A late start, it
had been raining all night and was still pouring down so everyone took advantage
of a lie-in.
By
11:00 the skies brightened though
low cloud shrouded the hills around Praia de Ubatubinha
Coffee,
breakfast a swim and the day is planned. Lars wants a route march through the
jungle to
Lagoa Verde a
big bay over the headland and Thomas is going to give a refresher course in
diving to
ves and Karine.
I volunteer to do the mountaineering.
Lars and I
dinghy ashore and set off up a near vertical mud track most of which had been
streams during
the earlier
rain. This made the going even more difficult as the surface was like walking on
ice. Despite all,
we made good
progress battling through the undergrowth where gigantic stands of bamboo had
collapse
over the path
until we reached the top. The rain forest opened here at the head of a gully,
although we could
only see the
sky.Then as we ascended it was back into the gloom.
Suddenly we
could hear sounds of music and soon we stumbled on clearing and wattle and daub
type hut
made from mud
and bamboo with an outside loo as well as washing up facilities complete with
umbrella for shelter.
Someone had been
planting in the cleared area and a peep through a hole in the wall showed two
beds and clothing.
Hut
Kitchen
sink
It had started
to rain again, making the steep track treacherous, as we carefully worked our
way down.
Then we came to
a street light! Soon houses, a bamboo fence and then a concrete pathway as we
walked though a village down to the waters edge.
Main
Street
Street light
A study of the
map showed we were in Longa a fishing village just before Lagoa
Verde.
As we walked
along the beachfront toward the dock and where fishing boats were being
repaired
we were
approached by a friendly native guided us to the shop. Here the proprietor rose from his slumbers
and promptly
opened up producing two crispy cold beers from his fridge. You can’t keep a good
entrepreneur down.
Native
man
Bar man
Word had got out
and a few more locals joined and we engaged in them in our two words of
Portuguese and lots
of “Charades” as
we managed to hire one of the fishermen to take us back by sea to Dawnbreaker. A
great relief to all, well to me anyway.
So clutching a
fresh beer for the journey we embarked on a somewhat leaky and basic craft but a
saviour none the less.
Deliverance
On our return we
caught up with the diving group along with Onzo who was rowing Rocky the dog
around the bay.
Enzo and
Rocky
Thomas Karin and Yves
We booked into
the restaurant on the beach and duly arrived at 8pm for aperitifs, followed a
great fish feast
accompanied by
our own wine which they allowed us to bring along and so ended another fun
filled day of adventure on the Ilha Grande.
Bob the
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