to the last couple weeks. Ashley spent a lot of time snorkeling around taking pictures. I think she might need her own blog to share all of her cool underwater pics. Here’s a few favorites:

We all spent a bit of time on the paddle boards again today. With the calmer waters today, it was so nice! Tyler and I took a long paddle along the coast. Jim and Ashley took their turn as well. Hard to beat the view of Sao Jorge Island as you paddle out and then the lush green landscape with just a few houses sprinkled here and there as you head back in.

 

 

Andrew was quite bold in his life jacket and several times went for a short ‘swim’ – all on his own!

And just in case you’re wondering what I do at the beach all day – towel? Check. Kindle? Check. Kids buried in the sand so Mom can enjoy some reading time? Check. Check.