Island Info for Travellers! http://www.ilhadomel-travel.com.br - FANTASTIC website for those travellers who like us struggle to find information about this paradise isle! Staff are based in Curitiba and are REALLY friendly so vist them there if you can. They helped us beyond belief! Still my b'day! - Boat ride and week chilling on the beautiful white sand beaches and rainforest isle of Ilha do Mel- 'Honey Island!' Drinking a cold beer heading out to our idyllic isle for a week wasn't half a bad life as we chugged across the channel dodging the huge cargo ships heading out of port. As we got towards the small pier for the island we knew we were going to like it, a few fishing boats, beautiful white sand, jungle across the middle of the isle, no electricity or roads, just peace and tranquillity and hardly any backpackers as basically the isle is pretty off the beaten track for most travellers. After walking for a while through the sand pathways in the middle of the isle we finally found our first posada. 'Trez Luas' was perfect, a beautiful wooden building with high ceilings and a chill out area with sofas and hammocks on the veranda, paradise! Our room was nice too seeing as it was the budget one, the brown water coming out of the tap was quite funny but hey for a place as remote as this nothing mattered! The receptionist spoke English too and was really lovely and as we were nearly the only ones there it was extremely relaxed. We wandered down to the small bay near us called Praia Farol which had a rocky outlet on either side with a lighthouse to the left, and with the white sand beach and cool breeze it was just what we needed. The water here isn't like the turquoise variety in Mexico but what we loved about the island was its jungle like remote feel and at times you could have the entire stretch of beach to yourselves! That eve as it was my b'day we went to a small restaurant opposite and treated ourselves to a few (well way too many!) Caipirinha's boy these are good! Then a tad jaded stumbled across the sand to bed, what a perfect b'day it had been!! We had 3 days at this part of the isle and spent the first full day sunbathing on the beach as the weather had turned out really good! We then explored the isle a bit and walked along the longer beaches of Praia Faro and around the lagoon, it was just beautiful. Unfortunately the wind had hidden how hot the sun actually was so on day three we were like burnt lobsters and for the first time ever had to then stay out of the sun for 2 days! We walked some more though, along the surf beaches of Praia Grande and climbed over the rocks, then we found a small brightly blue painted café/book exchange shop which was really chilled and spent a few hours there. We had decided to stay nearer the north on the island as we had read it was quieter whereas the south called Encantadas is busier, and we were so glad we had steered clear of there, this part was heaven. There were a few restaurants/café places which served huge meals, the usual dish of meat, rice and beans, but one night when we had forgotten our torch, walking back was a tad scary as with no electricity it was bl**dy pitch black and we could hardly see a thing!! Ooops! I managed to find in the posada a book that many travellers had recommended to me, 'The Power of Now,' a pretty hard going book to start with which required concentration but for both of us it was great to just sit in the hammock, chill and read.....We also met another lovely Brazilian couple from Curitiba who invited us to dinner with them when we got back, people are just amazing here, but unfortunately we just didn't have the time as our bus only gave us an hour there before we then moved on. Boo! The second half of the week we were then moving abit further north to Brasilia beach as unfortunately we couldn't afford to do the whole week at Trez Luis otherwise Mr MasterCard might have had a paddy, so on the Tuesday we packed up to move, feeling very sad about the leaving this place! Saying our goodbyes we donned on our heavy packs and slowly walked in the sun north up the white stretch of beach to Posada 2 Po Do Sol. This place was really nice too and the only reason we could afford to stay here was because they did an 'economico room' and meals were included. The place didn't disappoint though and doing both options was actually a good thing as here you were right on the beach so each night could sit whilst having dinner and watch the sunset, plus ************e was on this beach at all as only 2 posadas exist here so it was even more remote. Our room was tiny, enough room for a bed and 2 backpacks but they had given us the one with the ocean view and balcony so it was perfect! That night we had our first experience of the 'included buffet' and blimey the food was just AMAZING!! As there was ************e here they literally gave us all 6 HUGE dishes of different food just for 2 people! We were gobsmacked and had to ask the guy if this was actually all for us as we couldn't believe it. I think Ads could have kissed him when he said 'yes of course.'! And the first dish included the biggest ever bowl of cheesy mash, I couldn't stop grinning, if this had been the only thing to eat I would have been happy but in addition we had sautéed prawns, marinated chicken, salad, creamy pasta and roast potatoes....... Yes we did almost manage to eat it all and definitely for the next 5 days we had there made up for being starving for the last week! As we were nearer to the nature reserve area and the weather had worsened for a couple of days, we spent time chilling more and then hiked for 2 hours up to the fort at the top of the island. There was a beautiful view point which looked down upon the north of the island and other mini islands and despite the biting bugs which drove you mad abit, it was just stunning. If we could we would have stayed the rest of our time here on the island, it was just what we had wished for and needed. On our last night we sat watching the sun go down on the beach with caiperinhas in hand after we had climbed to the top of the lighthouse to look across the island and had visited our book shop café for one last time! It was just so peaceful and hot and as the sun fell, locals went out on their fishing boats to catch even more prawns for tea! After dinner a Brazilian couple on their honeymoon, Fabi and Gustav invited us to sit with them even though they knew hardly any English and us no Portuguese, people are JUST so friendly in this country. Gustav though had a translator so using his PC we laughed as we spent the entire evening getting to know each other through the PC!!! They were both so lovely though and generous and by the end of the night we had gained a music CD they had made for us, 1 litre of vodka and about 5 cartons of juice and had organised to go and stay with them when we got back from the Amazon so that we could see where they lived and spend the day with them. Such incredibly generous people and we were really looking forward to seeing them in a weeks time, that's if we didn't get eaten by any crocodiles in the meantime!! Well the week had passed and time was now running out. In just 2 weeks time we would be on a flight home and even though we still had two more amazing things to do and see - The Amazon and Rio, the reality that this adventure was coming to an end was truly hitting and if we are honest we were and are both VERY scared about the prospect!! Chilling on a white sand beach compared to work/unemployment/rain and minus 2 degrees, my god how will we cope?!!!