In the middle of the Atlantic

[highlight]Leia em Português[/highlight]

There is not much infrastructure in Fernando de Noronha, everything is kind of rustic, but who cares about comfort when you are in a paradise-like beach? The island is rather small, and the city is crossed by a 7 km-road. Vegetation pretty dry most of the time, due to high temperatures and little rain.

In order to get acquainted to the beaches, we went hiking – which was part of our package tour. I thought it was wonderful; we had plenty of time to see it all. It is more comfortable by jeep, but the stops are shorter.

We have been to awesome places such as SANCHO beach, where the access is hard because you need to go down to the beach through a fissure in the rocks, besides going down something like a fire ladder. One of the most wonderful beaches I have ever been to!

SUESTE beach is full of turtles, and right when we were visiting it, TAMAR PROJECT was cataloguing the animals. It is required that you rent a life jacket to go into the sea, for you should not move your feet under water, to avoid disturbing the animals.

LEÃO beach is amazing, at least at that time of year – the tide was a little high, but the water has an unbelievable shade of blue!

shallow-water pools in Atalaia — Shallow-water pools in Atalaia

ATALAIA beach and its natural, shallow-water pools and under the supervision of IBAMA, has strict visiting hours (depending on the tide), and sunscreen is not allowed. You can only dive for 30 minutes and must not move your feet under water, for it is considered to be a fish nursery. I saw pups (baby sharks), octopus, squids and fish of all kinds and colors!

I had my first experience diving with an oxygen cylinder; after all, being in one of the most appropriate places to do so, I could not miss this opportunity. I went 10m deep with the help of my instructor – who always told me how to relief the ear pressure. The sensation of having close contact with nature, the silence and absence of people is just indescribable.

The best spot for free diving is at the harborage, where there is a shipwreck which makes the marine fauna even more beautiful.

During the trails, we also visited beaches good for surfing, such as CACIMBA DO PADRE and CONCEIÇÃO. On one evening we watched the sunset at FORTE DO BOLDRÓ, it was so cool to see everyone enjoying themselves and having beer under the tents – there is a nice bar up there.

We chose to get a bus to go around the place – there is one every 30 minutes, at a good fare. Another option would be to rent a buggy, at R$ 90,00/day.