So then, we finally left Rio de Janeiro on the 22nd of September bound for Ilha Grande and reportedly 'the best beaches in the world' in order to start our survey. It was pretty cool sailing past pão de açucar, praias de Copocabana and Ipanema and seeing all the tourists and Caraocans (residents of Rio) on the famous beaches. We had a lovely days sail with the wind on the beam all the way to Ilha Grande and pulled into Enseada das Palmas at midnight. We dropped anchor in the middle of a large bay in flat calm waters full of phosphorescence not knowing what our surroundings looked like. We awoke to find ourselves surrounded by jungle covered hills with clear blue skies and at one end of the bay was a small beach with a couple of buildings half hidden in the palm trees.....................mmmmmmmmm. What a way to start your survey.
We had arrived in Pousos and until the tourist schooners arrived for the day, we had the place to ourselves. A small path led over to the other side of the island to Praia de Lopez Mendez; 2 1/2 miles of clean white sand with us as it's only occupants for an early morning stroll. As we walked the length of the beach we could only think happy thoughts and kept looking over our shoulders not quite believing that we could be the only people here. As we returned to Oceana we met groups of people who had just arrived on the first tourist boat looking a little bemused that we could be leaving already!
After a couple of days relaxing in the sun we moved around to the next bay to the village of Abrãao, the capital of Ilha Grande. There's not much to do on Ilha Grande unless you like swimming and snorkeling and walking to beaches and waterfalls and mountains and more beaches and sailing and fishing and beaches and bars and boats and more swimming. So we managed to keep quite busy for the next week until we ran out of food and headed for the town of Angra dos Reis on the mainland. Angra dos Reis (bay of the kings) is a funny old place, complete with used oil rigs in the bay and a large community of fishing boats. But it's lively in a holiday town in Devon kind of way even if the gene pool looks familiarly like a fen town. After filling up with supplies we headed off to Ilha Grande again, to Santana - a small one bar beach with us as it's only occupants. We spent a week here snorkeling and swimming and walking and drinking and generally chilling out as much as is possible.
Well, you can only chill out so much before turning into a hippy or something, so we set off for Angra once again. This time we had heard of a party happening on an island in the other direction so bought a new chart to see where we were going and off we went. We found the island which was in fact a private island complete with nightclub, swimming pool, massage parlour and floating bar in the bay. We tried to think of ways of crashing the party that was being set up and decided that a full frontal assault was the best option. Luckily the first person we met upon landing the dinghy was the producer of the party who said "Of course you can come as my VIP guests" and so it was to pass that Andy and Christina managed to blag 3 days of parties with the rich and famous of São Paulo. But at quarter to midnight (it started at midnight) we were the only boat moored off the island and we were wondering where everyone else was and how they were coming? Well, we didn't have to wait long to find out - in the next 30 minutes over 100 boats ranging from 25 to 100 feet long arrived, the preferred mode of transport being 40 feet power boats (with or without a flying bridge) and with a mariniero to look after the boat whilst you partied. We were hemmed in by boats worth several million pounds each and rather flustered by the whole ordeal. But we made it to the party and had a grand time of it (even if the music was a bit fluffy).
After all this, we decided that it was time to go on holiday so we took a short break in Rio savouring the delights of hot showers, mini-bars, a bed that you could really spread your legs in and above all a room which didn't rock when the wind got up. We spent another tiring weekend blagging samba parties, nightclubs and rounded it off getting into a big show by Beth Carvalho - a big name in Brazillian Samba, complete with a host of guest players and singers.
Our new friend Rosane came to stay with us aboard Oceana to repay her hospitality in Rio and we felt like we needed another holiday to recover from her visit! After she left us in Abrãao boarding the ferry back to the mainland we sat back to relax before starting to make arrangements for Ma and Pa Murphy and my mum Pat to come and visit us for Christmas. How does the saying go about visiting parents? You wait for 2 1/2 years for one then 3 come at once!
So, we have been sitting in the sun but mostly rain waiting for our replacement rigging to arrive and counting down the days till Christmas. We still haven't found the perfect beach, but are thoroughly enjoying the search!
