Snorkeling

 

Have you ever kayaked and snorkeled in the Spanish Mediterranean? No, I thought not. 

My lifelong dream today was to get out amidst the rocky outcroppings, jump in the water and see an octopus because there are so many in the Mediterranean and I've never seen one.

So I did. The water was cold enough to significantly shrink body parts, but I hung in there. Did I lose all feeling in my face and feet? Sure. Was I unable to curl my fingers around my paddle whenever I came out? You bet.

Did I see an octopus. Nope.

And allow me to be serious for a moment. Via an incredible stroke of luck or coincidence or whatever you want to call it, while I was standing on a tiny beach in S'Agaró on the Costa Brava packing my stuff to go back to Barcelona, I actually ran into someone who lives here and whom I know from my very first coastal bike ride out here six years ago. It was so powerfully joyful; a personal contact from across an ocean that means maybe this really is the beginning of the end of something bad and the beginning of something better.