The stars were bright, Fernando (de Noronha)

I think on Sunday when I woke up I actually had a hangover from so much fun.  I only had one caipirinha at the bar during the game and had felt a cold coming on for the entirety of Saturday but just pushed on through because of all the amazing things that were happening.

Saturday night it all caught up with me once I finally shut down and tried to give my body some rest.  I barely slept a wink and I dreamt in Cubism (can't really explain this further but I vividly remember that everything I dreamed looked like a Picasso painting) and felt a constant sense of struggle on Saturday night and Sunday morning I awoke bleary and feeling pretty terrible.  I took some medicine and powered up because I went through a lot of trouble to be able to go diving in Fernando de Noronha and I was NOT going to miss it.  

Benji is also a certified diver and so we went together.  As we piled onto our boat we met another American and other people from around the world.  Our guide/instructor spoke English and she did a great job telling us about the sites and preparing us for what we'd see and do.  On the way out to the dive site, we met some new friends:

Spinner Dolphins

I was so glad to see them since I didn't get to see them at Baia do Golphinos.  They are small little guys, only about 4 feet long, but a dolphin sighting is a dolphin sighting!

The first place we dove was a cave.  The only thing I told my mom that I would not be doing in Brazil other than attending parties with strange men was going cave diving. Sorry Mom!  We basically swam for 20 minutes to the mouth of a huge underwater cave, went inside to look for rays, and came back out and swam back to the boat.  We did see a ray.  But mostly what was stunning was the crystal clear water.  You could see forever in this place.  Tropical fish were everywhere. The colors were stunning and my crappy digital underwater camera could not do them justice.  The water was warm but I still wore a wetsuit because 75ft down it's still pretty chilly.  Scuba diving is very relaxing.  You can't hear anything except the water, and you have to concentrate on your breathing.   And if you get your weight belt and BC balanced just right, you can get the feeling like you are weightless.

Our dive group headed into the cave.  

The ray on the cave floor.

The coral wall we dove near.

Me exploring some coral formations. 

Just being able to spend a lot of time in that water and explore the beauty of the undersea garden that exists around this island was incredible.  Our second dive took place not too far away in a place with large pillars of coral that we could swim through. It's like a labyrinth.  Our guide, Ottavio this time, took us through them and showed us where to look for Moray eels, lobsters, and more rays.  We did see a reef shark.  Benji loves sharks so that was a great spot for him.

Small reef shark swimming with our dive group

The dives were about as good as diving could get but they were the last bit of energy I had.  Once we got on the bus to go back to the pousada I hit the wall.  Hard.  At 11:30am I got back to my room, and wanted to take a shower.  There was no hot water so I asked someone to check it.  Someone did and said wait ten minutes then try.  I was sitting on my bed ready to shower after the ten minutes was up and next thing I know it's an hour and a half later and Nate is knocking and asking if I knew where Benji was.  Salt-encrusted though I was, I had passed out without knowing it.  I sent him off to where I thought Benji was, and then I mustered all the strength I had to shower and crawl back in to bed.  I didn't wake up again until it was dark out.  At that point it was 7pm and my friends came back from some fun at the beach.  The sleep was really what I had needed. I hadn't gotten a good rest since I had left the US so it was very good to have found some even if I did have to give up an afternoon at one of these gorgeous beaches.  

Feeling better, we all went out to dinner at a place our hostess had recommended and we ended up seeing a few people from the staff of Ze Maria (where we had eaten the night before with the karaoke) there.  They recognized us and immediately they said "HEYYYYY America!" and shook all of our hands.  So awesome.  We had a great dinner and then walked back to the pousada where I again immediately went to sleep and woke up on Monday morning feeling much, much better.  

Monday, my goal was to go on a hike to a bay that you can only access at low tide. We were able to find an English speaking guide and go on the hike which was fortunate because only 100 people are allowed in the bay per day.  You can't wear sunscreen and you can't touch anything in the bay because they are serious about the preservation of the ecosystem.  And rightly so.  It was AMAZING in there.  I found an octopus, a baby moray eel, and two reef sharks.  And we were only in there for 30 minutes in an area less than 200 feet long, and less than three feet deep in most places.

Octopus at Atalaia Bay

Baby Moray Eel

Reef shark

We then hiked along the northeastern corner of the island to another natural swimming pool where we again saw a moray eel, bigger this time, and lots of fish.  Hiking along the coast line was gorgeous and the views were magnificent.  In these cases, pictures are much better than words.

Rain rolling in over the north east coast of Fernando de Noronha

When we got to the second natural tidal pool, sheltered by a reef wall, it started to rain.  I've spent so much time saturated in salt water it felt pretty nice to have some fresh water fall on me.  It's rainy season here but the storm didn't last long and the rain was light.  We then trekked up the rocky shoreline to the final tidepool.  I was pretty tired at this point and kind of done snorkeling because we had seen so much in the first pool.  And the hike up the coast on the rocky shore was treacherous since the rain made all the smooth rocks very slippery. It was slow going and we had to concentrate on our footing so didn't get to enjoy the scenery all that much.  We made it to the third tidepool but since the tide was coming in fast, the current was rough, the kelp significantly reduced visibility and the water was pretty cold.  We finished our hike and went to the shark museum where our guide picked us up and brought us back to the pousada.  We hung out, watched the very exciting Germany v Algeria match, got dinner, and then hung out on the terrace of our place looking up at the stars.  A great close to a great day.  All my wildlife hopes and dreams for this trip have been fulfilled, and then some.

As a sidenote, I have not been able to get this song out of my head since I touched down on this island. In some circles, this might be considered torture. "There was something in the air that night, the stars were bright, Fernando. They were shining there for you and me, for liberty, Fernando." plays on repeat at random times throughout my days here.  Also, I had never seen the music video for this song until I just searched for it so I could link it here just now.  Those crazy Swedes...I would like to join your campfire sing-alongs.  Please invite me to your next one, pretty please?  But seriously, singing this song is like my love letter to you, Fernando de Noronha. I have no idea what it's even about, though it seems to be about someone going to war and fighting for freedom, possibly the Mexican-American war since it mentions the Rio Grande? The more I think about this song, the more hilarious it gets. ABBA: the gift that keeps on giving.