Praia do Pântano do Sul is one of these remote beaches in the southern, less developed part of Santa Catarina island. No large 24/7 supermarkets with specials on beer around here but cows, horses, and trucks full of coconut.

Main activities revolve around fishing, surfing, and hiking from one beach to another—Pântano do Sul is actually the beach around the fishing village, the long surf beach is Praia Balneário Acores and then there’s Praia da Solidão and other secluded beaches further south.

Just getting to Praia da Solidão takes some effort. You need to reach the far end of Praia Balneário Acores and then hike across the bottom of a giant hill, which involves a bit of free climbing on rocks and following a very muddy path through the “jungle”—okay, not exactly the Amazon rainforest but exotic enough to non-Brazilians.

We found many rocks with alien-like pods full of crabs, much to Mark’s delight—now he wants a pet crab, but I’m not too worried because yesterday, he wanted a pet jellyfish, kids these days…