13/5/09 After breakfast our group all piled into a minibus, and after about two hours we arrived at a tiny port where we got our boat over to Ilha Grande. This was a 40 minute journey, and it reminded me of the Yasawas, Fiji and the Whitsundays, Australia, because we passed lots of small forested islands on the way. I didn't see any flying fish this time, though, and the sea was deeper than the Yasawas lagoons. It was just as hot and sunny, though! When we arrived we dumped our stuff at our hostel in the village, which reminded me a lot of Koh Tao; it's very arty and a bit hippyish, though quieter and with a lot of wooden buildings rather than brick or concrete. There are no cars on the island apart from a small police truck (maybe a couple more in other villages), and only a few motorbikes. The roads are cobbled and nearly everybody gets about by walking or cycling. We all went for some late lunch at a kilo place, smaller and more informal than the one we went to in Rio, but the food was just as good.
After this we could do what we wanted until we had to meet up for dinner at 7.30. Some of us walked to a nearby beach to try to catch some sun before it went down behind the mountains behind the village; it turned out to be a partly black sand beach! Even better, the bits that were black were much closer to actually being black than the ones we went to in New Zealand, which were just a range of greys! The bits that weren't black were partly yellow/light orange, and partly white. Dave found a couple of pieces of shiny white quartz on the sea floor. Unfortunately after we'd all got into the water the sun went behind the mountain after only a few minutes, but we stayed in for longer anyway before getting out and walking back. We saw a noticeboard explaining about all the different unusual minerals which the sand there was made up of, but there was no English translation so the only one I recognised was the white quartz.
Dinner was at a pizza/pasta place. Dave had chicken lasagne (!), the only lasagne option, Jess and I shared a 45 inch plain cheese pizza, and most of the others also had pizzas of various sizes. Neither Jess or I had realised quite how big that actually is in pizza terms until it arrived - it was about the same size as a cartwheel - I've literally never, ever seen a pizza that big! I was starving before it arrived, but I had to leave half of my last piece because I was just too full, and Jess had to leave all of her last slice. Nobody else could eat it for her, though, because they were all too stuffed as well! We stayed for a long time, and afterwards most of us went to a restaurant on the seafront and had a caipirinha cocktail each; the tables were all set outside next to the sand. The caipirinhas all came with a stick of sugar cane in! - it wasn't quite as sweet as I had expected, but was very juicy.

14/5/09 Today was just as I had hoped - an almost completely blue sky, and very hot. We all caught a boat to Lopes Mendes beach, though it actually dropped us off at another beach and we had to walk for 15 mins through the forest to get to it. I think it's protected, so boats aren't allowed to land on it. In some places the path was lined with giant bamboo. The beach was jaw-dropping! Similar to Whitehaven beach in the Whitsundays, though the sand wasn't quite as white; the sand was of a similar texture though, so it must have an above-average proportion of silica in it. The forest and palm trees came right up to the edge of the sand, and the sea was warm, turquoise and perfectly crystal clear. There were a couple of kiosks also on the edge, selling cold drinks and snacks. The first thing we did after laying out our towels and dump our other stuff was all get into the sea. We swam around, and Jay brought out his waterproof camera and took some photos. The waves were biggish, though smaller than the those at Ipanema. After swimming we sunbathed, read, took photos etc. for ages. Then I got my snorkel mask out and snorkelled for a bit; I saw some biggish white/silver fish, and a smaller dark one. Dave had been in before me, and he also saw the silver fish - in fact he saw a two-foot long one in a wave!
Before we left Dave discovered a long swinging rope hanging from a tree, so we took turns in swinging from it. After we had gone back to where everyone else was it was time to go; when we passed by the rope Angela said she wanted some photos of me swinging on it, so I went on again.
After a rest, we went out for dinner; some of us went to a fish restaurant, but others (including Dave and I) went to a pizza/pasta place nearby. Dave and I had pizza; this time sizes weren't indicated, so we played it safe by sharing one. It was just as well we had, because although it turned out to be a bit smaller than the one I had shared with Jess the day before, it was still massive!