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Florianopolis is the beach capital of south east Brasil, with arguably some of the most beautiful stretches of sand in the region. One thing is for sure – there is no short supply of beaches here. Over six days in the southern state of Santa Catarina, Sarah and I visited at least as many beaches and saw countless others.

The Atlantic Ocean caresses the south east state of Santa Catarina. The state capital is Florianopolis (Floripa) which boasts some of the highest standards of living in Latin America. Most of its inhabitants are descendants of Portuguese, German and Italian immigrants. With our Portuguese being basically non-existent and many locals not speaking English, it was quite fun to be able to at least speak German with some of the residents.

Myself and Sarah, along with our friend Natalia and her boyfriend Andre arrived in Floripa from Sao Paulo on Monday January 3rd. We think we may have appeared on Brazilan TV station, Globo, who were shooting footage from Sao Paulo airport due to mass delays and cancellations. Luckily our flight was only delayed by 45 minutes. It was exciting to land in Florianopolis which, while only 90 minutes flight from Sao Paulo, is worlds away from the busy capitals hustle and bustle.

The plan was to travel south for a few days to Praia do Rosa and link up with Natalia’s cousin and friends, before making our way back up north to Florianopolis. We made it to the cozy, little beach town of Praia do Rosa just after dark and settled into our new home for the few days. It was going to prove a fun few days as the household of 11 enjoyed the holiday. Monday night, we ate drank and popped into the village for a while.

I love waking up to the smell of a cooked breakfast. After omelets and coffee the posse made our way to Praia do Rosa beach for a lazy day. Between lying on the sand, swimming, and drinking ice cold Skol beers; no one was guilty of overexerting themselves. The beach was beautiful – a long stretch of white sand with scatterings of holiday makers, kids playing football, and vendors selling food and drinks. After a relaxing day, we all ate back at the house courtesy of some fine barbequing by Gabriel. His ‘gaucho’ grilling technique pleased our crowd of hungry mouths. Fed and watered, we were ready to go again so we headed into town for more shenanigans.

With a repeat scenario on Wednesday morning, I was really getting used to the cooked brekkie situation. The routine of waking up, eating, and going to the beach was alright. This morning the gang cruised along to a different beach a few miles away. Unfortunately some of the group got stung by jellyfish. There were valiant offers of immediate pain relief from the natural warm liquid supplied by nearby hoses. The wounded ladies declined graciously however and after some more cold beers all was well again. The beach bar proved to be a safe refuge from the jellyfish for the remainder of the afternoon.

Thursday turned out to be quite adventurous. We were making our way up north along the coast in the direction of Floripa and we stopped off at Pinheira beach. This was a really cool coastal village which our new friend Carlos lived close by to. After eating some Acai and granola (addictive) we made our way to the beach for a while. To get to the beach we had to wade through a river which got neck high on the girls at one stage; it was quite funny. When we had the gang together, we all rented umbrellas and set up temporary camp on the beach. It was a great crew – Andre (Golden Liver) & Natalia, Andrea & Cris, Sergio, Mila, Pati Verde, Paula, Gabriel, Sarah and I. Most of us sprawled on the sand, swam, sipped a few cold ones, and a few of us kicked around some beach futbol. In the afternoon we went for a walk along a coastal trail to the peninsula where the view was spectacular. From here myself, Sarah, Sergio and Andre hiked up a forest hill to the summit. It was a fairly tough walk in flipflops and it got challenging towards the top. But the lads preserved and we made it to the top for a look around. The vantage point provided an amazing sight. We could see for miles. Once we had cleaned off the mud, we made our way towards Floripa, stopping first of all at an Oyster restaurant. I didn’t dislike oysters, but I was not the world’s biggest fan – Sarah favors them more. But I absolutely loved the oysters that we all devoured at the restaurant in Pinheira. They were massive, and absolutely delicious. We could even see the oyster catchers as we dined. My opinion and readiness to order oysters has been changed.

Lagoinha do Leste
Beach, cliffs, pond, waterfall and native forest. These ingredients are all together in the Lagoinha do Leste. Found on the southern tip of Santa Catarina / Florianolopis island; this place is beautiful and well the 2 hour hike to get there. The only way the public can get there is to take this hike - driving is impossible, there is no road and the sea can be dangerous for boats because of the surf. None of us had ever felt an undertow like the one that drags from the shore here. In fact the lifeguard / bartender who lived in a tent there told us that if you get dragged out then your best bet is to try and swim for the (dangerous) rocks. Trying to swim anywhere else would result in the swimmer being dragged further out to sea. Not very good options really! This is a place where you can appreciate nature in a beautiful, raw, setting. After dipping our feet in the water we sipped a deserved beer and chilled for a while on the beach before trekking a couple of hours back along the muddy trail.

Saturday was a world away from the raw, natural beauty and tranquility of Lagoinha – we went to a pool party at D12…..which was also a lot of fun!
Enjoy the pics-

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