Anchorages 5 – 8

Lagua Azur - Anchorage 5 (Blue lagoon)

The rain poured down at Lagua Azur that night and we were able to fill our tanks with clean fresh water and fill every bucket for washing etc. However it didn’t stop that night and continued to rain.

It had let up to a soft drizzle in the morning and I took the rubber duck out for a row, hoping to see close ups of the birds I had been listening too. Not much luck, for some reason they refused to come and sit on a branch close to be to be observed. How inconsiderate I say L

After breakfast André and I packed in snorkel gear and went exploring. There is not a huge amount of different fish but it is interesting to see. It was on this snorkel dive I found my “discovery”. I am totally fascinated, if not obsessed with finding out exactly what it is we saw. Most frustrating is we didn’t have a camera with us at the time.

“My” prehistoric fish looked as follows: It was about the size of a dinner plate. From the top it looked more like the outline of a huge bullfrog; but its head ended in a short trunk of about 2 inches long. It had no front legs but its back legs were well developed and looked strong for its size. Short “thighs”; with strong joints; to short thick lower leg ending in large frog-like shaped feet that were actually strong fins. It was walking on these fins. Its body ended in a pointed short sting-ray like tail. It was a brown colour. We went down and disturbed the water close to it but it just kept very still and didn’t try to swim or make any different movement to get away. On the few moments I have been able to get onto google I have tried to find something / anything about it but no luck. I am convinced we have seen a species that was thought to be extinct. I am trying to convince my Captain we need to go back with the camera and find it again.

On route to our next anchorage we found a beach called Praia de Freguesia de Santana. It has the first church built on Ilha Grande on it. We went ashore to see it. Although it was locked we were able to climb the mountain to see its view.

Saco de Ceu – anchorage 6 (Bag of sky)

The call it this as the stars reflect in the water at night.

This anchorage is almost completely land-locked , there is a small entrance between rocks and then it opens out to this huge bay.  The bay consists of about 3 coves in the shape of a clover. We anchored in the quietest one. The others are home to many of the day trip boats. It is very pretty and although the rain didn’t make for good photos you can see the beauty. We went across to the small restaurant in our bay; it is beautifully done the smartest of those we have seen, obviously a more up market one. Although they were closed in the morning they invited us to look around. They also told us of a climb up to the top of the mountain behind them were we could see the whole bay. It poured all the way and we waited on top to get a photo of the view. Beautiful!

Abraao – anchorage 7 (The Capital of Ilha Grande)

They have maintained the “sanctity” of Ilha Grande, there are no cars and no formal roads. The same in Abraao! Everything is pushed around in carts, on bicycles or on foot. Abraao is very busy I think every tourist that takes a trip to Ilha Grande, goes to Abraao first. It is a real back-packers town. The ships arrive twice a day and spill people onto the jetty. It was wonderful to sit and watch the characters who have settled in to town and the visitors. It seems many people came to Abraao for a visit and stayed. It was the place we found the most English spoken.

When we stopped people in the street with a “Bon Dia, fala ingleis?” (good morning, do you speak English?) It usually prompted a switch to English with various accents of UK; German and USA descent.

Having taken the rubber duck over to the beach and chained it to a tree outside a beach restaurant, we spent the afternoon wondering around the town. We sat at one of the café’s watching the people come and go until dinner. It was back to the beach restaurant for coffee the next morning before setting off for Das Palmas.

Thanks to HSBC’s efficiency, it was necessary for us to return to Rio to collect bank cards.  We had been informed they were there and with the rain and the upcoming carnival weekend we decided it was a good time to set off back to Rio.

We took a slow trip back to our first anchorage at Praia dos Mangues and spent the night before getting an early start for Rio.

Carnival fun to follow: