I made the decision to move to Portugal because I always wanted to know how to surf. I have dreamt of living the beach babe, surf skate lifestyle ever since I was a kid. The privilege of having the hobby of floating in the ocean, waiting on an adrenaline rush, sounds like a pretty great addition to my week. I vow to live near a beach forever…hopefully I can find someone who wants the same thing.
This is the story of my first surfer crush in Portugal.
The first surfer I had a connection with was (funny enough) a Canadian from Montreal. Let’s call this sweet lil nugget Surfer Joe. It was February 2025 and I was on my way to Nazare to witness the big wave competition, he was already there with his friend.
You may not know this; Nazare, Portugal is home to the biggest wave competition in the world. The largest wave surfed was 80 feet, typically the waves average 40-50 feet, which is the equivalent of a 3-5 story home. Going to Nazare to see someone ride those waves was on my Portugal bucket list. It is one thing to witness those amazing waves in person and another to see someone risk their lives riding them. I made this lil video of the highlights, enjoy!
Okay so how this all went down was very synchronistic.
At the time I was working at Wheelhouse as a tapping facilitator and I had just done a tapping for a group of people on ‘following the signs and surrendering to the universe’. I wrapped up around noon. A co-worker of mine mentioned the wave competition that day because the conditions were perfect. He showed me that he was watching it on his phone.
I already knew this was the week the competition was happening because I was staying updated online. This was my time. Originally I was going to rent a car but I hadn’t driven in Portugal yet and I hated the idea of looking for parking. I looked up the distance from Wheelhouse to Nazare and it was 1hr30-45min drive depending on the route you take. I decided to see how much an Uber would cost. It was only 65 Euro?! Let’s fucking go.
I was picked up in a Tesla with an interesting driver. He wanted to chat but I asked him to put on music. I wanted to daydream out the window and feel the gratitude of having this opportunity available to me. I had only been in Portugal for six weeks by then and I was excited to get out of Lisbon and go on a mini road trip. On the drive I saw a transport truck with an advertisement for apple juice on the side, the apple was riding a monster wave. How cute. Then I open my phone and I see this and reshare it to my instagram story:
The signs are signing.
After my Uber driver takes a long break at the gas station, (all gas stations take forever btw) we finally get to Nazare and the place is packed. How am I going to find Surfer Joe amongst all the surfer Joes?!? We started sending each other photos of what we could see around us. I know I should have used my location services but I never have it on.
I finally get to the area where I think he is and he emerges from behind a rock. He’s cute(!) and short, but I never got mad about a short king. I like his skater vibe. High school me would be in love with this dude, fo sho. Later on I found out he was a pro snowboarder back in the day and that solidified my crush. Who doesn’t love a professional athlete?
Surfer Joe and I got along really well. His friend was cool too but he mostly kept to himself. The three of us hung out on the edge of a cliff, watched these incredible surfers, smoked joints, and ate snacks. I am so glad I met up with these guys. Since I got there late the competition only lasted another hour or so. I took so many videos that my phone completely died.
When the competition was over, we walked down to a lower area to watch the sunset and take more photos. Turns out this guy works in photography and got some great photos of me. He tells me he is a taurus. I LOVE taurus men. Three of my favourite Joes were all taurus and they all loved taking photos of me. My venus is in leo so this is the kinda attention I crave.
Then his phone died as well. He told me that we could charge our phones back in his camper van. I told him, no funny business. As we slowly made our way back up the hill, he grabbed my hand and helped me around, it was nice. At one point I said, thanks dude and he said, Dude?! I clocked my avoidant tenancy immediately. I was already trying to put distance between us. This is what I do with all my crushes, deny them before they have a chance to deny me.
We fumbled around town looking for his van, he isn’t sure where it’s parked. He told me that anytime he loses his van he can find it using the tracking device he has on his laptop…but since his phone is dead we are left to retrace his footsteps.
We are both starving so we decide to get food. We find a delightful traditional Portuguese restaurant called Mil Sabores. Once we sit down the owner comes out and explains that they don’t have many dishes left because the fish is caught fresh that day.
They happen to speak French, so Surfer Joe navigates everything en francais. I am loving this. I love when I don’t have to think. He asks the server if he can charge his phone at the restaurant. Once we are done eating he can track the vehicle from there. Great!
We finish up our food and Surfer Joe realizes that the phone isn’t charging very well, he is only at 3%. We wait for a little longer and the staff starts closing up shop around us, they feel bad and bring us shots. I don’t drink so the chef has mine instead. This place is awesome, if you are ever in Nazare go there!
It’s nearly 11pm and we finally track down the van. Surfer Joe offers to let me sleep over, and I repeat, ‘sure but no funny business’. He doesn’t want to stay in this location so we drive south heading towards Peniche. We drove to some crazy dark place with no lights or housing. On the map it looked like it was very close to the ocean, we could hear the waves.
Sometimes I am amazed that I trust these men the way that I do. I am literally in a van with a stranger, driving in a very dark area, in a town I don’t know…don’t do what I do, kids.
The goal was to sleep next to the ocean and we did.
I didn’t have anything on me - no face wash, no deodorant, no toothbrush, I felt like a derelict but when I woke up and saw him, he asked if I wanted to kiss. Ah okay. Gross. But also, sure, das nice. If he wants our first kiss to be when I am at my grossest then that’s kinda romantic, no? He must like me.
The kiss was nice. We cuddled for a lil bit and then opened the doors to this:
