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Published: February 16th 2015
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We are in Florianoplis and want to head to Ilha Grande. There are no direct buses. We talk to several bus companies and compare schedules. We decide to go to Rio then catch a bus to Angra Dos Reis. The bus leaves at 12:30 pm and is due to arrive at 6:30 am, which gives us time to eat and catch the 8:00 am bus to Angra Dos Reis. Another option would have been to go to Sao Paulo then onto Angra Dos Reis. The Sao Palo bus would have gotten us to Ilha Grande later so we decide on Rio. This bus is full, your seats are assigned, you choose your seats when you buy your ticket. They give us a small bag of potato chips and a few pieces of candy and nothing to drink. This bus stopped at rest stops which sell food and have restrooms. Our bus stops three times during the trip, the bus also has two bathrooms on board. Each time we stop for about twenty minutes. We stay near the bus because the bus driver does not make sure you are back on the bus. At one stop people in the back of the
bus started screaming at the driver to stop. The driver sits behind glass so he could not hear them. A young couple can be seen running for the bus as it pulls away. Luckily we needed gas and the couple catches up to us in the gas station. We arrive in Rio at 9:00 am, we have missed the 8:00 and 9:00 bus to Angra. I look for the bus company the internet said went to Angra and I cannot find them. I asked another company and they direct me to a bus company that makes the trip. We buy a ticket for the next bus at 10:45.
We arrive at Angra, we have a plan Mark waits for our luggage while I figure out how to get a ferry to Ilha Grande. I know there is a ferry at 3:30 but it is only 2. I know a company sells private ferry tickets from the bus station. I go there but the next ferry is 4:00. I go to the information booth and they tell me of a ferry leaving at 2:30 and they say I should catch a taxi because if we walk we will miss the
ferry. Two girls from London who were also on the bus from Floinopulis and Rio ask if they can share a taxi to the 3:30 ferry I tell them we are going to a different pier to catch a 2:30 ferry. They decide to follow along. We find the ferry and now we have a 50 minute ferry ride to the island. The 50 minutes turns out to be an hour and a half. We are on South America time and every thing is really just an estimate. Finally we arrive in Paradise.
Our hotel turns out to be just steps from the peir, Lonier Praia Inn Flats. Our room is small, basic but clean with a bathroom and air conditioning. The room includes breakfast which turns out to be fabulous. The open air breakfast room has a view of the ocean and has lots of cold and hot items. The hotel also has an employee who is available during breakfast to arrange boat rides to the beaches. There are no cars or electric vehicles on the island, you either walk or go by boat. We ask our hotel for restaurant recommendations, they recommend Dom Mario and Lua e
Mar. Dom is too expensive so we eat at Lua e Mar, which is a open air restaurant on the beach. If you go order the seafood stew, it is for two persons but we could have used a third person to help us eat the large portions. We enjoy it so much we have two dinners here. We walk around the village Abraao, there are lots of people out walking or eating and drinking. The island attracts a young crowd, very few people in our age group but that is OK we are young at heart. The island is so small we run into the girls from London several times during our stay, they also ate at Lua e Mar. We also meet a woman from Canada and we talk with her several times, she is with her husband but he is always in the room and she is always out walking. We spent two full days here and both days we take a fast boat to Lopes Mendes beach. The boat takes you to a bay and then you walk about 20 minutes to the beach. No boats are allowed at Lopes Mendes so the beach is less
busy and more pristine than other beaches on the island. We are told to bring food with us but we find a few vendors selling snacks and sandwiches. They also rent surf boards but no umbrellas or chairs. We find a shady tree and spend the day playing in the waves, snorkeling and napping to the sound of the waves. The island has scuba diving, boat and paddle board rentals. We arrange with our hotel to pay for a ferry and mini van ride directly to our apartment in Rio. They say it will take between three and four hours but there is a lot of traffic and the driver has to find the hotel for everyone in the van. It was not short but we avoid the bus station and an expensive taxi from the bus station. We arrive in Rio. YEA!
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Stanley Skiba
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IIha Grande
Love the pictures and it appears quite splendid there. Glad you are having some relaxing times even though the bus rides are a challenge. It appears that south of the border always had run on their own time compared to the traditional European and American sense of time.