As a place separated from the continent, and one where there are not many ways out, Ilha do Mel’s beaches are surprisingly spacious. And quite safe too; you can leave your stuff on the beach for a long while, and not miss anything on your way back. I wouldn’t tell you to tempt the devil and leave your valuables lying around, but the truth is clothes and bags are safe to leave. So don’t sweat it if you have to leave the beach for a while, say, to go eat lunch.

For those of us who are prone to quick sunburn, the island has a store that rents parasols and beach chairs -parasol and cadeira, in portuguese. The place is called Galo Surf Shop, and it’s located on the path to Praia do Fora. There’s a map in the previous entry with the location of bars, hotels and other business. It costs R$5 to rent a parasol or a chair. And you can have it with you for an entire day, and take it to whatever beach you want.

Walks: since moving around the island is possible only by walking -unless you have a bike- the topic of paths or trilhas is basic. At the pousadas it’s easy to get a map with the marked paths; also, there are wooden signs indicating the directions to the different beaches. But don’t rely on them too much: some trilhas are not easy to find, and finally, some destinations, such as Fortaleza -the place we’ll talk about in the next entry- you’ll just have to walk along the beach and not through the mata.

Walking time: from Nova Brasilia, you have a 10 to 15 minutes walk to Praia do Farol and Praia do Fora; a similar time to Praia Grande, by a different path though; over 1 hour to Encantadas; and about 45 minutes to Fortaleza. At the brochures given around the island, for (to me) unknown reasons, walking times are longer -for instance, it says one and a half hour to Fortaleza when in fact it only takes you 50 minutes, at most, of regular walking to get there.