An Island Birthday

My 30th birthday celebration was nothing short of amazing. We started the weekend by traveling to Curitiba and on Monday we drove about 2 hours to Ponto do Paraná to catch a boat to the beautiful Ilha do Mel (Honey Island).

This island is a mixture of an ecological station and a state park. If you want a secluded trip to the beach that offers beautiful views and tons of natural vegetation this is the place you should go.

The island isn’t accessible by car. Sand pathways wind through the interior and exterior of the area connecting the different places of interest.

We decided we would take the boat to Encantadas, hike to Brasília and take the boat back from there. We were there from about 10:30am until 4:00pm and that gave us enough time to hike from Encantadas to the Grottos (Gruta dos Encantadas), around to Brasília and then stop for something to eat.

The map says the trek is about 5 kilometers, but it fails to mention the huge hills and rocky areas to climb. It was a day full of walking on the beach, hiking along sandy trails and climbing rocks. The views were amazing and even though my legs were on fire from exhaustion by the end, I would do it again.

I was so surprised at the amount of pousadas on the island. We were led to believe that there were only a few, but they seemed to be around every corner as we made the trek from the beaches to the port areas. Restaurants were scarce on the east side of the island, but we came across a few that offered both snacks and meals as we headed back to the ports on the west side.
We stopped at a little place near the water for some seafood and beer. While the food was no where near as good as what we got from Floripa, but it was a great change from our norm.

The place seems to be popular for backpackers from a variety of areas. I’m not sure how busy it gets in the summer, but I do know they limit the amount of visitors to 4,000 to 5,000 at a time depending on the season.

We are planning to head back in November with family and I am already looking forward to it. I could have definitely used some more time to just relax on the beach after our hiking, but there was just too much we wanted to see.

We didn’t even have time to make it to the lighthouse or the fort. I guess that just means I’ll have to keep returning until we finally see it all. Fine by me, I loved the place!