Catching up on blog posts from our last trip…Taiwan ones coming soon!

Where?

When initially planning our trip, one of the big questions was around Fernando de Noronha- should we go? Located about 350 Kilometres off the northeast coast of Brazil, it is an intentionally difficult and expensive place to access. It’s also stunning. That’s probably why it has become an Instagram-flex for Brazilian celebrities and only a dream for others. Every Brazilian we told (foreigners didn’t know about it) we were going was impressed. But could it be done on a backpacker budget?

Short answer, not really. But we did it pretty much as cheap as we could and it was worth the money. 

Designated a national park, it reminded us of the Galapagos islands, with its limited flight options, daily tourism and park entrance fees. None of these were negotiable, but like the Galapagos, we found an affordable place to stay where we had access to a kitchen to avoid eating out (we only ended up eating out once) and a lot of the activities were free or very low cost. Granted, figuring out how to access some of those activities was not a simple process. 

Ticketed Activities

Having done some research, we knew we had to try and get to the national park office as soon as possible. Unfortunately, our afternoon flight from Olinda landed in the middle of a rainstorm so we were a little late reaching the office. If you get in in the morning you should grab a ticket when the office opens, then get in a line, then go to a briefing that involves virtual reality (we ended up doing it the day after), then getting back in line in accordance with your ticket you originally got, then choose which activities you want to reserve for the following days. We had a full week there and some of the activities were already booked up, so a shorter trip would make it really difficult to book much. While the ticketing system helped limit the environmental impact of too many tourists going to the same places, it was also quite complicated and had no consequences for not showing up, so the system encouraged you to book as many as you could.

With guides required for a few of the ticketed activities on the island, we decided to make the most of it and requested an English-speaking guide for a longer hike, giving Marieke a break from trying to translate. That was a great call as we ended up with a super interesting guide who was also a marine biologist and clearly loved the place, sharing with us interesting facts and great stories. Including when during the pandemic the tourism-focused island closed to visitors and only the locals were left to roam the picture-perfect empty beaches. Granted, they also had to scramble down dark paths in the middle of the night to try and get a decent internet signal to download enough shows on the island’s notoriously slow and unreliable network (it seemed to go out when it was raining). I imagine it depended on your work situation (our guide was lucky enough to be kept employed during the pandemic) but it sounded like a pretty great place to spend the pandemic.

Independent Activities

We also had a great time exploring the island on our own. We took the very cheap bus a few times, did a lot of walking and got picked up multiple times by rich Brazilians who had rented dune buggies to get around. We also took a taxi very early in the morning to go see the spinner dolphins at sunrise. It was well set up with binoculars you could borrow, and free.

The beaches were gorgeous, the hiking was great, and the swimming was fantastic. The only real letdown was the snorkeling as the two best spots were closed, one due to rough surf, and the other due to recent shark attacks. Considering we could see (small, reef) sharks in the crystal clear water from the cliffs overhead, I guess it made sense. It was also the shoulder season so conditions were inclement.

While the well-heeled Brazilians (sometimes actually in heels) were out with their guides/personal photographers receiving instructions on which angle would look best for Instagram and dressing up for dinner at fancy restaurants, we were waiting for them to leave to enjoy our packed sandwiches (we should have brought more salami from the mainland!) overlooking magnificent views. There is more than one way to do Noronha.

Diving

We had planned to do quite a bit of diving, but costs were crazy expensive and all of us ended up with colds at one point. We found a local diving company with more reasonable prices and walked early in the morning to do a couple of dives, which were outstanding for both coral and marine life. Certainly a lot more like what we were hoping for than we had experienced on Ilha Grande. Despite the cost, we signed up for more, but unfortunately the sea conditions were too rough, as we were not in prime diving season. More diving would be on the agenda for the next trip.

Despite the return of visitors, with limited numbers and stunning vistas, Fernando de Noronha still seemed pretty out of this world to us. Definitely worth it.