On Ilha Grande,the village of Abraao provides basic grocery shopping for the whole island and most of the islanders come by boat to stock up. A ferry service runs between Abraao and Angra dos Reis, the closest large town on the mainland. It is very green on the island, which means it rains quite a bit, but also replenishes the water supply – in several places, water runs freely from catchment tanks thru pipes right onto the beach or out to a mooring buoy, which can be taken easily. Wi-fi hot spots are occasionally available on the boat if anchored in the right place, otherwise internet cafes are very expensive, as is eating out at the rudimentary restaurants. From here we went for a long hike up Pappagao (Parrot) Peak, heard howler monkeys making their loud eerie “go away” noises, but from 600 metres up the overview of the town was rather nice on a sunny day. For the first month, we made this our base, going off to other anchorages for some quiet or just a change of scenery.
From Las Palmas anchorage, we hiked across to the beautiful clean white sandy Lopez Mendes beach on the ocean side of the island for a swim where the water was nice and clean but a tad cool. One day we took lunch and hiked 3 hours to the light house at the west end of the island thru dense woodland and a number of rather large stands of bamboo. On the way we saw a snake slithering off the track just at our feet and heard howler monkeys again. Saw signs “Beware of Alligators” (which had been introduced) we never did see any and not a lot of other wildlife except a few land and sea birds and butterflies. Met up with 4 cruising boats from South Africa so one night we all went ashore for a braai (bbq).
Saco do Ceu was a very quiet little enclosed anchorage, except, as for most places, not on weekends when the locals come out to play. Good easily accessible water but not a lot of hiking and not great holding when the wind whistled down from the mountains so we didn't spend much time there.
There were just some things we could not get on the Island so eventually we sailed and motored across to the mainland and anchored at Iate Clube Angra dos Reis (ICAR), on the opposite side of the peninsular from the city – much quieter and more picturesque. Friendly club with wi-fi available, reasonably priced restaurant and snack bar and lovely hot showers, but no permanent live aboards. Situated a long way up into the bay, cut off from the sea by islands and surrounded by green mountains it can get quite windy at times but the water remains relatively flat, until the weekend when a lot of boats come roaring to and from the fuel dock located nearby.
Took the bus across to the downtown centro and wandered around all day finding a number of computer and hardware stores with lots of goodies, plus the general run of the mill clothing, food and tourist shops. In this very old established and brightly painted town many of the streets are still cobbled, with some very narrow connecting alleyways. An exceedingly large number of “scuners” (schooners) fill up the harbour to take visitors out to the islands on day trips, many of them idle during this winter period. The large modern shopping mall/marina complex was a great disappointment with a number of shops closed for renovations, no real chandlery but a very expensive small supermarket where we found pricey Canadian maple syrup.
Another bus trip took us to Bracchui, a modern complex full of condos and homes, hotels and apartment buildings with many places for rent, built along a small series of canals. Many boats tied up to the private jetties and many more in the entrance marina.
Had to also take a 15 minute, commonly crowded, bus ride to go shopping at a major supermarket. On returning with our big and heavy backpacks, hands also full of bags, we had to struggle past the cashier turnstile, but the locals were very kind in giving up seats to accommodate.
When we finally left ICAR our propellor was so dirty that we could only get 1600 rpm, doing 4 knots, but it was just such a lovely sunny calm day we battled on hoping for cleaner water till we finally arrived at the anchorage of Cedro Island and Phil went for a swim to scrape it and the log clean. Next day we continued, at a much better speed, on down to Parati.
This old town of Parati is one of the oldest town in Brazil and a national heritage site. All the buildings in the downtown historical area have been renovated and newly painted with bright coloured door and window frames. The streets are all cobbled and are slightly sunken in the middle so that when the tide is very high the seawater comes in and washes them clean, normally every two weeks. Not a lot of vehicular traffic but the cobbles are rather lumpy making walking very tiring. Very much a tourist town, so lots of souvenir shops. The town has of course spread out a lot and all of the every day activities and stores are in the newer areas. Many scuners tied up at the dock to take tourists out around the bay.
In the next long narrow bay, Parati Mirim it was much quieter, with only lovely green hills surrounding small islands, and lovely nooks and crannies in which to anchor. However, only managed to stay here for a couple of days before the weather files showed a good period for heading south. We departed Bahia Ilha Grande on August 30 after an enjoyable 2 months calm but wet stay.
