Fernando de Noronha: Sunday

We’re waiting in the airport for our delayed flight.

This morning we went on a boat tour of the west side of the island. The boat was really nice, and we weren’t with a huge tour group. There was an upper deck with reclining beach chairs, but the ocean felt more turbulent up there. At first, I was a little disappointed because it seemed like we were going to duplicate a lot of what we had already seen, but that turned out not to be the case.

Half the sky was very menacing – looked like a lot of rain was coming our way. But we were driving towards the sunlight during the first part of our trip, which was luckily also towards where we hadn’t been.

the face of menace

We saw dolphins! They were so beautiful! There were a couple swimming at the bow of the boat and we saw 3 jump a little out of the water. I didn’t really get any good photos because (1) I was too busy spotting them and (2) the whole encounter was over very quickly. That was the first time I’ve seen wild, salt water dolphins, and they were so much prettier than the Amazon ones. I wish we could see more! Alas, not on this trip.

We sailed all the way to one tip of the island, which had an Africa-shaped hole worn away in the rock. The whole coast was very beautiful. 

Then we turned around, directly facing the rain storm – but we hadn’t reached it yet. We stopped to go snorkeling in Praia do Sancho. I didn’t really have high expectations because we snorkeled there yesterday. But this was the best snorkeling we’d done here yet. I found an awesome bunch of coral where there were hundreds (thousands?) of colorful fish very close to the surface. As I was swimming through them, I wondered how I wasn’t constantly kicking or hitting them.

When we came back up, it was raining, so we loaded into the boat and started back to port. The coast had a different kind of beauty in the mist and the rain – it looked especially jungly. 

We stopped and turned off our engine at this enormous rock with caves in it. When the waves rushed in and out, there was a really loud roaring sound like a lion or a dragon (they call it the cave of the lion). It was so cool and mysterious.

When we got back on land, we had to shower and pack. Before we left for the airport, we got lunch and açai at the same place as before. It was yummy – a nice last snack. At lunch, most of us got really attacked by mosquitos and gnats. In the first couple minutes, Andrea got bit 11 times. Manda eventually killed the mosquito and we found out it was a dengue one. 

DENGUE

So then we had to go to the tiny airport and our flight was delayed, so we’ll probably miss our connection in Recife.

Ok, we’re finally on the plane. Manda took a full bottle of water through “security.” 

in the air

I’m so sad this vacation was so short. We really did not have enough days there. There were so many more things I heard about that I really wanted to do.

I want to go back already. I was in love with its waters. 

"for whatever we lose (like a you or a me) it's always ourselves we find in the sea."

- e.e. cummings