Among the waves with the board and percebes

Updated: Apr 21, 2023

Aljezur, Portugal, August 2019

An aperitivo between nature and percebes.

I still remember what a feeling I had when, after a few minutes of walking, that incredible landscape opened up before our eyes: an immense beach and that longed-for ocean covered in fog.

The ocean and its tides are an incredible thing. Half an hour goes by and the beach is slowly eaten by the water and the fog disappears. Nature and its magic.

After a revitalizing surf lesson we were invited by our instructor for an aperitif that same evening at the campsite where he was staying-working.

A super free gesture that we did not expect.

A small wooden structure with a kitchen, a few tents scattered here and there, and a bathroom, surrounded by the nature of the Algarve. We found ourselves in front of a group of guys with the big goal of building something where nature comes first.

Soul Farm Algarve is an adventure born in 2018 by Italian guys with great regard for the planet we live on: "By respecting the environment they respect their future," they told us.

Lovers of waves, could not have chosen a better place than the coast of Portugal's Vicentina Nature Park for this project of theirs.

With a beautiful sunset behind us and good music in the background, we enjoyed an aperitif of mussels and fresh fish that I will hardly forget. It was here that for the first time, we tried percebes, seafood with a peculiarity that makes them very expensive in restaurants: they live where the high ocean waves break on the coast from Portugal to Spain. Attached to these rocks, the percebes protect themselves from other animals, of which they are coveted prey. Fishing for them is therefore a real adventure that very often endangers the percebeiros' lives.

They are small shells with a sea flavor that melt in the mouth and our teacher had fished them for us.

I am looking forward to organizing a week of surf camp and staying with them.

Check out their website! https://www.soulfarmalgarve.com/