“Hey, wanna come?”

Usually, when a complete stranger stops me and asks me if I “want to come,” I decline. I mean, that’s kind of how you stay alive, right?

But if you’re walking on the beach and the stranger is a fisherman on a boat, does the rule still apply?

I glanced at the boat, a classic Maceió jangada, i.e. a cockleshell made of wood with a single triangular sail.

A couple was already sitting in the boat.

“Where are you going?”

“To the piscinas naturais.”

“How much?”

“40 reais.”

“Okay!”

I took off my sandals and climbed on board. I’d pay $8 for a trip on a sailboat anytime—as for these “natural pools,” I had heard of them but I wasn’t sure how good they were.

Waters are calm in Maceió because the city is protected by an offshore coral reef. We sailed away. Thirty minutes later, we stopped in the middle of the ocean and we were greeted by another fisherman… who walked towards us.

Jesus?

Nope, just very shallow waters. This was the pool, literally a pool of very shallow water in the middle of the ocean. Pretty awesome, actually.

“Turtle!”

And here was a giant turtle swimming away. Didn’t have the time to take a picture, sorry. But just holding my Nikon—am I the only one still using a DSLR instead of a phone?—was good enough to capture the many, many fishes swimming around us.

The world is a beautiful place.

Forgot to bring some fish back for dinner, though.