Time to "relax" in Portugal

Praia da Marinha

Relaxing on vacation is not something BK and I are so good at. We tend to hit the place we're traveling and go, go, go. But on this trip, we planned for the middle part of the vacation to be a bit of a change from traipsing around a city for four days nonstop and hit the beach.

Praia da Marinha

On our way from Seville to Sagres we stopped at Praia da Marinha (Marinha Beach), that was highly recommended on Trip Advisor. It was well worth the stop, with beautiful views, cliffs, and a couple of great beaches to walk down to. We assumed there would be some beach restaurants there, but instead we only found a fruit stand with some snacks, which also worked. We loved it, and it was Baby K's first beach experience!

BK and Baby K enjoying the view

First time in the sand

She loves the beach!

We decided on the southwestern most point in Portugal, in a region called Algrave, and specifically stayed close to the town Sagres. We stayed at Martinhal Resort, which I would highly recommend to anyone who wants to vacation with their kids. Yes, that's right, BK and I vacationed at a family resort for the first time ever. Who would have thought?

Martinal Resort, set into the coast

The resort was just what we needed on our vacation. The biggest draw for us to the resort was that BK and I could get away and do some activities while Baby K stayed in the nursery. We also liked that they had a variety of types of accommodations, including a hotel, villas, and ocean houses. We had an ocean house, which gave us plenty of room, with Baby K having her own room, a kitchen, living room, and terrace.

Resort beach

I say BK and I chose this area so we could relax, which doesn't exactly mean that we lay around on the beach or by the pool. Typically this means we do all kinds of outdoorsy activities, which is exactly what we did; stand up paddle boarding, off-road jeep tour, and scuba diving. Oh yeah, we also squeezed in a spa appointment too.

Playing on the beach in the morning

Our activities usually started around 10am, so often we would have breakfast, then go to the beach to play around a bit. It was still somewhat chilly on the beach, but Baby K still enjoyed playing in the sand and ocean. She also figured out that she loves to eat sand and pick up rocks, leaves, and anything else that looks interesting.

More mornings on the beach

Baby K really liked the nursery, as she seems to enjoy other kids and loves having room to roam and lots of random toys to play with. So, while she was having fun, so were we! We usually did stuff in the morning and afternoon, so we would pick Baby K up to have lunch with her, then go put her down for a nap in the nursery sleeping room and head to our next thing.

Here's what we were up to...

We did a two-hour stand up paddle board tour around the bay by the resort, including going around the island in the picture below. I was the only one who fell, and technically it was twice, if you count when I was getting off the board. I really enjoy the sport, and think we might try it on Lake Geneva at some point. After the great workout, we hit the spa that afternoon for some pampering.

Island we stand-up paddle boarded around

On our second day there BK and I went on a jeep off roading tour around the Algarve area with Sagres Discovery Tours. Sandro was our driver, and was really fun to go with. He was really experienced in driving off road in the area, and also had lots of information for us about the area, history and other tidbits to know. Highly recommend!

Our off road vehicle

Headed to the Atlantic coast

One of our trails

Climbing up the hill

Atlantic coast

Then we started our scuba adventure. I had never scubaed before, so this was a new experience for me; BK has been certified, but had only done a lake dive in DFW. We did our training in the afternoon after the jeep tour in one of the pools at the resort. Our teacher was really good, and worked well with us. Of course to do the training, we had to completely suit up and get to know all the equipment we would be using the next day in the ocean. For me, the strangest thing was the concept of being under water and being able to breathe. I had to really fight the urge to want to go to the surface for a breath.

Dive center

The next morning we took it easy and relaxed at the house, then in the afternoon headed to dive in the ocean. The water is fairly cold on the coast of Portugal, so our instructor had us wear 7mm suits, along with shorties. We stayed warm, but for me, I had to really work to stay down, since the suits had so much buoyancy. To counteract this, we wore weight belts and put weights in the vest. When it was all said and done, we each had about 20 extra pounds on us to hold us down.

Place we started our dive

The dive was a different experience, but a good one, and something that I would like to try again. A few minutes after we started I wanted to come to the surface because the sensation of being under water for that long was just strange. I floated to the surface one other time, but just because I didn't do a good job at controlling my buoyancy. BK got a little worried on that one because he turned around and I was gone...luckily I had just floated up. There wasn't all that much to see, but I had a hard time concentrating on what I would see, as opposed to just constantly watching for the instructor and BK to make sure I didn't get left behind or something. So, like I said, I would like to try it again, but maybe in a warmer climate.

Fun times in our scuba gear

And that about wraps it up for this portion of the trip. We did a couple of dinners out and had a babysitter a couple of nights (easy to come by at the hotel). With our other time, we spent some time by the pool, let Baby K play on one of the numerous playgrounds around the resort, and spent time relaxing at the house.

A river meets the ocean

We left Martinal on Sunday and began our journey north to Lisbon. On the way we took the scenic route along the coast and stopped at a beach where a river flows into the ocean, and also stopped in a small town called Palmela for lunch. The drive along the coast was great, very scenic and we picked some good stops along the way.

Lisbon was our last destination on our vacation, but more to come on that later!