We spend the next day at a new - beach Cacimba do Padre. It’s actually a famous surfing beach and there is a Hang Loose Pro Competition here the next week. The waves are huge - they crash onto the beach with growls and roars so fierce you can see the sand swirling around in them as they crest. This beach is also famous for being the access point to Baia dos Porcos (Bay of Pigs, named after the Cuban one). You can only access it at low tide, so I strap on my sandals and head out. I have to climb wet rocks teeming with lizards and small black crabs, but it’s worth it. The view is perfect. Baia dos Porcos is a series of turquoise pools, usually great for snorkelling, but today the swell is so high that the water is turning the protruding rocks into waterfalls. A couple is sitting in one natural pool when a huge wave crashes over the rock and knocks them about. I wince imagining how that must feel.
On the way back I head up to the viewpoint over Dois Irmaos, (two brothers). These twin rocks in the ocean just off shore are the icon of Noronha. I bought a new rasher here to protect me from the relentless sun and it has the Two Brothers on it. I get out my selfie stick and take what is my favourite selfie on the island - the rocks line up perfectly on my shirt and in the background. This is the postcard view of the island, the one you see whenever you google Fernando de Noronha, and I can see why. It’s perfect. The two imposing rocks stand tall as the stunning turquoise water crashes below them. It’s so perfect that there is a photo shoot going on as I take in the view. Two stick thin, overly made up, gorgeous models dressed in bright orange clothing pose for photos a little ways down the cliff. The orange against the black rocks and turquoise water is absolutely stunning, but what gets me is how the models aren’t sweating. I’m drenched just standing there, and the sun is beating on them just as relentlessly as it’s beating on me. Some women have all the luck….
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