Dipped out of Lisbon, rented a car at the airport and drove to Cascais, then checked into my studio airbnb. It’s in a nice quiet, ritzy neighborhood in the town of Parede. First time being on my own since Paris. Feels great to be alone and get to really slow down, do anything I want, focus on the journal and chill. I've got the car and the studio, basically full freedom. Hop in for a surf at Carcavelos, a beach break that gets really good, and make the most of the shitty conditions. I get in because it’s supposed to rain tomorrow, a storm with massive swell arrives tomorrow and I probably won't be able to go out. Need to keep my reps up, haven’t surfed since Peniche and even then we really didn’t surf that much.
Nov 24
First full day in Cascais. Rain is pouring and wind is howling. Up the cape from me at Praia Grande surfline is calling it 30ft, absolutely massive. Down in front of where I am, more of a south facing beach, a little protected from the NW swell, it’s still pretty huge and completely blown out unsurfable. Get in the car and go for a nice drive.
The town of Cascais is pretty bougie and nice, similar to Biarritz but obviously this with a Portuguese twist. Tile everywhere, seafood and nata, Christmas decorations in full swing. Beautiful little town, there are some amazing houses right up against the water. There’s this one historic house that a famous architect built. It's up along a little estuary where the river flows into the ocean. Really sweet country home built in the late 1800s or early 1900s. Massive waves break behind it as they smash into a sea wall. I’m sure on a sunny blue sky day this whole zone is extremely beautiful and picturesque. Sure enough, if you google image search Cascais you actually see this exact scene of a cute little river flowing into the ocean with the mini mansion country home right above.
Walked around a little further and the rain picked up so I jumped in the museum Casa do historias. They have an exhibit by Paula Rego, a British/Portuguese artist I didn't know but cool little watercolors and pastels. Many of them are in small formats, almost postcard size, but with vivid colors and wild scenes. Nice to see some cool art while taking shelter from the elements.
Had a nice thanksgiving lasagna at this little strip of restaurants in town and did not move for 5 hours. Watched the Portugal game, fun time, everyone’s psyched to watch their team, followed by the Brazil game. Tons of Brazilians in Portugal, here is no different, everyone in their jerseys and in high spirits from the win. Felt like being back in Brazil for a second. Chill day.
Nov 25
Wake up knowing there's high potential for good surf today. The storm is gone, the wind is offshore, and some of the swell is hanging around. Put eyes on the ocean in front of my house and it’s idyllic. Groomed lines, blue ocean, blue skies, offshore spray as they break and peel off the shelfs and reefs. There are two SUPs catching waves but I don't want to surf off that reef, they probably paddled quite a distance to get there. The walk in is gnarly.
Head down to Carcavelos and it’s absolutely pumping offshore barrels. I’m watching people pull in and come flying out. Hollow lefts and rights as the wind holds them up before they powerfully break into tubes. Can’t suit up fast enough, surf it for many hours til exhaustion. Get a couple sick fast ones on the shortboard amongst the crowd. Come in, it’s still pumping, eat a tuna fish sandwich at one of the beach bars, it’s still pumping, can’t take my eyes off of it. I’m at the car watching but also thinking I’m going to watch some world cup in town but I decide against it and paddle back out. I’m here for the waves and I haven't seen good ones in a while. The 2nd sesh wasn't as good as the 1st but there still were some fast punchy ones that were fun. Surfed until dark, watched a glorious sunset with offshore tubes kinda all around me.
Get down to town just in time for the USA England game. Missed every game today because I was surfing but the one I wasn’t going to miss was the night game. Kinda boring, they tie, but I guess that’s good for USA. Great, dreamy day. Finally some good waves in Portugal, haven't had high quality surf since that first day in Ericeira. At last it was here again and then to wrap it up with some world cup and a cold beer is pretty perfect.
Nov 26
Another beautiful day. Go check Carcavelos but it doesn't look that good. Smaller than yesterday and dumpy. But I see waves in town so I know theyre out there. Head 30 min up the coast to Guicho, so glad I did! It’s on the other side of the cape, it basically faces straight west, and it’s an absolute swell magnet. It’s like 6-8ft proper beach break out in the Portuguese country. Very similar to how Capbreton was with those big big fat rolly, low tide waves breaking far out with light offshore spray. Perfect for the blue dolphin. Surfed it for 2.5 hours just out there in big drops all rights. Had it to myself for 40 minutes, figuring out where to sit, which ones to paddle into, enjoying the country views and the rainbows coming off the spray. After getting a couple good ones all to myself, 5 other dudes paddled out. Some of them I recognized from Carcavelos yesterday, they got good ones. I had a wave with a massive airdrop that I landed and rode out of, pretty sweet. A 10ft bomb broke up the beach from us and barreled incredibly towards us, loudly cracked the waters surface to us hooting! Looked like Seignosse on that one. It was one of those surfs where you want to be selective and take a good one because if dont make it you could easily have the rest of the set on your head. Definitely tired myself duck diving and paddling in this expansive beach break. After 2 hours I tire out and begin to make poor decisions and my reaction time is off. But what a great surf session. After yesterday and today, back to back, I finally got the Portugal I’d been hoping for. Good surf with good conditions finally.
Ate a sea bream, dourada, at a ridiculous hotel restaurant perched up on the cliff looking down at the beach I was just surfing in. A nice meal while viewing the offshore waves peel as the tide got higher and higher. Eventually there wasn’t much out there to even surf, I’d definitely gotten the good window. In the lot a dude asks me how it went. “Amazing man, so beautiful, I’m so tired.” “Yeah that looks like a tough board to duckdive.”
Nov 27
Rested and caught up on the journal. Get my body fresh to score tomorrow on the mission to the Azores.
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