Life’s a beach. Every day, we explore a new part of Ilha de Santa Catarina. We are staying in Florianópolis Centro, the “city,” and we have dozens of beaches within 15 to 40 kilometres to choose from. Can’t complain. I’ve faced harder dilemmas in my life.

Every day, we take a chance. We take a chance on the weather, sometimes cloudy and stormy—is it going to pour when we are at the beach? We take a chance on the destination of the day—nothing can go wrong with a Brazilian beach, but each bairro has its own distinct atmosphere. Mother nature (and these annoying humans) didn’t make all stretches of sand equal. We take a chance on the traffic as well. Driving around the ilha de Santa Catarina isn’t for the faint of heart. Half of the cars are rentals or have foreign licence plates and tourists don’t always know where they are going. Roads twist and turn around the island and motorbikes ride between the traffic lanes nobody pays attention to in the first place. There are two driving modes: going full speed or coming to a full stop, stuck in a traffic jam. Feng is a good driver and he doesn’t drink. He must be the only one with zero blood alcohol content.

Taking chances is working out just fine for us so far. Praia do Campeche was an amazing beach, Praia de Canasvieiras was a good spot for people-watching.

We hit the jackpot with Praia de Moçambique. It had it all: beach bums, some fun, then a long, deserted stretch of sand.

I walked and walked and I couldn’t reach the end. I turned around, I was afraid it might rain. It didn’t and the stormy sky added depth to the pictures.

I passed surfers, fishermen and at the end, when I was truly alone on the beach, seagulls showed me the way (probably to get rid of me, I was scaring fishes, walking in the water!).

I walked back to civilization and went to explore the town, in Barra da Lagoa. Compared to Canasvieras with its tall buildings and Cancún-ish atmosphere, it felt very normal. A few streets, some shops for tourists but also many for locals with regular prices and products. I brought back treats for the guys—a donut and a banana empanada which turned out to be literally a whole banana wrapped in dough—and a coffee for me. It was the first time I had a cup of java on the beach.

For once, Mark wasn’t the only one who didn’t want to leave at the end of the day. I liked it there.