3 days in Fernando de Noronha: 10/29 to 11/1

The past 3 days have been an incredible experience. Fernando de Noronha is an island about an hours flight east of Recife in the Atlantic. A few people asked if I was going and I hadn´t committed until last Thursday when I was talking with a co-worker who lives in São Paulo. I told her I was in Recife and enjoying the country immensly. When she asked if I was going to the island and said I didn´t know, she insisted I go and said it would be the best experience. She sent me information on the internet so I made reservations. I was going to wait a few days, but this coming weekend is --another-- holiday in Brazil and the prices doubled to fly there over the holiday weekend, so it was a bit of an impromptu trip, but booked it. What an experice!! Here´s a chronology of the past few days:
Monday
Departed Recife in the early afternoon and arrived in Fernando de Noronha around 4:30. Most of the lodging in FdN (I´m abbreviating now) are Pousada´s which essentially people´s homes where they rent rooms to tourists. There are a couple hotels, but not the preferred lodging. Met the lady (Nêga) --had called before flying to find a place-- at the airport who happens to also have a taxi service, and went to her house. Essentially you are invited into their home and become part of the family for the time you´re here. They serve breakfast and your eating while the kids are getting ready for school and family preparing for the day. I´ll write a little more about the life style the people have there a little later. It was getting late, so took off on a walk to try and see the sunset, but got there to late. So had dinner, walked around a bit and went back to the pousada. Francisco (Nêga´s husband) set me up with a buggy (pronounced "boogy") for the next day to tour the island.
Tuesday
Woke up early (3:30am recife time as FdN is another hour east) to get the the Bahia dos Golfinos to watch the dolfins. The tour lady said the day before there were over 1500 dolfins in the bay. The morning we were there, there were about 500, but still cool to see. Pictures didn´t turn out so good because of light and distance. We stayed there until 7:30 and headed back the pousada to get breakfast. The rest of the day was exploring the island. The highlight was a swim in a natural aquarium. Francisco told us we had to get to this beach access point before 12 noon because they limit access to 100 people per day. Also, no sunscreen allowed and you only get 25 mins to snorkle, and no fins. When we arrived at the top of the hill and looked in the the little bay / aquarium, we thought, "what´s this?" and began to wonder what all the hype was about. Well, the best surprises are in the smallest packages. Essentially, in the lava rock a natual aquarim has been formed. The water is indescribably clear and warm. When looking in from the shore you can´t see much. But when you get in the water and start exploring under the coral it comes alive! The sheer number of exotic fish of all colors, coral color, anenmies, and life is beyond words. Again, not having the water proof camera was the biggest mistake I made. Words cannot describe the beauty and pristine conditions!! Now I know why they control the access and what they allow people do with such enforcement. They are working hard to keep it accesible for people to expreince, at the same time not destrying this incredible habitat. After wards we were beat and headed back to town. I made reservation to dive the next and and take a boat tour Thursday morning before our flight. The rest of the day was relaxing and hanging out in town.
Wednesday
Francisco woke me up early to catch the dive bus. This was going to be my first dive in "warm" waters and not the freezing Montery Bay. I was a little worried when I got on the dive boat and the guy asked if everyone spoke Portuguese; to my surprise 60% of the divers all spoke english and turned out our specific guide spoke english, thus things were a little easier. The dives were incredible. We did two dives. The first, we went into an underwater cave where the entrace was blocked with a huge school of fish. You swim through the school of fish to get into the cave, when you turn around to look out and see all the fish against the incoming light was amazing. ((Again, kicking myself for not buying the underwater case for the camera))..BUT of course, like any good operation they had an underwater photographer along who took some amazing photos. The second dive was just as amazing as the first. Beautiful coral and amazing life. I have picture with a sea turtle, a manta rae and a large sun fish. The picture were quite expensive, but since this was a once in a lifetime dive, I invested in the photos. They are digital and high quality. When I get a chance I will reduce the file size and get them ´posted.
After a morning of diving, the rest of the day was spent exploring the island and beaches. In the late afternoon a rain squal hit the island and it down pured for an hour. What an experience. I had no idea though the repurcussions it would have on the next day.
Thursday
Up early again to catch a boat tour of the west side of the island before the flights. The boat ride was nice. We stopped in one of the bays and went snorkling. The boat returned, rushed back to the pousada, packed, said good-bye to the host (Fracisco and family) and took a taxi to the airport to find it packed with people. Come to find out, the day before in the rain squal, the inbound flight from Recife could not land and had to return to Recife. Thus people were standed for an extra day, putting a strain on reservations. The flight was delayed, the tiny airport was crowded and tempers short. But the plane finally arrived and got back to Recife where I had a one night reservation in a hotel.