Week 1 for this year's Brazil holiday was Fernando de Noronha. Its a small island about 350 miles off the coast, slightly NE of Recife, which is in the extreme NE of Brazil. AP had been to Fernando several times for its world-class scuba and I had been hearing about these perfect hollow waves, so it seemed like a great destination to satisfy both our cravings. After talking up how great the surfing was going to be, our good friend Rob Born decided to join us.
I'm not exactly sure how the Brazil parks system work, but the way they managed Fernando was very effective. It doesn't feel like one of our national parks, but its obvious that they have put strict limitations on all residential and commercial development and thereby indirectly limited the number of people (no camping allowed). If you aren't registered at one of the guest houses, you are not permitted on the island (registration is right when you get off the plane). The net effect is really great, you feel like you are on an exclusive and crowd-free retreat!
The beaches were amazing... very much pristine and beautiful. Crystal clear water, abundant sea life (turtles, spinner dolfins, fish, etc.), and top rate underwater exploring. With AP as our guide, we signed up with a dive operator that took us on 4 exciting and somewhat challenging dives. I think the diving was really one of the highlights for both AP and I... especially so for AP. She has alot of passion for scuba and I think adding to her excitement was getting to see all her old pals from when she would visit with her friends a few years back. Towards the end of our trip, we were hanging out at one of the local night spots and started to realize that we knew half of the people there (its a small place) and on top of that, the guy fronting the band was the same guy who took us diving earlier in the day!
Few comments on the surf. Before leaving SF we did our homework... it was going to be epic, a guaranteed score... hollow waves, light crowds, warm water, and we were hitting it at the right time of year. AP was going to take footage w/ our new video camera, we called ahead and had custom boards shaped that were waiting for us at the airport (4 in total). Personally, I was psyching myself up to push my limits a bit... ride deep and really commit. As it turns out, the best way I can summarize is that it was the best surf trip I've ever been on where I didn't surf much at all. Basically the waves just didn't happen (knee to waist high). To be fair, we did get 1 day of ok surf... which mostly consisted of these local kids getting slotted all over the place, they were really, really, really good surfers. Were we a little bummed, sure, but there were so many other things happening, it really didn't matter.
So thats pretty much it... I don't know much about the history of the island, we didn't really take any tours... just lots of exploring in our dune buggy, hanging out on beaches, snorkeling, diving, eating, and a little partying.
More pics... 100% credit to AP!! http://www.flickr.com/photos/pradoteeple/sets/72057594050590953/
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