Our last few hours in Jericoacoara began with some packing, and then breakfast at 7:30 am. After breakfast we finished up our packing, with about one hour to spare before our 9:30 departure.

During that final hour we took a walk along the beach front and snapped a few photos of some horses. The guys with the horses were trying to sell us a horse ride along the beach, which would have been nice, but instead we explained that we were on our way back to Fortaleza, then Canada, in less than an hour – all good things must come to an end! They didn’t try too hard to earn our business after that.

At 9:30 we met our driver, Sebastian, and we loaded our luggage in the diesel-powered Toyota Hilux, and away we went. The route back was entirely on the inland road – no beach running today. The road was paved and in good condition all the way. Here is some typical scenery along the highway:

Our driver was very quiet and didn’t really want to engage in any conversation, so we pulled out our guidebooks and started planning future itineraries in Brazil. Brazil is a big country, like Canada, and to see everything requires a few different trips. Right now, the Pantanal is speaking to us – the wildlife viewing is supposed to be exceptional. The Brazilian visas we obtained are good for five years, so it would make sense to make a return trip to Brazil before they expire

We stopped for lunch at a road side self-serve restaurant around 12:30 pm. The food was decent and once again we just paid for what we ate by weight.
We rolled into Fortaleza at about 2:30 pm, so the drive was only five hours including a half hour lunch stop – much quicker than we expected. We were expecting another 8 hour drive, but obviously the inland route is much faster, but less interesting, than the beach route.

We checked into the Maredomus hotel, where our extra luggage was waiting in storage. Not wanting to waste our last hours in Brazil in a hotel room, we decided to hit the pavement and walked about ten blocks to the Mercado Central (central market). This place was a monstrosity! From the outside, it looked like a major league sports complex. On the inside, there were five levels of shops, with a maze of staircases connecting one floor to another. This market wasn’t as crowded as many other markets we’ve been to – the elbow room was much appreciated.

We didn’t buy any trinkets – there’s only so much of that you can put in your house back home. In fact, we haven’t been buying trinkets on our trips for many years now. Only if we find something very special do we buy anything now. We did, however, enjoy another fresh mango juice each – we’ll never get them that fresh and sweet back home! We also bought some Brazilian coffee to take home with us. We didn’t have one bad cup of coffee in four weeks so they must be doing something right with coffee in this country.

We spent the last hour before sunset on the rooftop terrace of our hotel. It was a nice way to relax and enjoy an urban sunset – our last in Brazil.

We had dinner at a restaurant called “La Casa”, a place we had walked by a few times when we were in Fortaleza earlier in the trip. It’s a quaint place along the malecon with a network of reflecting pools to give it great ambience. The food was pretty good, but the “chocolate fanatic” dessert was the best! On the walk back from the restaurant, we stopped and looked at the artists works along the malecon. One wood-carver in particular created some amazing pieces!

Overall, our trip to NE Brazil exceeded our expectations by a long shot.
In the next few days, we will post a summary of our trip – “Stader Stars” and “Stader Skips”. Basically we’ll write about our favorite parts of Brazil, favorite pousadas, activities, restaurants, etc. We’ll also give our opinion on areas that we would skip completely if we could do the trip all over again, or perhaps spend less time than we did.

Bon Viagem!

Horses on Jericoacoara beach

Today was a day of many ‘lasts’… Our last day in Jericoacoara, our last fun day (tomorrow we spend 8 hours in a Land Rover going back to Fortaleza), our last swim in the ocean, our last Brazilian sunset…

Our day began with Marcy heading off to her second kitesurfing lesson, while Ray was feeling good enough to hike out to Pedra Furada (the rock arch).

Marcy’s second lesson was spent entirely in the water. In addition to Adriana, there was an assistant, Marcilio, who spoke some Spanish so Marcy and he were able to communicate for the most part. The lesson today concentrated on controlling the kite in the water, body drags, controlling the kite with one hand, and lastly, how to get up on the board from the water. It was a tough day – the waves are relentless and Marcy spent a lot of time drinking sea water! But overall, it was a great lesson for Marcy, but now she wishes she had one more day here to complete the lessons and really start kitesurfing.

Meanwhile, Ray started the trek to Pedra Furada. With some tips obtained from Marcy’s journey there yesterday, the trip was straightforward – past the water tower, up a hill, down to the ridge, look for the garbage can, and drop down to the beach. The arch comes into view about half way down from the ridge. There was a vendor selling ice-cold coconut water, so Ray indulged and refreshed himself with one. The arch is very impressive and is a must see when coming to Jericoacoara. On the return, Ray chose to go along the ocean, which is a bit longer, but takes you by the windsurfers who were doing their tricks in the sea.

We had a very late lunch at about 3:15pm, and then we were going to meet a taxi driver between 4:00 – 4:30 pm to take us out to a mangrove where you can see sea horses in nature. Our ride didn’t show up, so we started walking around town to see if someone else could take us. They all told us it was too late to go today because there would be no fisherman available to take us around in the boat once we reached our destination.

So, we decided to go back to the beach to find a nice spot to enjoy sunset, and suddenly we ran into the taxi driver who was late coming back with some clients who were out windsurfing. He was eager to take us out there, even though we expressed some concern that it was getting so late. He said that if there were no fisherman available, he would take us out on a boat himself as he used to work there. We decided to give it a shot and jumped in the buggy and took off.

It turned out to be the perfect time of day to go – not a single other tourist there! One fisherman was still lingering and he was able to take us out. We saw two sea horses, one grey male and one orangy pregnant female. They scooped the sea horses into a small bowl for us to look at – they were so small and fragile. We took our photos and then released them back into the water. We also happened to catch the sunset while we were paddling through the mangrove, and also over the ocean just after we got out of the boat – it was a great excursion!

In the evening we strolled along ‘main street’ where all the action is. There were mini-bars set up where you could order a drink, a few vendors selling kebabs, and some busy restaurants. Because we ended up having such a late lunch today, we weren’t hungry so we skipped dinner.

We had another delicious breakfast at the pousada this morning. The fruits are so fresh and sweet compared to the produce imported into Canada. They also had fresh made flan and passion fruit mousse – we’re starting to get used to desserts for breakfast!

Then we took a stroll thru Jeri. With all the roads being sand, it gives the town a very unique feel. Even some of the shops have elected to go with a sand floor, and almost all the restaurants are big sand boxes! We stopped at one small cafe on a very quaint side street to try some fresh juices. All the juices are 100% freshly squeezed – you can see them do it. We had four different juices: orange, lemon, pineapple, and one other that we never heard of and can’t remember the name of. All of them were excellent. Somehow the town has managed to combine a rustic laid back feel with a touch of class, no wonder so many people get hooked on this place and stay permanently.

Ray was feeling pretty rotten from his cold by this time, so we started inquiring about kiteboarding lessons for Marcy. Ray would probably just need to rest mostly for the remaining two days in Jericoacoara, and Marcy has always had a keen interest in kiteboarding anyway, so it seemed like a good solution to the situation. Marcy booked 7 hours of kiteboarding lessons, 3 hours for today, and 4 hours for tomorrow.

There was enough time for Marcy to check out the Pedra Furada before her kiteboarding lesson, while Ray went to the room to try and sleep.

The way to the Pedra Furada started the same, and the wind and sand were blowing just as fiercely as yesterday. After trekking along the ridge top for a while, there was a hill from which you could see a long strip of coastline where wind surfers were plying the waters. The walking continued until finally Marcy reached a wide well used path that led to the beach – surely it was the right trail. The hike continued along the beach for a while, but suddenly a cliff appeared with no way around it – perhaps at low tide it’s passable.

The only options at this point were to retrace her steps, or climb up and around the cliff. Going back is never any fun, so up and around the cliff Marcy went. It was a grueling climb up – hot, steep, and shifting sand made it tough climb up. Continuing on along the cliff top, Marcy finally reached a spot where a guy was selling water. Finally this was the right spot to go down, and sure enough the rock formation appeared. The formation was very interesting and worth the journey.

After buying a bottle of water from the water salesman with no money in her pocket, just a promise to leave the money for him at our pousada, Marcy started the trip back following the advice of the vendor by taking a much more direct and easier path back to town.

After a lunch at a beach restaurant (including a cute kitty who enjoyed some chicken with us), it was time for Marcy’s kiteboarding lesson! Marcy’s instructor, Adrianna, was an Argentinian woman from Buenos Aires who has lived in Jeri for 7 years. The first lesson was all about wind theory, safety and how to fly the kite (all on land). Adrianna was a great instructor. There was a lot of information to take in, but so far so good!

After sunset, Jeri’s atmosphere changes. The streets of sand are lit with elegant lights, the restaurants have a very cozy and romantic feel to them, and there is music playing everywhere you go: lounge music, blues, Brazilian Pop, and retro. The wind is considerably lighter in the evening and there is less traffic – a very charming place.

Dinner this evening was at “Carcara,” where we ate shrimp moqueca (a flavourful stew of fresh vegetables, herbs, and of course, shrimp). We met another guy from Germany who was in Jeri for the windsurfing. Jeri has been the most international destination we’ve been to in NE Brazil. People from around the world come here for the kiteboarding and windsurfing – some never leave…

Sand and wind – that just about sums up the day!

First Marcy got a sinus infection a few days ago (on a rapid mend now), and today Ray woke up with a head cold – blah! With all the airports, eating out in restaurants, etc, getting sick on a trip is not that uncommon, unfortunately.

Today we had another buggy tour arranged – it’s not that we love dune buggies that much, but in these sandy places it’s really the only way to explore the area. We got rolling around 9:30 am with our driver, Alex, and made our way past the Por-do-Sol dune, the popular sunset spot. Then we got onto some flat beaches where the sand was continuously blowing across our path in mesmerizing patterns. Take a peek at this video:

The wind was VERY strong all day today to the point we were literally sand-blasted, particularly below the knees. On top of the big dunes, the wind and sand blowing was quite severe and we were terrified about sand getting into our cameras. It would only be a matter of time before the environmental conditions would destroy any camera used outdoors here. The wind and sand today actually got on our nerves a bit because it was so relentless.

But the dunes around Jericoacoara are beautiful – such white sand creating very tall and dramatic dunes – they seem to rise at random on the shifting landscape. On top of one very big dune, there was an opportunity to sandboard, something we both really wanted to try. But conditions were too unkind so we skipped it, as did all the other tourists!

There always seems to be a ferry crossing, or two, when out on a buggy trip, and today was no exception. The first video below was filmed from our buggy as we approached and boarded the barge – always a neat experience!

And, like the ferry crossings, there are always some animal stops. This time we had pigs and parrots!

We continued on and eventually made a stop at a lake with a baraca right on (and in) the water. Actually, this stop was almost identical to the lake stop we made in Genipabu on Day 10. The one big difference on this lake is that it was chalk full of kiteboarders. Some of the guys were very good at it – coming into shore repeatedly to perform their best tricks! Check out this video:

After about an hour of relaxing with our feet in the lake, watching kiteboarding, it was time to make the return trip back to our pousada. The buggy tour today just didn’t compare with the first one we did in Genipabu, for a few reasons. Partly because the novelty had worn off, partly because the wind and sand was just too much today, and partly because our guide wasn’t nearly as enthusiastic as Marcilio in Genipabu.

After eating lunch at a restaurant on the sand, we went for a hike to the Pedra Furada, a rock formation with a hole in the middle, about 3 km away. There was a spot along the beach that was a mecca of windsurfers. We were wondering if windsurfing had all but been replaced by kiteboarding, but this spot in Jericoacoara erased any thoughts we had about that. Again, there were some very skilled people on the water, doing some pretty cool tricks. Check out our video:

We continued on our way. Part of the hike was another sand blasting affair, but once we got on the cliff top the views were fantastic! We came across some wild donkeys on the trail, which we’ve seen all throughout the Jericoacoara area. We were sure they were domesticated and belonged to someone, but several locals confirmed they are wild!

After what seemed like walking for an eternity, to Ray’s cold-afflicted body, we didn’t reach the Pedra Furada rock formation. It was probably only another fifteen minutes away, but the sun was setting soon and we wanted to catch that. We found a nice spot on the beach to watch the sunset where windsurfers were doing their sailing, which provided some great foreground for the sunset photos!

Today started with a bang!

Brazilian hotel rooms are not always designed to accommodate people 6’4″ – a low television on the wall with a large hard-edged metal bracket proved that. Ray didn’t need a coffee to wake up after running his head into that contraption first thing this morning!

Today we started our last leg of what has become an amazing trip thru NE Brazil. Perhaps we saved the best for last – Fernando de Noronha, and now Jericoacoara. Here’s what the Moon Guidebook says about ‘Jeri’:

“For some time now, international travel writers have been raving about Jericoacoara. It’s what you get when a desert-scape of constantly shifting dunes – some of them over 100 feet high – collides with the majesty of the open sea.”

We got an early start this morning with a departure from our hotel at 7 am. We weren’t sure if the trip would be in an open buggy or a 4×4, but our driver, Rodney, picked us up in a Land Rover, which was alright because we didn’t really want our luggage to look like it had been thru a sandstorm.

We made our way through the streets of Fortaleza and within half an hour we were started driving on the beach toward our destination. Rather than taking a relatively boring inland route to Jeri, we chose to take a more adventurous route along the beaches. Most of the trip is driving right on the sand and the only obstacle is high tide. During high tide (11 am today), there were a few sections we couldn’t pass along the coast.

Driving on the beach was faster than we expected – we often cruised at speeds of 80 km/hr. Most of the driving was right where the wet sand was – just at the surf’s edge. It’s amazing to see miles and miles of continuous beaches – there’s really no stop or start to the different beaches so we’re not sure how they give them different names. The landscape was often desert like – nothing but sand and sand dunes. We could have been in the Sahara desert if it wasn’t for the ocean. Check out this video for some typical scenery:

We passed thru many small fishing villages, most notable were Cumbuco and Praia da Lagoinha. They were prettier than the rest of beaches and seemed to have more restaurants and pousadas.

One thing that was a bit sad to see was the sight of about 8 or 9 sea turtles dead and washed up on shore at different places along the way. Apparently most of them died from eating man-made trash in the water, such as plastic. We certainly noticed a bit more trash on the beaches today. It was such a contrast to the clean pristine beaches of Fernando de Noronha. We’re not really sure if the trash is washing up on shore from currents, perhaps bringing up garbage from big cities like Fortaleza, or if it’s produced by the local fishing villages.

Because it was high tide, we had to take a couple of one-car ferries across some estuaries. Here’s a video of one of our crossings with the guys pulling the ferry across manually:

We eventually got off the beaches and took a dirt road for a while, which was a pretty rough ride, especially with Rodney behind the wheel! He’s not just your typical Brazilian speed demon, but he happens to race in a Dakar like event in Brazil. So he’s got this special gift of being able to drive extremely fast over extremely rough terrain. By the time we stopped for lunch at about 2 pm, body parts were starting to really ache.

Lunch was at a restaurant in Praia do Prea where we has a fresh grilled fish with an assortment of side dishes. That was the tastiest fish we’ve had in Brazil so far (and we’ve had some good fish already). They said the fish was Robalo - a Google search shows this to be a common snook. We’ll be looking for Robalo on a menu in the future!

After lunch, it was only about 20 km to our final destination, Jericoacoara along the beach. This entire area is a kite surfing mecca. There are dozens and dozens of kite surfers in the ocean, thanks to some persistent winds at this time of year. Check out this sort video we took:

We finally rolled into Jeri and immediately could sense this place has a very relaxed feel. The roads in this town are all sand roads – quite something to see. After checking onto our pousada, we walked down to the beach to check it out. It was a pretty beach with a big sand dune coming right down to the water. The sand here is whiter than most other places we’ve been. On the way to the beach we noticed a massage place – Ray couldn’t resist the opportunity to have some of the kinks worked out of his neck from the 8 hour drive today.

Thirty minutes later and feeling much better, we made our way up Por-do-Sol, Sunset Dune. Apparently it’s a ritual everyday for locals and tourists to climb up this dune and watch the sunset. The wind was blowing pretty hard as we climbed the dune and the sand was blasting against our legs pretty hard. We were terrified that the sand was going to get into our cameras!

We watched a fabulous sunset and then ran down the side of a 45 degree dune. On the way back along the beach, we came across a capoeira demonstration, which is a form of martial arts blended with dancing. Some of the participants were extremely athletic and acrobatic with their moves. We’ll try to get some video tomorrow to post on this blog.

Wikipedia link

Wild horses had to drag us away from Fernando de Noronha! But before they did, we made sure we capitalized on our last morning on the island!

During breakfast at our pousada, we received a special hand painted “memory plate” as a souvenir from our dinner at Ze Maria two nights earlier. These are only given out by restaurants of distinction for signature dishes or special events.

After breakfast, we took our buggy out to the SW corner of the island – a part we hadn’t explored fully yet. Our first stop was at Praia do Leao, an award-winning Brazilian beach. We had visited this beach a few days earlier, in late afternoon, but we wanted to see it again in morning light – it was fantastic!

The next photo stop was Ponta das Caracas, a very wind swept viewpoint with dramatic views to the ocean followed by Forte do Sueste (which we thought we could drive to, but the road was chained off). We almost gave it a miss, but then decided to park the buggy and walk down the old road. What a great decision that was – the views of Baia do Sueste were outstanding and provided a new vantage point of the area we went snorkeling on Day 17 specifically to see the green sea turtles. A tremendous start to the morning!

Next we revisited the cliff walk between Praia do Sancho and Baia dos Porcos, one of the most unforgettable walks we’ve ever had. To not see it a second time would have been unforgivable. The skies were perfectly clear and the ocean was a kaleidoscope of colour ranging from a brilliant sapphire blue to emerald green – we could never tire of a view like that!

Sadly, time was up and we had to rush back to the pousada to pack our bags, drop off the buggy and check-out. The flight from the island to Recife was pleasant and fairly short at one hour twenty minutes. When our suitcase arrived on the luggage carousel, the main handle was destroyed – someone or something ripped one side of the handle right off the suitcase! This suitcase will be a challenge to lift from now on.

We had about four hours to kill before our next flight to Fortaleza – what to do? Spend the time eating, of course!
A ten minute taxi ride from the airport and we were back at our favorite restaurant in Recife – Ponteio, the only restaurant in Brazil we’ve visited more than once, and today would be #3! As soon as we arrived at the restaurant we knew something was up – there was a crowd of people standing outside, valet parking attendants busy handling customers, etc. It was a combination of today being Sunday, when the locals of Recife hit the beach at Boa Viagem, and the fact that Ponteio had a “special” all-you-can-eat deal today. The wait was about 30 minutes when they finally called our names – and by then we were just about ready to eat all 18 types of meat right off the barbeque spits!

Again, the food did not disappoint, and this time we did not have to rush off like we did on day 15. We each enjoyed a something sinful from the dessert bus, and capped it off with an espresso. The service at this restaurant is always top-notch too.

We returned to the airport where Marcy did a little shopping and bought a lace jacket from a store called “Fatima Rendas.” This store specializes in extremely high calibre hand-made lace and sells everything from clothing to tablecloths. Apparently Marcy’s garment took over 2 months to make (some of the tablecloths take over 9 months)!

The flight to Fortaleza was interesting – the TAM jet was covered from nose to tail in signatures! We also saw a beautiful sunset from the air. Soon we were back in our hotel and dying to have a shower. It was impossible to stay clean on Fernando de Noronha because of all the dust. Other than the one main paved road on the island, all the other roads are dirt – and with the open buggies, we became so filthy everyday it reminded us of the safaris in Africa. Today was bad because we didn’t have an opportunity to clean up from the morning buggy trips before catching our plane. It was great to have a hot shower, ditch the dirty clothes and start packing for tomorrow’s journey…the last leg of our adventure!

It was all about the snorkeling today!

Since we had spent the past few days exploring every nook and cranny on the island, today we decided to hit the hot spots for snorkeling. After breakfast, we drove the buggy straight for Praia do Sancha. The trail to the beach was a bit harder this time because we were carrying all the snorkel gear – especially down the ladders through the crack in the cliff face. No mishaps, thankfully, and soon we were back on one of the most spectacular beaches on the island (and all of Brazil).

This was the beach we went snorkelling at when we went on the dolphin watching tour. The only problem with those kinds of tours is that there are about a half dozen companies doing the exact same tour with the exact same stops at the exact same time. This made the snorkeling experience a bit crowded last time. But today we came at 9:30 am on our own, at least an hour before the tour boats would arrive!

The snorkeling was incredible, and we had the entire bay to ourselves – not another snorkeler in sight! We really noticed that there were a lot more fish this time out – our theory is that when the tours come in, some of the fish find a nice rock to hide under. We shot underwater video the entire time we were out there. The Sargent fish were amazing, as was the eel. We also saw a green sea turtle sleeping on the rocks. Then, just beside the coral/rock formation, a sting-ray was hovering in the sand – very cool!

Just as we were getting ready to exit the water, the first couple of tour boats pulled in – perfect timing!. Just before we got out of the water, in the surf break area, we spotted a couple more green sea turtles swimming around! There were also some enormous schools of small fish in the same area as the sea turtles.

While packing up our stuff on the beach against the rocky cliffs, the resident lizards came to check us out. There were probably a dozen of them surrounding us after 15 minutes – they are quite small and harmless, but packs of lizards? Who knows what they could do – something out of a horror movie perhaps!

We escaped the man-eating lizards and scrambled up the cliffs back to the safety of the buggy. We popped back into our pousada to change rooms – something that we knew we had to do for our last night when we booked our accommodations on the island. We were kind of annoyed at having to make the move, even though it was to a slightly better room, but in the end it was fairly painless. Our new room was ready for us so it only took us about 20 minutes to move our stuff.

It was time for lunch so we drove into the village to have lunch at a place we had driven by a few times during the past few days. It was a buffet style ‘self-serve’ restaurant where you essentially pay for what you eat by weight. Why don’t they do this back home? It makes more sense really – eat a lot, pay more… eat a little, pay less. The food was really good and when it came time for dessert, Marcy made a trip to get Ray a piece of flan. They had just brought out a brand new dish of it which was awesome, but the deserts were on an upper shelf above the main course items below. Marcy, not being as tall as she would like, coupled with the fact that the flan was extremely soft, led to a minor faux-pa at the buffet. The flan slid off the spatula as it was being carried over the main course items below… oops! The penne pasta and grilled chicken got some new flavouring!

We hurried away from the scene of the crime and got on with our day. We took our snorkel gear to Praia Conceicao. This was the beach we had seen the Atlantis dive boat at the previous day. Wow – what another great snorkel area! This spot was way better than we expected. There were a ton of fish, a HUGE sting-ray, and a beautiful green sea turtle gliding around. We managed to keep up with the turtle for quite some time – hopefully the video turned out well (we haven’t had a chance to preview it yet).

Satisfied with another great snorkel outing, we made our way back to shore and then back to the pousada to get cleaned up. It’s amazing how hard the sea water is on your skin, hair, etc.

As it always seems to happen on this island, before you know it, it’s time for sunset. We dashed to Bar do Meio just in time for sunset (where we watched our second sunset on the island), along with a caipirinha and the mandatory fried cheese appetizer (see photo). This was our last sunset on the island so we wanted it to last as long as possible. We were ready to pay for the drinks and appetizer – whoops – forgot the wallet in the pousada! Ray raced back in the buggy while Marcy hung out at the ocean side bar taking a few mosquito bites for the team (she was not impressed)!

Our travel agent in Brazil, who lived on Fernando de Noronha for a few years, highly recommended that we have dinner at Palhoca da Colina. We had reservations for 8:30 pm and some basic directions on how to find it. We ended up on a dirt road that we were SURE was the wrong road, when suddenly we rounded a corner and there it was! Our luck on finding hard to find places continued!

When we walked in, immediately the mood was set – low lighting, open air, bamboo, very low Indonesian style tables with copious quantities of cushions, etc. Here’s a video of the ambience:

Only one other group of three were at the table (a long communal type table), so it was very quiet. The food was abundant and delicious. The grilled fish was gigantic – it could have fed 10 people easily. The other three guests were from Sao Paulo – Regina, Suzanna, and Marco. They were very friendly, spoke fantastic English, and invited us to call on them if we go to Sao Paulo one day – hopefully we will!

Beach hopping at its finest!

With 26 beaches on this island, the possibilities for beach hopping are almost endless! All of the beaches are pristine, practically deserted, and have no rocks on the ocean floor to worry about when swimming.

But life was not entirely ‘a beach’ today – in fact, there was some disappointment right out of the gate this morning. A few days ago Marcy developed a sinus infection… She was hoping it would clear up before this morning because she had a dive booked. Unfortunately, when she woke up her sinuses were worse than ever and there’s no way she would be able to equalize during the dive – potentially dangerous.

The representative from the dive shop came by our pousada at 7:15 am this morning, but when he heard that Marcy had a sinus infection, he too said it was a bad idea to dive. Marcy would need to see a doctor to get a prescription for antibiotics which meant all her dives on the island would be a bust. This was a bit of a blow as she had been really looking forward to those two days of diving for a long time.

All was not lost on paradise island, however. There are so many things to see and do on this island we had no trouble keeping ourselves thoroughly entertained. And that started in the bathroom of our room in the pousada! There had been a little frog calling our room home the past few days, but we’ve never been able to catch him to set him free. This morning the little frog decided to say good morning by jumping on Ray’s leg while he was using the facilities! This was rather shocking and caused Ray yell out in alarm (Marcy was really wondering what was going in there), but he didn’t stay glued to Ray’s leg for long – he soon hopped away.

We hit the road with the buggy after another delicious breakfast, and made our way to the NE point of the island where we got some great views of the port area with a smattering of boats in the water.

Back in the buggy, we navigated the very rough and bumpy ‘roads’ past some ruins (reduto se Sant’Ana) to our next destination, Praia do Meio. Check out this short video of Ray driving the buggy down a steep road (although it doesn’t look that steep in the video)

Praia do Meio was another really nice beach – we’re running out of adjectives to describe these beautiful beaches! We walked the entire length of the beach to a rocky point that divides it with the next beach, Praia da Conceicao. On our return, we encountered some sea birds that were just sunning themselves on the beach. A bit further along, we ran into the same birds again, except this time they were vigorously jockeying to get some fish scraps from the fishermen who were fishing just off the beach with nets.

Then we made our way to the most intact fort on the island, Forte dos Remedios. It sat high on a hill so we had a bit of a climb to reach the fort from where we parked the car. There was a lot more to see at the fort than we expected and it served as a great location for some photos and video. Based on its location, we decided this would make a great spot to watch the sunset in the evening.

Back in the buggy, and a dirt road or two later, we stopped at Praia Conceicao, this time for a swim to cool off! The swimming was great and once again we had to really watch the surf – that point where the waves broke was not s good place to hang out! While swimming at this beach, we noticed a dive boat just a bit further out – the exact dive company Marcy was supposed to dive with today. The dive spot was close enough to shore we memorized where it was and plan to snorkel out to it tomorrow.

We made a very quick stop for lunch at road side stand selling empanadas (we didn’t want to get caught in a long drawn out lunch) as there were too many things we still wanted to see today! So we continued on to the next beach, Praia do Boldro. This was another fantastic beach and one of the most deserted yet – unbelievable. We walked the entire length of this beach and up onto a rocky point where we were treated to great views of the next beach – Praia Americano. We didn’t want to keep walking on and then have to make a long trek back to the car, so we returned to get the buggy and drove a bit further along.

The next stop was at Praia do Bode. Actually, from this parking area you can walk to either Praia Americano or Praia Bode. So we first walked up to a lookout point for Praia Americano, the opposite end we had seen before. After enjoying the views of that amazing beach, we walked down to Praia Bode. This beach was pristine and had the Ilhas Dois Irmaos (two brothers islands) as the backdrop – simply outstanding. This was another beach we couldn’t resist going for a swim.

Still not done beach hopping, we took the buggy around to another stop at Praia da Quixaba. This one actually had a couple of restaurants so we picked up some water, grabbed our snorkel gear, and off we went. This beach had the Ilhas Dois Irmaos smack dab in front of the beach! We hiked up a steep hill to make our way over to Baia dos Porcos to do some snorkeling. This bay only had some tiny beaches, but the beauty was in the rock formations both in and out of the water – more postcard images.

Getting into the water for snorkeling was a bit tricky. There were a lot of rocks and some pretty narrow coves to navigate, plus there were some big waves crashing through the maze of rocks! After a few tense moments, we managed to get ourselves horizontal in the water. There were a lot of fish right in the surf – and not tiny minnows, but rather some pretty big colourful fish. We saw more of them as we continued through the narrows. The snorkeling wasn’t as good here as we expected – we went a long way out – right to the Ilhas Dois Irmaos, but never saw anything too exciting. Coming back in, we washed up on shore in a slightly better spot than we had entered. All was going well until a big wave knocked one of Marcy’s fins out of her hand as she was exiting the water! The ocean swallowed it so quickly we were sure it was gone. We were just about to give up the search when suddenly the fin emerged (barely visible) and Ray managed to catch it – our snorkeling days are not over yet!

Back in the car, we made a quick pit stop at our pousada, and then hurried back to the fort to watch the sunset. We weren’t the only ones who thought the fort was a good choice as there were quite a few people there.

Another day, another sunset… we drove back to the pousada, and then Marcy finally went to see a doctor at the hospital about her sinus infection and got some meds (she couldn’t possibly waste daylight hours at a hospital, so she saved it for the evening!)

We had dinner reservations at Ze Maria, a well-known and popular restaurant on the island. The dinner was a themed buffet style event with traditional dishes from the state of Minas Gerais. It turns out Ze Maria is something of a celebrity (and character) in Brazil. He was presented with an award just before dinner. He always gives a speech before the dinner, have a look at this short video:

The buffet had many selections and the food was excellent. We were seated with a Brazilian couple who live in the south of Brazil. They both spoke pretty good English – lucky for us. We had a great time with them all evening and exchanged contact info. Hopefully we will have some friends to visit when we visit Brazil next time…we will be back!

This island is one of the most beautiful places we’ve ever been to. The combination of mountains, rock formations, cobalt blue ocean, impossibly beautiful beaches and fantastic marine life makes us wish we could spend another week here!

The day started much better today. We set the alarm for 6 am island time, not mainland time, so we could maximize the day in this incredible place. We were the early birds for breakfast at 7 am and we met “Filo” – the lady who owns the pousada and to which the pousada is named after. It was one of the best breakfasts we’ve had in Brazil and a great way to start the day (compared to missing breakfast the day before).

We got rolling in our buggy soon after breakfast and headed straight for the dolphin bay lookout point. The trail to the lookout was a bit longer than we expected, but it was not difficult. When we arrived at the lookout, there was only one other couple there and two park personnel – who immediately directed our attention to some dolphins in the bay. It was kind of like looking at the stars at night – the more we looked, the more dolphins we saw! There are over 160 dolphins that call the bay home and today we saw good portion of them. These were Spinner Dolphins and we were certainly entertained with some of their spinning acrobatics! We spent about an hour watching the dolphins, forever trying to get lucky and capture a dolphin spinning on video – a lot harder than it sounds – but we succeeded!

Our next destination was the award-winning beach Praia do Sancho. From the dolphin lookout point, we found a trail that followed the edge of the high cliffs. The views from this trail were so outstanding it absolutely blew our minds! Every five or ten minutes we would come to another panoramic vista. First we had views back toward dolphin bay, then the views suddenly opened up to Praia do Sancho, and finally to Baia dos Porcos. This was such an amazing trail that we MUST do it once more before we leave the island.

After we reached the end point of the trail, the vista over Baia dos Porcos, we found another trail that would take us all the way down the cliff to Praia do Sancho. Trail, what trail?! It was a ladder descending a crack in the cliff face – much like a slot canyon! It was so narrow and tight that we could barely fit – especially with a daypack on. About half way down the cliff, we saw some interesting animals of which we have no clue what they are called. They looked like oversized guinea pigs and apparently they are endemic to the island.

We eventually reached the bottom of the ladders, and stairs, and sunk our feet into perfect golden-honey sand. Hot and sweaty from the hike, we were ready for a swim in the ocean. The waves were rolling in with some umph once again, so we had to dive under the odd one to avoid being pounded into a tapioca tortilla. The water was extremely refreshing and we could have easily spent all day in this one spot.

We hoofed it back up the cliff and had to wait for oncoming pedestrian traffic as the crack with ladders is too tight for two-way traffic. After we reached the parking lot, we jumped in our buggy and continued on to Baia do Sueste – another dramatic landscape with islands, a beach and breakers rolling in. We had read that this bay is known for green sea turtles, so we inquired at the beach as to how we could snorkel out and see them. No problem – guides are always available and ready to take you out to see the turtles. Hold on – we need the under-water enclosure for this attraction! So we zipped back to the pousada to prepare the enclosure and then zipped back to Baia do Sueste.

It was a fairly long way to go out in the water to get to the snorkel area. The waves and current were pretty strong and we had to fin hard to make progress. We finally saw our first turtle, and then another, and another… often we would see three or four at one time! The turtles were so majestic to watch – eating seaweed, surfacing for air, then diving back down. There was other marine life, but the turtles stole the show! And, we managed to get some awesome underwater footage too! Sorry, we can’t post the video to this blog…

On our way back to shore, we ran into the German family on the beach – what were the chances of that when there are 26 beaches on this island? They decided to follow us to our next destination – Praia do Leao – another of the ‘three best beaches’ in all of Brazil. Yes, once again it was another stunning beach. On the walk down to the beach, we noticed some waves crashing over some rock shelves – very dramatic!

We couldn’t resist the video opportunity – Ray walked out to the shelf while Marcy shot video of the waves crashing on the shelf and drenching Ray! Actually, the force of the waves was so strong that when our friends tried it, the lady fell against the rocks and suffered a few minor cuts. We walked the length of the beach, climbed on some rocks, took some photos and then slowly made our way back to the buggy. We said our goodbyes to our friends again (we’ll probably bump into them once more before they fly home tomorrow).

Back at the pousada, we made a quick turn around to make it in time for sunset at Pedra do Bode – the same spot we watched the sunset on our first day on the island. When we got there, a live musician was singing and playing music – very relaxing. Today’s sunset was an absolutely cloudless sunset – not something we’ve seen very often in the tropics. At the final moment when the sun says its goodbye for the evening, the (mostly) Brazilian crowd erupts with clapping and cheering. We’ve never seen that happen in any other country – it’s nice to see that kind of appreciation for nature’s beauty.

We got up around 6:30 am to prepare ourselves for an adventurous day! Someone was going to pick us up at our pousada at 8 am to take us to the port for the dolphin watching excursion. We prepared everything for the day – cameras, snorkel equipment, beach towels, etc. It was 7 am and we were just about to go for breakfast when there was a knock at our door.

It was the pousada staff, telling us our transportation for the dolphin trip was waiting outside! But it was only 7 am, why did they come an hour early? We showed the time on our iPhone to the lady, which said something like 7:03am. Then she shakes her head and tells us that the island of Fernando de Noronha is one hour ahead of the mainland! What?! Momentary panic struck us, but we just grabbed our bags and snorkel equipment and hopped in the vehicle – obviously we missed breakfast.

The dolphin watching excursion started off by cruising down the very scenic coastline of the island. There were some very interesting little islands, various birds, and some dramatic waves crashing against the rugged coastline. The water colour is the prettiest we’ve seen in Brazil – cobalt to aqua marine blue – stunning! Then we headed for ‘Dolphin Bay’ where dolphins ALWAYS come out to play. Here’s a video from the boat:

Incidentally, ‘Dolphin Bay’ was the same name of a bay we took on our last dolphin watching excursion back in Praia da Pipa. Better luck this time, we hoped.

Well, it seems that dolphin watching is not for us – another bust! But at least they took us to a great snorkeling spot at Baia do Sancho. There were a ton of fish, including some enormous Angels! A Moray eel was sleeping on a rock and didn’t seem to mind all the snorkelers. We didn’t have the underwater camera enclosure with us (due to the mad dash this morning), but it would have been amazing footage. We’ll come back again to this spot with the underwater camera on our own.

We met a German family from Hamburg on the boat with whom we decided to have lunch with. We figured out a way to fit six people in a VW buggy and headed off to the village of Remedios where we found a restaurant. The restaurant suggested we order a whole fish to share as a group, which was what we did. The wait for the meal was quite long, but when it finally came we were shocked by the size of the fish they prepared for us! Not only that, but they also served us two big platters of fruits and vegetables, a mountain of rice, and some other things. Everything was awesome – the fish was delicious!

Our friends had to run for a diving trip in the afternoon, and we needed to get back to the pousada for our buggy rental. After signing some paperwork for the buggy, we were ready to hit the road. The buggy was a little worse for wear, but it seemed to run fine. The pedals were so close together, Ray couldn’t wear his right shoe or it would cover the break and gas pedals at the same time! So the shoe came off, and off we went.

Our first stop was at Buraco da Raquel – an incredibly beautiful and rugged part of the island. After walking around this area a bit, we continued on and found our first jaw dropping beach – Praia Cachorro. This beach was so beautiful it looked like something from a movie. It was a small bay with a ribbon of perfect white sand, and a backdrop off towering cliffs! The waves were rolling in with some gusto on this beach, so we went for a dip and wrestled with the breakers for about 20 minutes. It was a ton of fun, but we were curious to see more of the island!

Our next stop was at the next beach down – a point between Praia Meio and Praia da Conceicao. The roads are very rough anywhere off the one main paved road (BR363), and the roads leading to the last few beaches were no exception. A mix of cobblestone, steepness, and huge craters kept us on our toes. We parked the buggy and walked down to the point – wouldn’t you know it, there was a quaint little barraca with a perfect view to the west for sunset. This seemed like a perfect spot to enjoy the last hour before sunset. Looking to the west, there was another awe-inspiring beach with a very dramatic backdrop off Morro do Pico. This 321 meter high thumb- shaped rock juts into the sky – it’s almost too amazing to believe! Even more amazing is that supposedly we haven’t even seen the best beaches on the island yet – those three award- winning beaches.

We watched the sunset from this perfectly situated barraca, enjoying a drink and a snack of fried cheese that we have become addicted to. This island is one of the few places in Brazil where you can see a sunset on the ocean because most of Brazil’s coastline faces east. This island is so amazing it’s very difficult to describe in words – hopefully some of the photos we took will do it justice!