Anyone who ever has been truly happy, knows that these precious moments can be gone in a heartbeat. In an instance everything you ever had hoped for can be gone and you will be left with picking up the pieces to your once so called life.
But also, anyone who ever has been happy, knows just as well, that happiness has a thousand faces. It sneaks up on you, when you think, you could never be happy again. After a bad break-up, after they discontinued your favorite ice cream brand or once shark-week is over and you realized you haven’t taped any of the shows.
For me happiness means so many different things. It means a good meal with my family and friends. Having coffee on Saturdays with A, sleeping in on Tuesdays… I am not a complicated person at all, I like the simple things in life.
That is one reason why I chose to travel to the Azores this summer, to enjoy the simple things! I signed up for a volunteer program that conducts whale research in the North Atlantic, and quite honestly, after one week, I can say with the utter most confidence, this program has been everything that I ever hoped for! The Great Projects do great work in trying to give people volunteer opportunities all over the world. But honestly, Dive Azores is taking it one step further and doing the greatest job in giving volunteers once in a lifetime experiences!
In the short time that I have been in the Azores, I already snorkeled with dolphins, got surprised by false killer whales, watched sperm whales socialize and breach full body out of water. I have witnessed dolphins jumping and breaching and having the most fun. I watched loggerhead turtles observing fish underneath them. I saw all kinds of jellyfish, and so far, fingers crossed, managed to avoid being stung by them. I’ve seen starfish larger than my upper body and snorkeled in a volcano crater. I also watched eagle rays chase each other and these were just the few short highlights of my first week in Portugal!
Here some pictures from my trip, more to follow 🙂 And yes, the water is THAT blue!
A bird loves a fish 