Fernando de Noronha is the largest of 21 islands that make up an archipelago in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean some 350 kilometers off the coast of Northeastern Brazil. The region is home to some 230 species of fish, 15 kinds of coral reefs, five types of sharks, two species of sea turtles, and the spinner dolphin – a species found only there and in the South Pacific. Sundry migratory birds use the islands as a way station.
A large part of the main island was demarcated as the Fernando de Noronha National Marine Park in 1988. The number of visitors is restricted according to the island’s carrying capacity, and tourists are charged a daily conservation fee. Conventional lodging is scarce. Most visitors stay with locals who have converted sections of their homes into mini-inns.
Through history, Fernando de Noronha has served as a pirate outpost, a prison, and a base for the United States military during World War II.
Fernando de Noronha: Just the Facts
Tourist Information Center – Palácio São Miguel, Vila dos Remédios. Telephone: 3619-1378
Population - 2,000-2,500 permanent residents; the number can nearly double during peak tourist periods.
Climate - Average temperature is 28 degrees centigrade. The dry season runs roughly from August-September to February-March.
Time Zone - one hour ahead of Brasília (and thus most of the rest of Brazil, including São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro)
Voltage: 220V
The official Fernando Noronha website
Fernando de Noronha: Getting There
Three Brazilian airlines offer flights to Fernando de Noronha:
* Trip
* TAM to Fernando de Noronha via Orbitz.com
* Varig
Even through Fernando de Noronha is part of the state of Pernambuco, most flights depart from Natal, capital of the state of Rio Grande do Norte.
Fernando de Noronha: Getting Around
The shortest national highway in Brazil, extending for 26 kilometers, weaves its way through the part of the island that is not part of the national park. Dune buggies, motorcycles and bicycles are available for rent. Taxi drivers also ply their trade.
Fernando de Noronha Accommodation
Book your lodging in Fernando de Noronha through WHL Travel, a company that shares our concern with sustainable and responsible travel.
A rating system – from one-to-three, using “dolphins” rather than stars - has been developed for the home-stay mini-inns that provide the majority of beds for visitors. For more information, contact the Association of Home Stay Inns. If you click the WHL link above you will find a broad range of options, including some for those on a tight budget.
The Pousada Zé Maria has been admitted into the Roteiros do Charme, an exclusive association of inns and B&Bs scattered about Brazil. Other places that have received good reviews include the Solar dos Ventos and the Dolphin Hotel.
For many years the only real hotel in Fernando de Noronha was the Esmerada do Atlântico, converted from the World War II U.S. army barracks. Today the most upscale option is the Pousada Maravilha, whose investors include regulars from the Brazilian gossip column set. Environmentalists lost a battle to stop the construction of the Maravilha.
Fernando de Noronha Attractions and Activities
Book a tour in Fernando de Noronha through WHL Travel (our partner)
Scuba Diving – Nearly 20 spots together offer the best scuba diving in Brazil. Visibility can reach 50 meters (165 feet), and the average water temperature is 26 degrees centigrade (79 Fahrenheit). Coral reefs, sea turtles, sharks, spinner dolphins, barracudas, and shipwrecks count among the attractions. Some of the favorite spots are Ressurecta Island, Pedras Secas, Sapata Cavern, Cabeço da Sapata, Sueste Bay and Porto Santo Antônio. Local firms offer lessons and excursions. Beginners can try an introductory baptism and take a scuba diving course.
Snorkeling – It is easy to rent a snorkeling kit in town. There are things to see everywhere, but some of the favorite spots are Conceição Beach at the end near the Morro do Pico (Pico Hill) and Sancho Beach.
Tow Diving – Developed for scientific observation, the Plana Sub is a small hand-held board that is pulled by a boat at about eight kilometers an hour. This cross between water-skis and submerged magic carpet allows you to “skim” under the surface and view the aquatic flora and fauna for as long as you can hold your breath. Come back up for air and slide back underwater again. More information from Noronha Pesca Oceânica near the Bar Tubalhau near the port.
Beaches - Sun and sand aficionados have more than a dozen beaches to choose from. Among the most popular are Atalaia, Leão, Baia dos Porcos and Sancho. At low tide, Ataliaia features natural pools; the number of visitors to this beach and the time each person can stay is limited by environmental authorities.
Dolphin Spotting – Spinner dolphins are found only here and in the South Pacific. The best place to see them is from a vista point called the Mirante dos Golfinhos (Dolphin Point). The best times are at the end of the day when they head out to sea to fish and at daybreak when they return from their night-time foraging. For more information, consult the Spinner Dolphin Project.
Horseback Riding - Riding along the beachfront and on hiking trails.
Hiking - Three trails inside the national park and two outside provide a total of about 12 hours of hikes. Among other things, the trails link 10 forts dating to the 18th century.
Boat and kayak excursions – Get a waterside view. Boats are often approached by dolphins.
Deep Sea Sport Fishing – Mackerel to Blue Marlin. Fernando de Noronha hosts the annual Ocean Fishing Tournament in August.
Surfing – A contingent of beaches - Bode, Quixaba and Cacimba do Padre – usually offers the best waves, which can reach four meters in November-March. Boldró and Cachorro Beaches are also popular with surfers.
Watch the Sunset – Best spot is the vista point called the Mirante Dois Irmãos.
Sea Turtle Reproduction – Watch mothers lay their eggs and see the babies hatch on Leão Beach. For more information, contact the Tamar Project.
Air France Cultural Center - In 1927 the French airline Compagnie Genérale Aeropostale set up a base for refueling and repair of its transcontinental hydroplanes. In 1934, the company joined with three others to found Air France. The restored building now houses the Noronha Association of Artists and Artisans.
Fernando de Noronha Restaurants
Fish and seafood, notably shark meat, dominate most menus. The closest thing to fine dining can be found in the Zé Maria and Maravilha inns (see links above under lodging)
Other good bets are Ecologiku’s (Estrada Velha do Sueste, tel: 3619-1807), Palhoça da Colina (Estrada da Colina, 4; tel: 3619-1473). NPO Tubalhau (Porto Santo Antônio; tel: 3619-1365) is known for its shark meat shacks.
Fernando de Noronha: Nightlife
Nobody really goes to Noronha for the nightlife, so the relatively sparse offerings don’t matter much to most people. However sundry venues offer a place to have a beer or even dance. Kiosks and bars can be found near the port.
The Tamar Project Visitors Center, which houses the Open Sea Turtle Museum, located on the Alameda do Boldró, hosts nightly talks by scientists and environmentalists.
Singer and composer Ju Medeiros is a local hero who can often be heard in bars and restaurants around the island.
Fernando de Noronha: Practical Tips
Services - Most people live in an area called the Vila dos Remédios. It houses the island’s only post office, its only bank, the visitors center, most of the restaurants, and the offices of almost all the tour operators.
Be ready for the high prices – Everything costs about twice as much as on the mainland. The two-real note is jokingly referred to as the Noronha Real.
Medicine – If you take prescription medicine, it is a good idea to bring a stash sufficient for the extent of your stay.
Rehydration – Take a bottle of water on any excursion. There aren’t a lot of vendors out and about.
Be ready for water shortages – Fresh water is at a premium on the island. Shortages often occur during peak tourism periods and during the dry season (roughly August-December). The island experienced a severe drought during the summer of 2005-2006.
Be ready for energy shortages – Diesel generators are supplemented by windmills, but during peak periods supply gets a little shaky.
Fernando de Noronha: When to Go
Scuba diving and snorkeling – diving is good year-round, but the sea is calmest and visibility best in October; the side of the island facing the coast, called the Mar do Dentro, usually offers pretty good conditions from April to November
Hiking - August, at the very beginning of the dry season, the vegetation is lush and the trails are already in good shape (from February-July, the height of the rainy season, some trails become muddy and sometimes impassable)
Surfing – the waves are best in December and January
Watch the sea turtles lay their eggs on the beach - during a portion of the rainy season (December-May)
Avoid the Crowds – March-June and August through the first half of December. Brazilians fill the place up during their summer and winter holidays (mid-December-February and July, respectively)
Whale watching – whales can sometimes be spotted in September-October.
Weird Fernando de Noronha: Curiosities
In 1832, before doing his historic study in the Galapagos, Charles Darwin and his research ship the Beagle visited Fernando de Noronha.
The pirate Captain Kidd is said to have hidden a treasure in a cave now known as (what else?) Captain Kidd Cave. Another famous pirate said to frequent the island was Cornelizon Jol, a Dutchman known for his peg leg.
The alleged abundance of poisonous plants on the island has been attributed to the remains of all the bad guys who were buried there when the island was used as a prison.
The Governor of Pernambuco Miguel Arraes as sent to the island as a political prisoner following the military coup in 1964. Returning to politics after redemocratization, he was again governor when the island became part of Pernambuco in 1988.
Gypsies were imprisoned on the island in 1739.
With the island repeatedly invaded and ransacked, officials dismantled most of the infrastructure, evacuated livestock, destroyed crops and relocated prisoners in 1817.
The Afro-Brazilian martial art capoeira was banned in Brazil during the beginning of Brazil’s republican period, and in the 1890s capoeritstas were imprisoned on the island.
Galo Branco, a member of the “cangaceiro” gang headed by the infamous bandit Lampião that roamed the backlands of Northeastern Brazil in the 1920s and 1930s, was imprisoned on the island and remained there after finishing his term, creating a family.
To reduce the chances for escape, officials tried to exterminate the erythrina mulungu tree, which is abundant on the island and used in Northeastern Brazil to build small boasts known as jangadas.
It took two years for news of Brazilian independence from Portugal, declared in 1822, to reach Fernando de Noronha.
In 1927, João Ribeiro de Barros landed in Fernando de Noronha to cap his pioneering 12-hour flight across the South Atlantic from Africa in the Jahú, a twin-engine Sarvoia Marchetti S-55 hydroplane. Worried about a potential disaster, Brazilian President Washington Luís had sent a telegram to Barros in Cape Verde prior to takeoff asking him to give up his quest. The aviator sent back this famous retort that today’s politicians might do well to remember: “Mind the business of your office and don’t get involved in things you don’t understand.”
Scientists have discovered gay dolphins in Fernando de Noronha.
The Casa Grande do Sueste is considered to be a haunted house because it once housed people suffering from beriberi, a disease resulting from the lack of vitamin B1.
The Morro do Pico, a peak that can be seen from everywhere on the island, was once considered obscene by Brazilian military officers who made it a target for artillery practice in the hopes it would crumble.
In the 1990s, French and Belgian researchers studied the benefits of underwater childbirth in the waters of Fernando de Noronha.
According to the Alamoa legend, a long-haired blonde woman appears on stormy nights. When men approach and try to embrace her, she disappears and they fall off a precipice. The legend is attributed to soldiers who served on the island before 1820; before then women were prohibited from living on Fernando de Noronha.
Book your trip to Fernando de Noronha through WHL Travel (our partner)
