May 1, Saturday evening
Well, this wasn’t the best day to visit a new country. May Day being Labor Day in the rest of the world, everything was closed. Oh well. We drove to the north end of the island and saw a very rugged coastline, nothing like the glorious sandy beaches of the west and south coasts. It was shear rock that has been beaten and formed by the water, see pic above. There are some caves, but we didn’t go through them. It would have been a perfect stop if we’d brought a picnic lunch. It was also less touristy and more sparcely populated than the southern half of the island. As we flew over the other islands, they all had mountains in the middle. This island is comparatively flat, will hills, but certainly not mountains. We are wondering what made the difference?
We returned south via the coast road, but as we looked for a local restaurant, they were all closed. I also wanted to visit the cigar factory and rum factory; but again both were closed. We finally found a restaurant that wasn’t closed and enjoyed a local lunch.
Back at the hotel, I walked the local area and scoped out another seaside restaurant for dinner. I also bought apples and bananas for the next day’s flight. I just received a message from Gerard and called him. Apparently our first airport in Brazil no longer has customs on weekends. So, he’s recommending flying to Manaus. We had thought of continuing to Manaus after passing customs at Boa Vista, but now it’ll be our first stop. If Gerard hadn’t called, we’d have been stuck at Boa Vista, unable to depart until customs opened at 8am on Monday morning. It’ll be at least 7 hours flying tomorrow, so let’s hope the parties aren’t too loud tonight.
Well, this wasn’t the best day to visit a new country. May Day being Labor Day in the rest of the world, everything was closed. Oh well. We drove to the north end of the island and saw a very rugged coastline, nothing like the glorious sandy beaches of the west and south coasts. It was shear rock that has been beaten and formed by the water, see pic above. There are some caves, but we didn’t go through them. It would have been a perfect stop if we’d brought a picnic lunch. It was also less touristy and more sparcely populated than the southern half of the island. As we flew over the other islands, they all had mountains in the middle. This island is comparatively flat, will hills, but certainly not mountains. We are wondering what made the difference?
We returned south via the coast road, but as we looked for a local restaurant, they were all closed. I also wanted to visit the cigar factory and rum factory; but again both were closed. We finally found a restaurant that wasn’t closed and enjoyed a local lunch.
Back at the hotel, I walked the local area and scoped out another seaside restaurant for dinner. I also bought apples and bananas for the next day’s flight. I just received a message from Gerard and called him. Apparently our first airport in Brazil no longer has customs on weekends. So, he’s recommending flying to Manaus. We had thought of continuing to Manaus after passing customs at Boa Vista, but now it’ll be our first stop. If Gerard hadn’t called, we’d have been stuck at Boa Vista, unable to depart until customs opened at 8am on Monday morning. It’ll be at least 7 hours flying tomorrow, so let’s hope the parties aren’t too loud tonight.
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