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In addition to the amazing beaches in Lagos, there are many different companies offering all types of boat experiences: sailing, dolphin watching, cave and grotto trips, banana boats, speed boats and more. We signed up for the cave and grotto boat trip which is a guided tour around Ponta de Piedade. Ponta de Piedade is a cluster of rock formations towering up to 20 meters above the Atlantic Ocean, creating natural arches, caves, and towers. Fishermen have named many of the rock formations and our guide pointed out the elephant, the kissing couple and the camel to us.
We did not know that this trip also included swimming near Ponta da Piedade, so when the skipper stopped and anchored the boat and said everyone could jump off for a short swim, we were all a little bummed that none of us had brought towels or swimming suits. The skipper did give us an extra towel and I convinced O that since we were in the middle of the Atlantic with no one around us, that we should swim in our clothes, because when would we have this experience again.. Thankfully she trusted me and we both leaped off the boat and swam in the very freezing ocean, but it was totally worth it!
We did not know that this trip also included swimming near Ponta da Piedade, so when the skipper stopped and anchored the boat and said everyone could jump off for a short swim, we were all a little bummed that none of us had brought towels or swimming suits. The skipper did give us an extra towel and I convinced O that since we were in the middle of the Atlantic with no one around us, that we should swim in our clothes, because when would we have this experience again.. Thankfully she trusted me and we both leaped off the boat and swam in the very freezing ocean, but it was totally worth it!
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| The Kissing Couple |
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| Ponta da Piedade |
We thought to ourselves: "that was a pretty awesome trip, I don't know if we will be able to top it with another adventure." One of the excursions that was age appropriate was dolphin watching with marine biologists and this was something that everyone was looking forward to (maybe Baba the most). We hoped on a catamaran with our skipper and a marine biologist (Mufalda) who took us out to "sea." Mufalda said that while her trips in the ocean usually result in seeing dolphins, she could not guarantee that we would see them. About 1 mile off the coastline, the boat slowed down and Mufalda let us know that there was a Finn Whale in the vicinity which is very rare being so close to shore. Sure enough a Finn Whale emerged from the water and although we learned they can hold their breath for up to 30 minutes, was grazing the surface of the ocean. After a short stop, our boat ride continued further into the middle of the ocean to look for dolphins.
About 20 minutes later, the boat finally slowed down and we saw one or two dolphins tails. Mufalda let us know that the boat would stop to mimic the dolphins speed and dolphins being curious creatures would eventually come over to us. What happened was so amazing, there are no words to describe. A pod of 25-30 dolphins began playing and socializing with each other around our boat. We had been expecting to see a few fins and dolphins jump from a distance, but having them swim and play alongside our boat was definitely one of the coolest things, we had ever seen.
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