Fernando de Noronha
Lynn & Mike ..around the world
Mike Drinkrow & Lynn v/d Hoven
Sat 29 Mar 2008 10:57
|
03:49.76S 32:24.49W
We arrived at the beautiful island of Fernando de
Noronha at dawn on the 27th March. The island has a very dramatic landscape,
with the Morro do Pico dominating most views. On the top of the rock is a
lighthouse which is visible 50kms away. This close to the equator there is a lot
of rain, sometimes unexpected, and keeping hatches closed at the appropriate
time is critical. (there have been a few floods on this trip already) This whole
island is a national park, and to protect the marine life, they
keep visitors limited - in numbers, and by sheer cost. The charge for us
for 3 days (1 yacht over 10m and 3 people), was the equivalent of US$ 520. OUCH!
I suspect the harbourmaster is fairly embarrassed about the steep charges as he
was very friendly, gave us our first day free and offered us coffee/ iced water
while filling in all the forms. While most people have been friendly, the
same can't be said for the local dive operators, one who shouted abuse and
pretended to try to run us down when we were snorkelling off our dingy. I guess
they feel they "own" the ocean here. Yesterday we took a quick tour of the
island on the local bus - one road crosses the island of 8kms and it is called
the BR363 ... not sure where the other 362 roads are!? Today we walked to
the Forte Dos Remedios (old fort) and went down to the surfer beaches, Praia
Conceicao and Praia do Cachorro. We enjoyed some deep fried sardines,
recommended by the surfers and later went down to the shore where they were
cleaning the little fish. Coenie and Mike were taking the fish heads and tossing
them up to the frigate birds, who would swoop down, and even take the fish
directly from their hands. Early evening the guys went canoeing to a rock with a
blowhole that sounds like a dragon. Its been a busy day! I will post more pics
when we get to Forteleza. |