Perfect Ilha Grande, Brasil

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After spending a week in Rio de Janerio we were ready for some peace and quiet and a little beach time to recover! We were in luck, some of Brazil's most gorgeous beaches and exotic rainforests can be found 200 km south of Rio on the island of Isla Grande. Isla Grande boasts over 200 beaches and historically was a pirates hideaway and was later used as a prison. Interesting enough for us!

We left Rio with our Irish friend Scully and had picked up Canadian Crazy Andrew. We grabbed the typical taxi-to-bus terminal, then took a 2hr bus ride to the Angra dos Reis harbor. From Angra dos Reis we were excited by the fancy catamaran yacht waiting to ferry us the 1 hour out to Isla Grande. During the ride we were surprised by all the miscellaneous islands with gorgeous houses. Quite the paradise.

As we pulled into Abraao, Isla Grande's "port town" we were delighted by how remote and rural the island truly was. There are no vehicles allowed on the island and Abraao's sand streets meander thru the lush village for all of about 2 blocks before they turned into foot paths that were overtaken by jungle again! As we were walking off the dock we were approached by a local lady who offered the "perfect" apartment for us to rent! Loft style with air conditioning, clean bathroom, perfect kitchen and ONLY 10 steps away from the beach! (not to mention $25/night for all of us!!!)

On our second day we took a boat tour on the "Phoenix I" which took us to 4 beaches: Lagoa Azul, Freguesia de Santan, Japariz and Saco do Ceu. Immediately after dropping anchor at Lagoa Azul we all took turns diving off the bow of the ship into the gorgeous blue/turquiose water. Logoa Azul is known for its pristine snorkling. This was my first time and I was delighted by the simple act of being able to breath while having my face completely immersed in the water! Haha! We certainly felt like kids again... daring each other to swim to the bottom, swim under the giant boat and swim through the thousands of fish in the water.

The next day we were sad to lose our long time travel mate Scully... he was headed to New Zealand for the snowboard season. We know we will see him again!! 😉 Lucky for us our friends from Florianpolis: Pete, Sophie and Chris showed up!! To celebrate we created a deck of Coo-handle cards (Dutch/Belgium animal/monopoly/poker game), which contain pictures of donkeys, sheep, pigs, horses, etc. Another idea inspired by Pete was drawing pictures (seriously invented by 8yr olds) containing input from each person in the group. It was a riot. Only one sample could be shared with the public at large. 😉

The most gorgeous beach we saw on the island and so far on this trip was Lopez Mendes!! A deserted crescent shapped beach of fine white sand and transparent water as far as you could see! It was a 6 km hike thru the jungle from Abraao but before we could hit the trail we were approached by a local with a old wooden fishing boat and were easily persuaded to take this less strenous "path" to the beach! We picked up one of his mates and his giant pitbull dog and the boat's little motor carried us all around the island at a lazy pace. After 40 mins they dropped us off at beautiful beach and directed us to a path that lead into the jungle and told us to watch out for poisinous snakes!! ha... We hiked up and over a mountain and 20 mins later came to a clearing and were awe struck!! The water was crystal clear, hinting mint green, with amazing emerald waves that you could see right thru as they broke 100 yards off the beach! We all jumped in like children and realized that we could walk for 100's of feet into the small surf and the water remained waist/chest deep! It was brillant. As if it couldn't get any better, we shared the immense beach and the crystal clear water with no more than 20 other people. It was an incredible day.

In the end we did not get any rest from this island, but we would not have changed the experience for the world.

We also ran into Luke from Florianoplis and Gerhard from Cabo Palonio again!

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Comments

[mike]

really nice
Been there 2 times.... i love it. you seemed to have a great time also. its one of the few places in the world that i can't forget. Can't wait to see it again and again...