Erica Vicente, a 17-year-old from Azeitão, south of Lisbon, is lucky to be alive after spending nearly 20 hours stranded on a stand-up paddle board.

An international team of four men and one woman (including two Algarvians) is paddling down the Spanish Border across Northern Portugal to Porto on stand up paddle boards. They will cross through the beautiful Douro Valley which has been awarded UNESCO World Heritage status.

In 2014 Nick Robinson paddled 32km down the Guadiana River and loved it so much, that he vowed to do it again. In 2015 he created the "Guadiana Challenge" and asked 12 stand up paddlers to come with. 18 willing paddlers clamored to join him. Now this year more than 70 paddlers from all over Portugal and Europe will paddle down alongside Nick from the picturesque Alentejan town of Mertola and onto the Algarve's jewel of the river, Alcoutim.

On a quiet morning in early November, three stand up paddlers entered the Atlantic ocean from the town of Sagres, Southern Portugal. They were about to attempt the first crossing of the Algarve region by stand-up paddle board.

Is there a better way to explore Algarve’s remote marine caves than via SUP? Probably not. The Basecampers, who are a group of friends traveling around the world seeking alternative experiences in popular travel destinations, traveled to Faro in the Portugal’s Algarve region where Nick Robinson, a SUP instructor in the area, guided them through the legendary Benagil caves. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, watching their video of one of the most-photographed caves should jog your memory!

Need to get away on a SUP vacation? Learn all you need to know about how to SUP the coastal caves in the Algarve, Portugal, with AlgarveSUP!