| The mountain behind us is Fernando De Naronha's signature. This
group of Islands is a Brazillian natural reserve park with limited access
permitted.
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You can get a look at how small the islands are upon arrival by plane from Natal. |
| The Island lies 500 Km off the coast of Brazil, and only 3000 tourists are permitted on the island. No inhabitants are allowed on the peripheral islands. Which causes some major problems with Tiff when she swam to one of the islands after having a sea sickness emergency. But that is another story ..... |  |
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This is the part of the Island called The Two Brothers, where most of the sharks are found. Naturally it is just down the coast from Dolphin Bay which usually is full of dolphins and porpoises. Unfortunately for us on our boat tour there was a very rare event - no Dolphins to be seen. Very, very dissapointing. Especially because it is one of the few places in the world you can see the rare acrobatic spinner dolphins. Must have something to do will El Nino :-) |
| The town center is made up of approx. 20 buildings. They are mostly Dutch in style since the Dutch did most of the settling here. After the Portuguese took back many of the territories from the Ducth in Northern Brazil it also included Fernando. However, they did not really do much more since it is a far away location. |  |
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To the left of the town you get this marvelous view with the surfer's beach ovelooked by the highest point on the Island. Any one who knows their Brazilian Islands immediately recognizes Fernando de Nanhora by this view. |
| The building accross from the administration building in the center of town is the Dutch style church. Across from the church on a hill was a prison. We heard the grusome stories of how criminals were dealt with on the Islands. Torturing, solitary confinement in tiny cells open to the burning sun, and amputation of body parts was the norm. |  |
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Sunsets here are amazing. This is one we experienced on the surfer's beach after a long day of hanging out there. Quite often we'd go for sunset swims. The water is the clearest blue we have ever seen. We were told that the water loses all its minerals on the long ocean journey from India - so that when it arrives here it is crystal clear. |