We spend a couple of days on Ilha do Mel, a small car free island in southern Brazil that is famous for its beaches and absence of cars.
The island of honey is a small island in the bay of Paranagua, only a few hours away from Curitiba. On land, motorised transport is banned, and even it if wasn’t, the roads are little more than sandy tracks through the jungle and along the beaches.
After checking in to our hostel, or pousada as they’re called here, we had a short walk to the lighthouse to get a look at our surroundings. Along the way, we spotted a bright red bird (Brazilian tanager – not rare at all apparently) and a bunch of colourful butterflies.
The next day started with a lifetime first for both of us. After getting out of bed at 6AM, covered in newly acquired mosquito bites, we arrived at the breakfast table to find that we were too early! To kill some time, we headed to Praia do Farol on the east coast of the island to see the sun rise over the Atlantic Ocean.
After breakfast, we walked to the Forteleza de Nossa Senhora dos Prazeres, an abandoned fortress from the 18th century, built to defend the entry to the Bay of Paranagua. Entry is free, and we wandered around it for a bit. The main attraction is the front gate, which provides shade and a strong draft to cool you down. In the courtyard, there is a sign saying ‘Mirante’, which we figured means ‘viewpoint’, and decided to follow it. It leads you up some steps, which eventually becomes a dirt trail to the top of the hill behind the fortress. On the top of the hill, there is an artillery post with a few British-made guns, and a spectacular view over the beaches and the mountains in the distance.
To avoid the constant sunshine and increasing heat, we followed a path through the jungle to make our way back. Along this path, we spotted hummingbirds, a bunch of black and white tegus, and many mosquitos, before coming across a restaurant with a seaside terrace and an overpriced coke.
Then Heather had the luminous idea to walk to the town on the other side of the island, Encantadas. We walked along Praia Grande, until we arrived at a heap of boulders, which our map didn’t mention. To the left, the waves were crashing into the rocks, and to the right, there was a steep jungle-clad hill with no obvious path anywhere. We must have looked a bit lost while figuring out how to proceed, because a friendly Brazilian woman stopped her sunbathing activities and asked “Por Encantadas?” Heather responded with a simple “sim”, upon which the Brazilian lady started explaining how to get there. Due to our limited mastery of the Portuguese language, we didn’t understand a word, but fortunately she also started clambering over the boulders to show us where to go, and we happily followed. The non-obvious bit was a squeeze in between 2 huge boulders, too narrow to pass any other way than sideways, while lifting our backpack over our heads. Having cleared the boulders, we bid our Brazilian guide farewell, and continued south along Praia do Miguel. This beach ended in a hill, with a clear path to the top, and then down a primitive stone staircase, ending in a marsh-like plain. We had already gotten a bit hot and bothered, but crossing this plain, without any shade or wind, made us suffer. The protection from our suncream proved insufficient, and we had to fashion some makeshift protection out of baseball caps and towels to keep ourselves from going bright red and crispy.
We arrived in Encantadas dripping with sweat and wondering whose idea this walk had been, before locating a supermarket that had a few tables outside on a covered terrace, overlooking Praia de Encantadas. I spent an extraordinarily long time selecting a couple of drinks from the supermarket’s fridges while Heather claimed a table on the terrace. After applying the drinks to our interior, and additional suncream to our exterior, we decided that walking back was not an option, and set out to find a boat to take us back to Brasilia. We got tickets, but the next boat wasn’t due for another 50 minutes, so we found another covered terrace and got a couple of cool beers to keep the rehydration process going. Whilst hydrating ourselves, the clouds we’d hoped for earlier started to gather, and there was a distant rumble of thunder. The waiter started to collect the chairs from the outer edge of the terrace. We also spotted lightning in the distance, and started counting the seconds between seeing the lightning and hearing the thunder to gauge if it was coming towards us or not. As it turns out, it was coming towards us fairly quickly, and before we knew it, there was a strong wind, it started absolutely pouring it down, and the thunder was cracking seemingly directly above our heads. There were quite a few people not at ease, but the locals only seemed to find this amusing and didn’t look worried in the slightest. They were right of course, and no more than 10 minutes later we were again looking at a blue sky, no trace of a thunderstorm to be seen other than a fallen coconut. A little while later, we found ourselves on a small boat headed towards Brasilia, where we made a poor selection for dinner (pasta dish for Heather and somethng with a fried egg for me).
That is not to say that food and drink aren’t worthwhile on the island. The night before, we thoroughly enjoyed the moqueca de peixe – a Brazilian fish stew with garlic, lime and coriander.
Additionally, Heather doesn’t dare to order caipirinhas anymore because they won’t be as good (or cheap, 3.5 EUR) as they were on the island.
Heather says I should also mention the big butterfly we saw but got no picture of. It looked a bit like a blue A4 sheet of paper flapping about.
Collection of some other shots from Ilha do Mel:
Some other bits of practical info:
- We took a Graciosa bus from Curitiba bus station, which took 2h30m to Pontal do Sul. The last half hour of the journey is marked with frequent stops to drop off people, and with numerous speed bumps.
- After getting off at the main bus station in Pontal do Sul, we learned that there is actually one more stop, right next to the dock where the ferry to Ilha Do Mel departs from. Unfortunately, our ticket didn’t cover that, and it didn’t seem too far so we decided to walk it. After a brisk walk through an at times slightly dodgy area, we got to the dock and bought 2 single tickets to Nova Brasilia. This ferry takes 30 minutes and goes pretty much every half hour.
- On the island, our Lonely Planet said that there is no internet, and electricity is only sporadically available, but that turned out to be completely outdated. Our hostel had electricity 24/7, as well as WiFi and facilities to pay by card. As far as we could tell, this seems to be true for the other accommodations and restaurants on the island too.
- There is a place where you can fill water bottles for free in both Encantadas and Nova Brasilia.
- After our stay, we decided to take another route back, and took a ferry to Paranagua. This ferry takes 1h30m, and only goes 3 times per day, so you need to aim for a specific one rather than just rocking up. The ferry was spacious if a bit noisy, and kept us dry through the tropical downpour that occurred halfway through the journey.
- From the dock in Paranagua, it is a short and easy walk to the bus station. Here we got tickets for the Graciosa bus that goes to Curitiba every hour, taking 1h30m to get there.