We had a good night’s rest and woke up just before breakfast was delivered to our room around 8am. We were allowed to select from an extensive list of items the previous day. We evidently went all in on bananas, cakes, and pastries. I had some pão de queijo, which are baked cheese ball things. They’re very common in Brazil breakfast, and I’ve tried to like them, but it isn’t taking. We also had some fresh juices and a coffee. Maybe I’m developing a taste for it.
I plotted out an efficient way of doing our laundry without sitting around inside the laundromat (which in actuality was an old storage container). The terminal to pay for the machines asked for my CPF number — the thing I had to go to the consulate for back in Los Angeles. We have yet to meet anyone else on the island who isn’t Brazilian, with the exception of a German couple we saw later in the day. They were heavily reliant on Google Translate at the time. We don’t use such crutches. We rely on our instincts…and then just end up mostly confused.
In between laundry sessions, we went to a couple viewpoints of some well-known rock formations on the island. First up was Praia da Concieção, the beach closest to the main towering peak of Ilha Noronha. In many ways, it looks better from a distance than up close, but it was good to see it lit up by the sun. We mostly saw it in shadows yesterday.
Then we went back to move our clothes into the dryer before heading to Praia da Cacimba do Padre, the beach with easiest access to view the rock formations known as dois irmãos (two brothers). At beach level, it appeared that one of the irmãos was blocking the view of the other. Typical sibling stuff. Probably the first born. There was, however, a trail leading up the side of a cliff to get a more elevated viewpoint of the formations.
Now the dryer should be done. My erratic buggy driving on the way back to the laundromat perhaps agitated a stowaway wasp or some creature that stung poor Nicole. She got a welt immediately that gave her sharp pain radiating around her leg. As we couldn’t ascertain the source, we were worried it could have been a scorpion or something as well. Luckily after some Benadryl or cold compressing, it seemed to go down and Nicole could walk without favoring it too much. As you can see by the video below, however, driving the buggy around is no picnic.
As none of the gauges worked, we had no way of knowing if we were low on gas. At the previous viewpoint, it took a while to get it started so this was a concern. We tried to get gas on the island’s only gas station, but the guy shook his head no and kept saying, “Não, Energía.” This meant nothing to me. It simply translates to “energy” or “power” and Energía was also the name of the gas station. Confused, we thought maybe there was either an issue with the card machines or gas rationing and hoped we could come back later. We had a lunch composed of packaged snacks and monitored Nicole’s recovery from the sting before going back out. I discovered there was another viewpoint of the dois irmãos if we just continued down the road a bit.
This required entering the national park, which wasn’t cheap. It was $65 per person for foreigners, but even Brazilians had to pay $37. If you think charging foreigners more is immoral, you should know that starting this year we do this in the United States. The American outcome has been that foreigners just don’t visit the parks anymore and revenues have tanked. Maybe this practice shouldn’t exist unless it’s in a true developing nation and the local populous is impoverished. Anyway, back on Ilha Noronha, we thought the price was a bit steep for what we were trying to do, but I told Nicole that we should do it since it’s apparently the most famous viewpoint on Ilha Noronha. It was a nice view. I’m not sure if it was a $65 view, but our park passes are good for another 10 days if anyone wants to come down here in the next week and a half. After walking in the heat, we treated ourselves to some cold sparkling waters. Nicole also got an ice cream bar and I got a guarana soda-flavored popsicle. It’s a whole thing here.
Then we drove back to our place to chill at our local beach for the rest of the day. AND we were successful in getting 15 liters of gas for the buggy. Not to toot my own horn (because the buggy horn doesn’t work anyway), but I think I’m getting a handle on controlling the buggy. It does still feel out of control like I’m on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, but with some coaxing I have been able to wrestle it from 2nd to 3rd gear. Good for me. We tucked into some shade next to the cliffs and Nicole read one chapter of her book over the course of two hours. I went back into the water. I debated trying to find the shipwreck, but found that I was the only person around after swimming a ways out, and thought better of it. I swam closer to the shore and saw another shark. I borrowed Nicole’s GoPro to film some of that, but didn’t want to toil with trying to import from a device that is notoriously not user-friendly.
Once again, no other snorkelers ever seem to be nearby when I see these things. Today’s shark seemed a bit more spry and I couldn’t keep pace with it. It quickly disappeared. Also, AI says my photos of the sharks are tiger sharks, but I beg to differ. Though a tiger shark apparently attacked a woman a few months ago on this island and this would have been a good feeding area for them (they like to chomp on turtles), AI cannot always be believed. While they do bare some physical similarities in shape, the sharks I’ve seen have been fairly lean (like lemon sharks) and tiger sharks tend to be a bit fluffier from being very indiscriminate eaters. Someone should tell them that tires don’t digest well.
In addition to the usual turtles, I also saw a big stingray. About 10m away, a group of 10 snorkelers was fixated on a “tartaruga” (turtle), and none seemed to notice the massive ray. They just needed to turn their heads. This area is called “Jardim das Tartarugas,” — literally Garden of the Turtles, and they really are everywhere. I’d be filming a weird looking fish and then a giant sea turtle would photobomb the shot. I got back out to dry off and see if Nicole had progressed in her lengthy chapter.
A brief and light rain shower hastened our exit from the beach. We returned to the pousada to see that our afternoon snack had been brought to the room. They’ve been taking good care of us here and the food has been pretty decent compared to elsewhere. As the sun went down, we plotted to return to the pizza place where we got takeout the previous night. We elected to just sit down for a proper dinner. Such novelties will soon disappear as we enter the Amazon. We made sure to get Nicole her margherita pizza before she’s forced to do rice and beans again. I had a caipirinha, Brazil’s national cocktail which was refreshing and pretty decent — similar in some ways to a mojito.
We took the buggy out into the night for another wild ride. Good luck other drivers! Considering that it’s a smallish vehicle, the turning radius is horrible. When I was trying to find parking, it required I make a few u-turns, which with no power steering and a horrible turning radius can be a minor spectacle. We parked in front of a nice restaurant where everyone was dressed up nice. VVVVVRRrrrrnnnngggg. BANG! Well, I guess we’re here! Nothing to see here, folks. As there are no doors, it’s an equal spectacle getting in and out. You don’t really exit as much as fall out in a most undignified manner. You can’t do anything sophisticated in a buggy. Those are just facts.
I ended up purchasing a specially-made Noronha shirt for Rip Curl, which showcases the island’s main towering formation in the design. Souvenir: check. We have tomorrow to chill before heading back to the airport. It’s another lengthy day of travel, but this country insists on being all big. Though close to the equator and its intense sun, the island weather has been very comfortable. Based on the forecast in the Amazon, that’s all about to change.
passports & pepto bismol 