31.7.15 - Doha | Singapore

Another plane, another very long journey that took us from Doha, Qatar, to Singapore. We crossed the Persian Gulf, India, Indian Ocean, grappling over Malaysia until we land in Singapore.The flight was delayed due to problems on the plane to get out of Doha - I was watching if I had to go out there pushing for him to start! Because of this we come to Singapore too late and didn`t see anything ...But before, during flight, slept, ate, drank and watched movies. A fish fillet with potatoes were served at breakfast and snacks throughout the rest of the day. I followed everything with distilled and fermented stuff.Birdman, by Alejandro González Iñárritu, with Michael Keaton, tells the story of a desperate man. It is a black comedy tending towards drama because in reality, portrays the lives of so many people.Then I saw Fury, with Brad Pitt. A film about the Second World War, I cried when  heard Logan Lerman playing the piano for Alicia von Rittberg. They didn`t know each other, didn`t speak the same language but were new and were living in the war. The music united them and past few minutes they were making love. The war killed her soon to follow.After I reviewed American Hustler and Indiana Jones before receiving the Singapore humid and hot air.It's half past one in the morning and now we come to the hotel. We went to a Sake Bar where a friendly staff served us sashimi, a kind of angúlias and a very small raw octopus.Tomorrow we spent the day in Singapore and at two in the morning we flew to Sydney.

30.7.15 - Zurich | Doha

Compress bags and, with the whole group together - I came from Portugal, Zio from Spain, the Carmen from England and Ana and João were already in Switzerland - started the trip.First destination: Doha.Doha is halfway to Singapore and had to make scale in the Qatari capital.Until then, a "global" plane, full of Indians, bearded Arabs, women's burqa and Western tourists, spent hours watching movies, eating and drinking.I started with Sean Penn and Javier Barden in The Gun Man, then reviewed the Grand Budapest Hotel and the Simpsons. Among gin, red wine, brandy and beer, ate a steamed beef and rice pine nuts, plus a considerable amount of chocolate that Qatar Airlines was offering.Doha at night and air view, is a city of skyscrapers lit skies, the best city-state style. Also, I'm in the land of them! Eight hours at the airport, after strolling through Bentley, McLaren and MV Agusta, have gone to some fancy stores and loung of Oneworld, already find myself in flight boarding gate bound for Singapore.See you!

29.7.15 - Porto | Zurich

Sleep deprivation, work hard: get everything ready in Loba to 25 days of absence from the country not to be felt.Pack, push the clothes inside. Let the fins but I put enough t-shirts for so long. Half of the trip is with harsh winter. The other half is hot summer.Liquid Image cameras and Hama accessories, are in Monte Campo. All conditioning. All compartmentalized.Domingos took me to the airport and Agência Paraíso, as always, did a fantastic job. After a few minutes I was on the plane, without having bought a book by Tolstoy - Death of Ivan Ilyich, I Le Carré latest in Le Carré book but they don´t have it - and a green Moleskine that will be the travel diary.The TAP flight to Zurich ran normally. As queue companions had a very fine and fancy couple, very nice: she was blonde with blue eyes, from switzerland; he Azorean, from Flores, son of Angola and with a great hair like a reggea artist.At this time the Aussie Connection is gathered in St. Gallen: barbecue, Super Bock and Gazela.My suitcase must be reduced and I`ll have to wash clothes in the middle of the trip, I have to buy some stick for trekking and forgot my pajamas - yes Mother! a drama that I have since the mid 90`s, with pajamas bought in all over the place.The great adventure has began: Australia here we go!

26.7.15 - Oliveira de Azeméis | Cambra de Vouzela | Aldeia de Pena | Oliveira de Azeméis

Sunny and warm Sunday. The Classic Racing Team achieved another victory in the Algarve; I should be there. It was another adventure ... but the great Australian adventure begins in a few days and I don`t want a homely adventure cast doubt on the trip. So I stayed for Oliveira.
Yet Multimoto gave me, for this weekend, a Kawasaki Ninja 300, celebration edition. Beautiful!
Plotted as a destination Castro Daire, a land i didn`t visited since childhood, a time when travel to Penedono didn`t include IP5.
I should be on competition, so I carry the carbon Nau Helmet and an Alpinestars top gloves,like a world champion.
Quickly I went from Oliveira de Azeméis to Albergaria, thanks to bike aerodynamics. Then it was below the threaded curves along the Vouga; a road that already dubbed as a lamprey road.
With the constant zigzag, with low and medium speed corners, I could test the excellent Ninja body, very light and agile. I found the best way to bend on this bike: the knee; and I never asked anyone to marry.
After Cedrim, following a sunny corner, several Famel, V5 and Casal, shone. A sign "for sell" reminded other times, the novelty of those bikes, such was the condition. Between 700 and 2000 euros depending on the state of recovery, the owner of an old workshop deliver its motorcycles, with original paintings and decals, which he does not like modern stuff.
After the friendly conversation, near Oliveira de Frades and lunch time, instead of following the Vouga,I turned to Cambra de Vouzela and went to the Taberna do Lavrador.
Typical food, made ahead of all: black pudding, sausage, chorizo ​​and fried bread for appetizer. Rice coming-of-garlic as a main dish and a bowl of red Silgueiros to push. Dessert? There was no space because the distance between the seat and the tank doesn`t grow.
With the bountiful repast to invite the nap, the direction of travel has changed: I went to S. Pedro do Sul spa, where it was in a medieval feast. Then I went quietly in the direction of Castro Daire.
Halfway through, the Aldeida de Pena statement made me turn left and climb to S.Macário in the far east of the Serra da Freita. From there do Aldeia de Pena is always going down by a narrow path that once should be painful.
The village is being recovered, leaving its original character. Incoming us a restaurant where, inside, we can find crafts, sausages and homemade cheeses, visitors cards. And many have there been!
With the sun falling down, I headed to Arouca. Pssing Portal do Inferno, with towering cliffs on one side and the other, I stopped the bike and photographed it with the Gobbo the abyss.
Then I went quietly to Arouca and then to home. But before reaching the capital of brown eggs yet been chatting with a couple from Munich that was lost looking for the road to Espiunca. So lost that they were I almost lost me too!

19.7.15 - Cíes Islands

I have written and re-written this chronic over and over.
I've used proverbs and thought it was against all rules of good taste and common sense.
I've done the pin and wrote one thousand lines without leaving any I liked particularly.
July and there was no sun; with the raindrops threatening to fall.
The visibility was not the best: I dare I say it was the worst dive of my life; but the sample is so so small that only serves to joke. Nevertheless I saw bright algae, sea stars and cucumbers, cuttlefish, sea bream, two mullets, parrotfish; a small octopus dropped his ink when I tried to play with it.
Like the dip at Relaxe, I had no problems on ears compensation, which left me very satisfied.
And then, in the end, there is everything what diving worth, even when conditions aren`t the best: friendship.
Thanks Roças, Sandra, Sara, Paulo, Carlos, Simão, Pedro, Ricardo, Angelica, Teles.
At the end of August we returned to dive together; you`ll have stories from the Red Sea and I`ll have from the Great Barrier Reef. Stories that make the history of the CCD.

4.7.15 - Berlenga

Leaving Peniche in a small boat specifically prepared for diving, leave the fort on our right side entered the open sea, in the Atlantic, heading to one of the most beautiful places in Portugal: Berlenga Island.
The wave was round, with meter and a half high and the boat bounced across it; giving some fun to the trip.
We reached Berlenga, and went directly  to Primavera - a ship sunk in 1902, laden with Italian marble.
The water was at 17 ° C, with excellent visibility and for 44 minutes I saw the life that is in the depths: Maria da Toca, Marinas, Nudis, Grouper, Brill, Gurnard, Salemas, Cuttlefish. All in peace, apparently, all living freely in the wild. 20.1 meters deep, with the sand and remaining underneath the hull of the ship, one Conger.
After all this activity it was time to come to the surface, tell the adventures, swap the bottles and return to diving.
This time we went to the spot Relaxe: a wall near St. John Baptist fort.

Here, in addition to all the fauna and flora, given the low depth - 9.5 meters - the sunlight coming through the water and created a beautiful image of waves hit the rock.
In the end, under a beautiful sun and with the blue sea as a backdrop, observed by seagulls and cormorants, eat a picnic sick, accompanied by beer and many stories that make the family's CCD Puerto quite united. Thank you for welcoming me among you.

Friendship

In the mid-90s from last century, a famous song from the Portuguese Paulo Gonzo had a chorus that was more a less like this:" wake up with the sun in the window and magic in the air, how is so good".
I didn`t wake up with the sun in the window and the magic in the air was different from what the singer spoke in music. It was the magic of friendship.
Directly from Tuscany, I received photos from Drews scooter, with the blog sticker on it. How fancy! I smile, frank, open, impossible to contain. In small gestures we found great friends. Fantastic!
Now, telling you the story from the beginning: as you know, I met Drew and Chel in Egypt. It was a friendship that was born in the first second we met. Drew is American ... with all Portuguese ribs; the flag you saw me strive for African land was his.
After numerous adventures of the Three Musketeers - I Drew and David, Australian - on top of our small-pony, friendship lasted. We talk almost every day, about everything and nothing.
When I launched the Crowdfunding, Drew and Chel were the first to support the initiative and, hence, have received the stickers from the trip, a special heart for them and numerous maps, postcards and brochures of the places where he spent on the trip by Austro -hungarien Empire.
Now it is time to go to Italy to see them

. It is promised.