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Published: September 26th 2010
Friday 24th September 2010 After geting up at 4am for our taxi to the Rodoviaria (bus station), we arrived only to find the timetable had changed & we had missed the bus by minutes. We opted for a bus 10 minutes later to Angra where there is another port to Ilha Grande, but the boat wouldn't leave till the afternoon meaning we'd miss our one potentially sunny day. However on a service stop we caught the 1st bus as it was about to leave and the driver kindly organised a switch so we could get our 8am boat as planned from Mangarativa.
The boat journey to Ilha Grande was rocky and took about 90 mins. When we arrived we were acosted by a little lady on a bicycle (with basket) who kidnapped us and took us back to her pousada (B&B). We went on a 90 minute hike through the forest to Palmas, the route was steep and heavy on the legs. Richard couldnt believe how many people were trekking in flip flops! We relaxed at the beach for a while before setting off on another 30 minute hike to two more beaches, Mangues & Pouso. On arrival we
spoke to other travellers who were going to Lopes Mendes a large beach on the south of the island. Just 15 minutes later we arrived at the spectacular beach, with hardly a person in sight - it reminded Joanne of the isolation of Fraser Island - and climbed the massive boulders. We relaxed for 20 mins before heading back to catch the last boat back to Abraao from Pouso.
In the evening we went out for a romantic candle lit dinner on the beach overlooking the bay, a proper honeymoon moment until the heavens opened and we had to run indoors! Richard had a few drinks while we avoided the rain while Joanne nursed a cocktail that was so strong she almost fell asleep on Richards lap in the middle of the restaurant.
Saturday 25th September 2010 A very nice breakfast spred set us up for the day. As the weather was still ok we decided to head off for another hike to the south of the island. This was a gradual incline for about an hour and back down the otherside, much easier than yesterday. We arrived at Dois Rios where you have to sign in
with the guard as it houses the univeristy and old prison. We headed for the beach but didnt stay long as the weather wasn't great and then looked around the old prison. We continued on to Caxadaco via a trecherous path which was only 4km but took us 90 mins. Caxadaco is a tiny hidden beach called the iron box as pirates used to trade here. It was really pretty but we couldn't stay long at it was getting late. As we left it started to rain, making our escape even harder. Just as we approached the end we had to scramble across massive boulders, Joanne slipped and lauched her walking stick at Richard (accidentally of course) cracking him on the side of the head (a bit like being stuck point blank by a javelin thrown by Fatima Whitbread). Continuing home wasn't as easy as expected as it started getting dark very quickly - luckily we were on the main path and had a wind up torch (which Joanne had to wind every 30 seconds - battery torch next time!).
Sunday 26th September 2010 Raining hard so we had a lazy day doing nothing... think we deseverved it
after hiking over 16 miles yesterday!
Went for another lovely meal on the beach in the evening... started raining so we had to run indoors again... must be cursed. Chilled out for the rest of the night listening to live music from a guy with a melow voice and spanish guitar.
Monday 27th September 2010 Hourly weather forecast said rain all day again today but looking up there were blue skies (weather.com has been slashed from our "trusted sites")... We decided to risk another hike and headed west from Abraao towards Saco do Ceu. We started out right on the edge of town at a quaint little beach called Praia Preta Corsico and continued on to the Lazareto ruins (which used to be a quarantine facility to stop European imigrants bring Cholera into South America and was later a prison). The old Aqueduct was next... at 11m tall and 26 arches long it was quite impressive and is still used today to pump water to Abraao.
After a nice easy start, we finally began our ascent via a muddy path to the Feiticeira Waterfall (which was the highlight of Joanne's day). We took some photos and
video under the waterfall, dried off best we could and continued on another precarious clay path to Feiticeira beach. The weather was hot and sunny, so we considered staying and getting the taxi boat back later, but you never know what is round the corner so we opted to make the most of it & continue (in hindsight it may have been better to stay!).
A steep descent led to Iguacu beach reached via a narrow path along side a huge beach front property with chicken coup and a small football pitch, we assumed owned by someone important or very rich, maybe the mayor of the island?
Camiranga was our next stop, it appeared on the map that it was beaches all the way to Saco do Ceu, so we slipped off our hiking boots and got our feet wet. Dodging the high tide along a series of beaches, occasionally clambering over rocks, we eventually came across a security guard who informed us we were on private property and had missed turn! We headed back and found the correct route which we followed through tiny poor villages and behind some large gated rich private properties. Stilll in bare
feet this part of the journey was long and boring, and we were never confident that it was the right path.
We finally reached Saco do Ceu after an hour through this maze of back alleys only to discover it was a small, non descript port. It was getting late and light was fading, so we enquired about a taxi boat to a reception of blank faces. A helpful man pointed us in the direction of "a man with a boat". We wandered down the jetty hoping he would get us home. He spoke no english and we no portugese so after lots of frantic arm waving and shouting we agreed on R$20 to a beach half way. The additional hike home wasn't appealing but beggars can't be choosers! We set off and our captain immediately started manually pumping water out of the boat, which inspired us with confidence! Once on the journey (with his new wife tagging along for the ride) we started conversing, despite the language barrier, they turned out to be a really fun couple. All of a sudden we were surrounded by a pod of dolphins who started playfully swimming in front of the boat.
Not only did this surprise us but our captain's wife was overwhelmed as she had never seen wild dolphins before. This was Richard's favourite part of the day as he hadn't either, and this made the last few arduous hours worth while.
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Mark
non-member comment
Dolphins
Waterfall, hike, you get lost, have to adapt to get home & get rewarded by Dolphins, perfect day. All I'm doing is watching Ryder Cup, forgot to mention before played week before last & 18inches from hole off the tee, closest I've ever got to a hole in one!