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Published: April 14th 2012
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Every holiday requires a day or two at the seaside, so again I had no choice but to relax and go with the expectation! Only choosing which beach to visit in Floripa is a bit more tricky than at home as although the island is only 33 miles long and 11 miles wide it offers no less than 42 separate beaches to visit. This means that even though there are decisions to be made, experimenting until you find the perfect one for you really is not too much of a hardship!
Each part of the Island offers a very different experience; the northern part of the Ilha is very commercialised with hotels on the beachfront and crowded sands, the eastern part of the island is more peaceful and relaxed and the southern beaches are tranquil and on the whole untouched. We stayed in a lovely guesthouse in Barra da Lagoa on the eastern coast and shared our time between the eastern and southern beaches.
Barra da Lagoa is a real seaside town, similar to those in England only with even more flip flops and much higher temperatures all year around. In Brazil, it is Autumn now and yet at
temperatures of 27° and upwards it is the perfect time to visit the seaside. The real advantage of this is that many of the Brazilians consider it too cold to be on the beach so you feel like you have the place to yourselves, bliss. Many of our evenings were spent on the beach here where we would have dinner and then enjoy the beautiful scenery as nightime fell. The smell of the salty sea and the fineness of the sand made for a wonderful start and end to each day.
Barra da Lagoa has a lovely sandy beach but also sits alongside a seawater channel which flows further into the Island and fills the Lagoa da Conceição. A short bus ride took us into Lagoa da Conceição, a lively town in the centre of the island overlooking the lagoon. The town offered all the amenities that we were looking for, a Post Office for those postcard stamps, a choice of souvenir shops, many coffee shops and restaurants and of course, more flip flop shops. Journeying around the lagoon you cannot help but relax and unwind as the lushness of the grassy banks meets the cool water. With palm
trees all around you and surfers wandering around smiling at the world, it is impossible to hold on to your usual stress levels.
Taking another bus from Lagoa it is easy to access the southern beaches. On a day trip to a secret beach we happened upon Armação, a quaint and pretty fishing village with more beautiful scenery and a beach to match. Further along our quest we found Pantano do Sul right at the bottom of the Island. At this point in our adventure we were forced to accept that the secret beach was just too secret for us to find and instead we sat on the sandy coastline and looking up at the forest and mountains surrounding the bay I realised that the view was more than enough to make the day worthwhile. Maybe I am not cut out to be a discoverer but being an explorer is good fun too, I think that you sometimes find the best things when you think that you are lost.
A different day and a short drive away we arrived at Campeche, my personal favourite. Campeche is another small fishing town with a comfortable and homely feel, still undeveloped
and as nature intended it to be. The beach was almost deserted and you really felt honoured to be able to see such beauty undisturbed by others. The fine, almost white sand seems to continue on forever before your eyes and when you look around all you can see are sand dunes, trees, the Ilha do Campeche and the energetic waves of the ocean. Going into the water takes you back to childhood in an instant, although in my memories of being in the sea in England and Wales, the water was always much colder than this! Playing in the sea, you can see fish swimming around your feet, through the incredibly clear and clean waters. You can also challenge yourself to stay upright as the waves come closer and knock you off of your feet with their playful force. I loved being in the sea and had forgotten how wonderful it feels to just splash around and try to jump over the ever increasing waves. Walking back to the towel on the beach, all you can feel is the sun warming your skin and the salty taste on your lips. And for those of you who are picturing this
and then imagining me as a cooked lobster the next day, I can assure you that after bathing in the sea, I bathed again in my factor 50 and left the perfect sands just a little rosy around the edges!
I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful location to spend my Easter holidays.
Take care,
Tasha
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Suzan
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It all sounds so lovely, bet you didnt want it to end xxx