When we signed up for today’s excursion we had pictured it to be something very similar to our experience in Hawai’i last October. A wonderful cruise on a catamaran on the open sea near an island. The added attraction here was the opportunity to snorkel, something I had not done in the previous fifty years or more.
Late each evening, a next-day-newspaper is delivered to the staterooms. It showed the details as listed here. But by the time the ship’s PA system made announcements this morning, changes had already been made:
The group was to gather at the pier at 1:20 pm (not 12:50 as originally planned) and the duration had been edited down to three hours. I had decided that, after breakfast with my wife, I would take the tender to the pier much earlier than recommended. So by about 10:45 am I was stepping aboard the tender, and after a brief 20 minute ride, I was on dry land.
The island had been, early on in its life, a leper colony, and more recently served as a penal colony. That phase of its evolution ended in 1994! Brazil then decided to keep the largest island (Ilha Grande is, in Portuguese, Big Island) in the state of Rio de Janeiro more or less undeveloped and, toward that end, made it a National Park, measuring approximately 75 square miles (it’s actually measured in metric units, but I doubt either of my readers can picture 193km2. Would 19,300 Hectares be easier?)
More tenders made for quicker transporting to the pier
They “heart” the Big Island!
A beautiful sandy beach, lots of sun… what more could we hope for?
Looking out across the bay with the ship silhouetted against the horizon.
The quaint little shops and restaurants, a school and police station, a village of 1900 were all things that seemed to be missing in previous excursions, and to find them in a National Park?
Each small group of trees along the beach collected chairs and people trying to get out of the sun. By noon(ish) it was 30 degrees C (86 F) and climbing. I did manage to find two vital stores in town, an ice cream shop and a drug store. Believe it or not, the ship does not have a store for general items (gum, candy, over the counter drugs like Robitusin or Tums).
Alicia had mentioned a couple of items she would like to have and I could tell that today would require sun screen. Up until now we had limited our time in the sun but today, with several hours on the water and a dirth of shade, that would not be possible. Alicia sent me pictures of items she wanted and I was able to get nearly all of the items in their Portuguese form.
I was back at the pier by 1:00 pm and, when they moved the line down the pier at 1:20 I was first in line. That was the good news. The bad news was that they hadn’t exactly figured out the technique that would best match the steps on the pier to the side of the boat. So I, being first up, walked down two or three steps, then turned left and walked ACROSS the step I was standing on, then up and over the railing of the bobbing boat while ducking under the overhead canopy. All while trying to not allow my bad hip to pop out of joint!
It wasn’t pretty, but I made it, as did the next man. But then the loading came to a halt, the captain stepped over to the two of us and explained that they had to get another boat, and that the two of us would need to disembark. They then marched the entire line backward down the pier in order to get us back into the shade. They promised there was another ship shortly behind us that would arrive in minutes (even though looking out across the water everyone could tell that was not the case.)
After standing for another 15 - 20 minutes they informed us that we could go back out on the pier and board the boat - the same boat I just got off of! (They explained that the captain had “a spare cable” and had been able to repair the boat.)
So all 46 people climbed aboard and we headed back out of the harbor, past the Marina, and around the bend to the left. Our first stop was at a public beach where we docked and disembarked. The options were to go with the captain for a quick tour of an old, abandoned church, stay on the boat and wait, or get off the boat and walk down the beach to a roped off swim area where we could all get totally wet. I took option three, found a place to sit and disrobe to a modest degree (today, in anticipation, I had worn my swim trunks under my shorts), and dove into what was initially, somewhat chilly water. But as is usually the case, once we dove in, the water temperature was no longer an issue.
As it turned out, because I went swimming, I didn’t get any good pictures of the area, so this will have to do.
After we spent 30-45 minutes there, the captain blew the whistle and all were called back to the boat. We then headed even further astray to a beautiful little spot known as Blue Lagoon. It was here that they invited everyone to swim, snorkel, or just float in the clear waters just off shore. There was no beach and I decided to stay aboard and enjoy the sight of people pretending they were kids again, using swim noodles as floatation aides, and having a great time. To add to the enjoyment, a couple of people brought bread from the dining halls and, tossing pieces in the water, created a feeding frenzy among the tiger fish, angel fish and another slender species with a black dot on the side of his tail.
I must say I was truly surprised at the number of guests who went into the water. I never would have guessed that they were swim enthusiasts!
By the time they got everyone back in the boat and pulled out of the Blue Lagoon it was already late. The last tender was to return to the ship at 5 pm and we were at least an hour away from the pier. The Captain was in radio contact with the ship and he was told that if the water was calm enough to safely tie up alongside, he would be allowed to deliver us. Unfortunately, by the time we got back to the ship, it was judged to be too rough, so we were told to continue to the pier where a tender from the Marina was waiting to take us back to the ship.
It certainly wasn’t fast, or on time, but eventually all 46 of us reboarded the Marina so they could set sail, better late than never. A good time was had by all and, delays not withstanding, I believe all were happy with the way the day turned out (which can not be said about several other excursion days)
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