Day 9
Trip Start
Jun 26, 2007
1
4
9
Trip End
Jul 24, 2007
Fernando de Nornonha, Brazil
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Headed off to Fernando de Nornonha, a group of islands about 350 km from the mainland. They`re actually closer to the west coast of Africa than Sao Paulo. The whole group of islands are a nature reserve, and only 400 tourists are permitted onto the one inhabited island (which is about 24 square km). We arrived after dark and were shuttled to a dive school to watch a video about the preservation and ecological welfare of the island...in Portuguese (although English subtitles) and then dropped off to our hotel.
The stars are amazing out here - there must have been about 100 stars in the sky; it was like being in a planetarium!
Day 10 F d N
We hired a buggy (which is a bit like a golf cart) for the day to travel around the island. Whilst it has one main dual carriage way, the rest of the place is off road or unkept roads, so a buggy is the main form of transport (the taxis are buggies). We went to one beach which could only be accessed by climbing down a ladder which was hidden in the rocks. Amazing. The sea is turquoise and the beaches are so well kept, it`s just beautiful. I had a go at driving the cart (wanting to put Amit through what I~d experienced as a passenger), but unfortunately only managed about 10 minutes before having a near crash with a lorry going around a bend. There´s no grip on the tyres! I should have realised when the seats didn`t move forward and I couldn`t comfortably reach the pedals that driving was not a good idea.
Day 11 F d N
We decided to go diving today. Amit went with another Advanced Diver to do a deeper dive, and I went with the Open Water divers, not wanting to go too deep. Turned out I chose the better option, as I saw turtles, a moray eel and stingrays. Amit and I went diving together later, but didn`t really see much. The diving didn`t really compare to Australia or the Red Sea.
We went to ¨town¨ for dinner which comprised of 1 bank, 1 pizzaria and 1 bar - it`s a small island remember!
Day 12 F d N
It was raining today, so we took it easy. We decided to walk to a restaurant which was about 30 mins away, but got drenched by a downpour and then discovered the restaurant closed! At least it was warm, I guess. It seems even less happens here on a Sunday than normal! So, we treated ourselves to 10 mins of internet connection to learn who`d won Wimbledon, what the weather was like etc. Amit`s tomrented by the lack of news from the golf society, desperately checking his mobile daily for text updates (with no joy) and that`s the only thing he`s been looking for on his yahoo! mails - sorry everyone!
I`ve started reading Amit`s book whilst he`s reading it (given he`s sleeping about 12 hours a day, which I just can`t do, it`s a fair arrangement, and I`m managing to read quite a bit!)
