Day 9: Drinking Tea & Surfing

July 13, 2020

Today is a bit more relaxed. Besides the 2nd surf course at 1:30 PM, there isn't much on the schedule.

The weather doesn't look very promising. It's very cloudy.

After breakfast, we drive to the tea plantation 'Cha Porto Formosa'. This is one of two tea plantations, but we choose the 'small' plantation.

Cha Porto Formosa

There is already a large teapot at the entrance

We buy 2 packages of tea for our loved ones at home and then have a look around the outdoor area of the small tea plantation.

The weather is still not nice. It's very cloudy and not really enticing to go swimming at the beach.

Nevertheless, we make a quick stop at the Praia dos Moinhos for a photo opportunity. The beach is deserted. Only a few local kids with bodyboards are playing in the water, and there is only one lifeguard watching over them.

The small cafe with a view of the sea and the many closed umbrellas also looks very deserted.

We take some photos and continue along the coast back to the Santa Barbara Eco Resort

Today is the 2nd surf course on the agenda.

There is no one at the beach, except for a few local kids in the water, without wetsuits, of course.

Our villa neighbors, a Swiss family, are lying on the beach, a bit away from us.

While yesterday had optimal conditions, today the waves seem to come from all directions. They are also much higher than yesterday.

Our son can hardly get the surfboard to the surf instructor in the waves, and our daughter is visibly struggling today.

In addition, we underestimated the effort of pulling the board through the waves. The kids are still completely exhausted from yesterday's surfing.

After a short time, our son swaps the surfboard for a bodyboard, but even with the smaller board, he gets wiped out by the waves multiple times, and after 1 hour and 10 nose rinses, he doesn't want to do it anymore.

While the husband bravely keeps getting on the board (and actually surfs a few rounds successfully in the end), today's lesson is over after just under 2 hours.

We postpone the surf lessons scheduled for tomorrow a few days later. It seems a period of rest is needed.

In addition, the weather forecast predicts sunny weather all day tomorrow, which is quite rare here. So it's more worthwhile to explore the island.

After surfing in the sea, we treat ourselves to a refreshing swim in the pool.

The family, however, limits themselves to 'jumping in quickly and coming out again', while I seem to be able to tolerate the water temperature better.

I have the pool all to myself for the next 30 minutes. I swim laps and relax on the sun lounger for a while, but then the wind gets too chilly.

We spend the rest of the afternoon with a little trip to the neighboring town Ribeira Grande. We stop by the swimming pool, which is unfortunately closed due to Covid-19.

Ironically, now the beach visitors are crowding in the small bay next door. There is no sign of distance or 'social distance'...

Our trip ends at the Tuka Tula Bar, where we had lunch on the first day.

I treat myself to a latte macchiato, and the kids have cheese toast and garlic bread.

While the husband and daughter drive back to the resort by car, I walk along the beach with our son back to the hotel.

The tide washes up some (still alive) jellyfish on the beach. We see one that keeps rising every minute...

Creepy...

We spend the rest of the evening relaxing with a glass of wine on the terrace.

Cheers ;-)

Edit: Throughout the day, we haven't received any email or information regarding the 2nd Covid test that we were supposed to take on July 11. We haven't been able to reach anyone by phone either.