Last Minute Island Life on Ilha Grande

After a night out at a bar in Copacabana and a few quick hours of sleep it was up and at em at 6am to grab my things, check out, and catch the transfer shuttle to Ilha Grande. I fell asleep probably the second the shuttle left the hostel. Then enjoyed the ferry ride despite the cloudy skies to arrive on the beautiful Grand Island and walk along the beach to my hostel.

(It's the white building)

This island feels like a paradise dream, humid, lush, secluded (no cars, just bikes), mountains in the middle with jungle that makes me feel like I am in Tarzan.
The view from the hostel and some pictures of the town...

I waited to check in at the hostel and caught up on the blog, then walked around town with probably the only two other English speakers in the hostel, Farhad from Canada (wooo) and Jessica from Switzerland. The three of us had supper and spent way too long trying to figure out the next day's weather for a potential sunrise hike. We ended up getting up at 2am to attempt it but were unable to get to far as the rain just continued to increase farther into the jungle and rain clouds and fog would have obscured the summit view. So back down for only a few hours of sleep before a boat tour. Despite not reaching the summit, which is always a favorite moment for me, I wouldn't take back the experience. Never hiked through jungle like that and it's never worth it to regret a unique adventure with fun people.
And then we had a few more hours sleep to enjoy the day out on the boat. It started sunny and then got cloudy which didn't diminish the beauty at all. The tour started at the western edge of the island at Gruta do Acaia. A cave that was quite tight to crawl down to where the water glows blue from the light coming through. So cool. This is the best picture which barely begins to show the glowing water!

Then we stopped at Lagoa Verde (Green Lagoon) and Lagoa Azul (blue lagoon) for some beautiful snorkeling. The water is clear and amazing and there's some beautiful fish all around.

And the views in the lagoons aren't too bad either.

Then one last stop here for a late lunch

And back to the island.

After a quiet night spent eating pizza, drinking wine and listening to Edmonton radio for the Eskimos game (only to hear a heartbreaking loss to the worst team in the CFL), it was off to bed before a sunny morning (of course) to catch the ferry and transfer shuttle to the airport. I'm off to Campo Grande and the Pantanal to hopefully see the elusive jaguar ✌?️.