Ilha Grande

Next stop on our journey was Isla Grande, a small island (or perhaps a large island) about 2 hours by road and a 20 minute boat trip south of Rio de Janeiro. For those that watch it, Isla Grande was a checkpoint on a previous series of Race Across the World. Once we arrived in Abraao, the main town, we needed to take a 5-minute boat from the main jetty to our hotel – due to the topography road infrastructure is almost non-existent with most hotels being seafront and having their own piers. There is a small village centre which has everything you need to survive.

After some intensive travel we planned to spend a week relaxing on the island with activities predominantly limited to boat trips around the island and spending time on the plethora of beautiful beaches with huge granite boulders and tropical palms.

On our first couple of nights we were treated to some magnificent electrical storms, and associated heavy rain. It was wonderful to sit out on our covered balcony once the children were asleep to enjoy mother nature at its best!

As well as the restaurants in the town there were a number of restaurants dotted along the coastline which could only be accessed by boat or on foot. There was a nice restaurant (good food, great cocktails) in an adjacent cove which had live DJs most evenings, we visited a couple of times during the week, Elana loved getting up and dancing to the music. It has been great to see her confidence grow since we’ve been travelling, she can be quite self-conscious particularly where attention may be drawn to her so this was a big thing for us!

The south side of the island is largely uninhabited due to the topography and exposure to the surf from the South Atlantic Ocean. Boat trips are limited to that side as a result as they can’t land so you have to trek to reach the unspoilt beaches. On one day we took a boat further east of the island and trekked about 40 minutes to the south coast to Lopez Mendes Beach, the hill was quite a challenge but it was worth it to spend the day on a pristine beach. We had a great time swimming and playing in the surf, even Bertie was running in and out of the surf getting knocked over and washed about on numerous occasions. When we began our trip he wasn’t the most confident in the water always needing to cling on to us (after all he is only two!), his confidence has grown so much (perhaps too much as there was an incident where he jumped into a pool without his armbands on, fortunately we do keep a close eye on them both in the water and plucked him out)!

The pier at our hotel was kitted out with a few sunbeds so we spent a couple of afternoons relaxing on the pier whilst Elana and Bert had a great time jumping into the water. We were lucky enough to be treated to a turtle sighting which the children were super excited about!

On another day we hired a small boat and driver with a family from Argentina, they had a four-year old boy, to take us around to a beach called Feiticeira Beach or Witch Beach. It was a small cove with beautiful granite boulders, calm waters and lovely soft sand for the children to play in. Elana and Helen also enjoyed a bit of snorkelling but the last couple of nights with stormy weather meant it wasn’t as clear as it could have been, nevertheless they saw lots of Sergeant Major and Sheepshead fish.

Mark celebrated making it through another year whilst we were there, on his birthday we borrowed two kayaks and paddled around the headland to the sheltered cove of Abraaozinho Beach with a fantastic restaurant ‘Bonito Paraiso’ where we enjoyed laying out in the sun and swimming in the sea. Every Sunday the restaurant puts on a seafood BBQ so we treated ourselves to a seafood feast, which we ate in the fantastic setting of the beach. Paddling back was a little tricky, not only were we stuffed, but the wind had picked up and we had to struggle against a headwind for a time (a great way to help digest the food we had devoured)! Bertie loved it so much he fell asleep giving Helen the challenge of keeping him in the kayak!

Feeling relaxed and refreshed (we actually stayed an extra night as we were feeling so chilled) it was time to take a boat back to the mainland to continue our journey south through Brazil.Read more