It's a curious juxtaposition: an outdoor bar that's a popular evening hangout next to the ruined Forte S?o Pedro do Boldr? on the islands known as Fernando de Noronha.
'This used to be a prison,' says Patricia Roelandt, my local guide, at the top of the hill as we watch the sun set behind the twin rocks of Dois Irmaos (Two Brothers) and surfers bob up and down on the Atlantic Ocean while waves crash against a coastline of perfect white sand beaches. It's hard to imagine that being sent here would be a punishment of any kind.
Fernando de Noronha was a penal colony from 1736 to 1937. During the political upheaval in Brazil during the 1900s, the island was used for political prisoners. 'When you think of the isolation here - a piece of land in the middle of the ocean - naturally it could be a prison,' says Roelandt. Before serving that function, Noronha had been abandoned for more than 200 years, the islands themselves only initially discovered by accident when a Portuguese exploration vessel shipwrecked nearby and the crew was forced to find shelter here.
It's a grim start for an island that today is often referred to as the most beautiful place in Brazil. It's not well known by the rest of the world, but to Brazilians, it's an island paradise.
Part of Noronha's appeal lies in its image of exclusivity. To protect the precious ecosystems, the number of visitors is limited to 420 per day. Seventy per cent of the archipelago is a national park, and the rest is a designated preservation area. Flights to the island, located 350 kilometres off the northeast coast of the mainland (the main island, also called Fernando de Noronha, is closer to Africa than to Sao Paolo, the country's largest city), are expensive. There's also an environment preservation tax, which visitors must pay on arrival. All of this means it has avoided becoming a destination for masses of tourists. It's more a special place for honeymooners, luxury travellers or those treating themselves to a one-off experience.
I stay at Triboju, a newly opened luxury hotel, one of only a few on the island. The terrace of my African safari-style bungalow, filled with hammocks and comfy chairs, looks out over the ocean and the iconic Morro do Pico, a 321-metre thumb-shaped chunk of rock.
