Day 8-9: Some Downtime & Back to Prainha

We seem to be in a great schedule with some downtime at the house and then a big group outing with our friends. Yesterday was one of those chill days with a long quiet morning and late breakfast. Even though Festa is long behind us it seems we can’t get the kids out of bed before 10am (and typical Ashley is later than that!). It might have something to do with the 10pm sunset and late bedtime hour! But no complaints from Mom & Dad… this actually gives us a couple quiet hours to check in with work and read.

We have 3 ‘swimming pools’ within a 5 minute walk which we have appropriately named – Cais (near the commercial port Cais do Pico), Hidden One (to find the path, look for the gap in the wall) and Cold One (a bit chillier than the others because of an underwater stream). So depending on temperature, tides and winds we pick the best one. It’s oceanography 101 for the kids. Although we are still learning which is best in each of the various conditions and with the big swell and high winds yesterday, we made a trip to all 3 at some point during the day!

 

 

Last night we welcomed our second group of friends to the island, all the way from Balboa Island (Newport Beach). Griff’s sister Ginger and her boyfriend Todd, who happens to be a paddle board and surf instructor (lucky us!!)! So we were quick to try out the new paddleboard they brought along and did a late afternoon trip to the boat ramp for a few laps on the paddle boards around the boats anchored off shore.

Last night was family style dinner up at the Alkers house… pasta and red wine. Yum! We even got a visit from a local horse that happened to wander into the backyard during dinner (definitely not something we see in CO every day). Doesn’t seem to be too unusual around here - I guess we better keep some carrots handy!

A great night sleep and we were up and ready for another ‘rough’ day with the family. We ventured back to Prainha - definitely a favorite spot for our group! Here’s some favorite memories from today:

Tyler – spent almost the entire day in the water. He got some surfing lessons from Todd and was quick to try them out on the paddleboard and the small break near the rocks. Next time – sand beach (does that exist here?) and a nice swell and we’ll see how he does!

Drew – our ‘mountain goat’ finally decided to venture into the water. Life jacket on… and a nice doggie paddle swim all the way across the pool. Yay!

 

Ashley – getting the hang of her underwater camera. Snapping lot’s of pictures of the local fish, urchins, starfish and anyone else that’s willing to swim around with her! She also got another day of volleyball in – sand doubles with Jim as her partner.

 

Luke – “all of it” he says. He can’t decide what he likes best.

 

Jim – a nice long trip on the paddleboard with Tyler as stowaway. He also got his snorkeling gear out today and ventured into the ocean to see what he could find (no urchin appetizer for us today though).

 

Jen – what’s not too like?! Downtime in the hot sun, sipping a beer (Sarges), reading a book, hearing the laughter of the kids and enjoying these amazing views. Although loving the paddle boards and the ocean swims too!

Our beach day wrapped up at a local pizzeria. It’s the tiny white house on the left with the red/white curtains in the pic below. We had the entire back room to ourselves – with an amazing view of the water below and Sao Jorge island across the way.
 

 

Hard to believe we are already one week into our month here in the Azores. Many more adventures to come – we are making plans for the rest of our stay… a shopping trip to Madalena, possibly a wicked tuna fishing trip and a weekend excursion to Horta (on Faial Island) for their annual Festa. Stay tuned!!