Ilhabela, Brazil

The island of Ilhabela was discovered and named by Americo Vespucio in 1502, but did not receive official status until 1805. It is located 6km off the Southeast coast of Brazil, in the Sao Sebastiao archipelago, and is around 340km south of Rio de Janeiro. The population of the island is only 30,000 and the small town of Ilhabela is the commercial hub, and the centre of tourism for the area, and the numerous surrounding islands.
This area enjoys a tropical climate year round with lots of sunshine and regular rainfall, which results in abundant palm trees and lush vegetation.
The day of our visit was extremely hot and humid, with the temperature expected to quickly reach 28 degrees C. with heavy rain in the forecast.
We came ashore mid morning, commenced our wandering exploration of the small town and were  not disappointed.
We walked along the palm fringed shoreline, took a couple of breaks under shade trees, enjoyed the brightly coloured buildings which had previously been dwellings, but many of them were now shops. We watched green parrots and listened to their raucous screeching, we watched the frigate birds soar high above the harbour, constantly on the lookout for an easy meal, and admired the many colourful flowers and plants.
Within a very short time of coming ashore, the temperature had climbed constantly to its maximum and combined with the very high humidity, we were soaked from head to toe - dripping, literally.

After a little more than three hours of walking, the rain clouds began to build and the air felt heavy and thundery. We had seen most of everything there was to see and we decided to catch our tender vessel back to the ship. We were already soaked in perspiration but did not want to be out and about in a tropical rainstorm with the strong probability of thunder and lightening.
As it happened, we got back to ship only 10 or 15 minutes before the storm arrived and lashed the bay with torrential rain, loud thunderclaps and lightening bolts. All very exciting from the safety and the comfort of the ship.

   
View of the small town of Ilhabela from our ship

      
Cannon used to defend the harbour in the 16th century colonial days
  
      
View of the bay directly in front of the town of Ilhabela 

   
Ministry of the Environment Building
previously a jail house 

  
Jail cell 

   
Municipal Building

  
Small chapel in the rear garden of the Municipal Building

   
Colourful door shutters on upper floor home

   
Interesting view of an alley to what were homes and now are small shops

  
Upper floor windows of private dwelling 
no glass only shutters

 
 Close up of cast iron mail slot   

Entrance to a private dwelling
mailbox top right, electricity meter top left
and water meter at bottom 

  
This has got to be the best spot on the island to locate a children’s playground
 
Made it back on-board ship just before the threatening skies turned into a downpour 


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