A Brit Bra and the Yankee

The North Littoral of Sao Paulo State in Brazil is composed by the cities of Ubatuba, Caraguatatuba, Sao Sebatiao, Ilhabela e Bertioga. But as for people living in Santos - I used to be one of them -  "ir pro Litoral" tranlates as "go to the littoral" (as we weren't there already... go figure). That phrase means  "Litoral Norte"  that is mostly the beaches along Bertioga and Sao Sebastiao. Ilhabela only if one stretches a bit this very "santista" (how people born in Santos is called) concept.  Yankee: I'd been told before coming to Brazil that the beaches north of Santos were beautiful. They did not disappoint. On the way to Ilhabela On our way to Ilhabela (see previous post ), we passed by loads of beautiful beaches. Some of them I've never been to, so we narrowed the choices to those ones. We decided to chose one to stay later, after Ilhabela. Guaeca Beach Toque Toque Grande Beach Toque Toque Grande Beach Small, rustic... Perfect

We decided to spend some time along the coast north of Santos, going to Ilhabela first. Ilhabela is a large island (plus a few small islands) about 4 miles off the coast of Brazil, about 3 1/2 hours drive north of Santos. Most of the island is preserved as a state park, and almost all the people live along the west side of the island.  The drive from Santos to Ilhabela passes through some beautiful tropical and beach areas, but we'll get into that in another post when we talk about the way back.  Ilhabela island in the background BritBra: Wow... I didn't remember the island being that big!! The west side of the island doesn't just comprise the locals, but also the majority of the beaches, all very beautiful.   We drove up the coast to San Sebastian, where we stopped for groceries before taking the vehicle ferry to the island. We later found out that wasn't necessary, as the island has large grocery stores. Anyway, with plenty of food and wine along, we took the ferry a