On the water

Today we took a boat ride around two of the "off" islands and the length of the northwest coastline facing Brazil (but 300 miles away). Our captain and mate were Rudolfo, who hailed from Receife (but has been in these waters over 20 years, and Kaia, a native islander who is one of the island's surfing champions. They know these waters! We ran with several hundred dolphins, but it is hard to catch moving dolphins above the water with a camera. Rudolfo prepared a delicious sushi, and a fish stew (onions, potatoes, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and freshly caught fish all included) for lunch - mmmmm! The frigate birds loved a few morsels of sushi scraps.

More faces

A big part of any vacation is eating, but not at Micky Dees. Here are three faces - Fabio, the head chef at our posada, Maravilha. He trained at the Greenbriar, and next week, he is moving on to the Cateract Hotel in Iguassu, where we stayed at the start of this trip. Adrianna is a Brzilian from Sao Paulo who graduated from Cornell and is married to an American. Adriana's husband writes for Lonely Planet. Adrianna has guided us around the island made our stay here on Naronha memorable. The third pic is Rafaella (where else, also from Sao Paulo) who works at Mergulhao, a wonderful restaurant with sunset views, and cool breezes.