Island fun on Morro de São Paulo

Our search for the perfect Brazilian beach led us as far north as the idyllic Jericoacoara and south to the pristine sands of Arraial d'Ajuda, but in the end we found the best option right under our noses. The secluded peninsula of Morro de São Paulo, one of five settlements on the island of Tinharé, can be reached by a two hour speedboat ride from the city of Salvador.

Beach 2, Morro de Sao Paulo

Morro de São Paulo is not exactly a tranquil tropical paradise; it has definitely been "discovered" by Brazilian and foreign tourists alike. Yet it somehow manages to retain a laid-back feel - development has been kept to a minimum. Many of the homes and shops have been there since colonial times, their painted façades and terracotta roofs looking out at the calm turquoise Atlantic ocean. 

To get there we took a catamaran for 75 reais (about $40) from Salvador's Terminal Maritimo Turistico, in the centre of town behind Mercado Modelo. It was a rough ride, despite being in a two-hulled boat, and we were covered in sea spray after the 60km journey.

The peninsula consists of three beaches (uninspiringly named beaches 1, 2 and 3) connected by a long walkway. Along the second, biggest beach, it becomes a wooden boardwalk, separating a wide, sandy expanse from a row of shops, restaurants and bars. After running alongside the first beach, the path winds its way up the hill and over to the ferry wharf on the other side of the peninsula. Every shop along this part seems to be selling havaianas, Brazil's famous native brand of flip flops (sorry to my fellow Aussies but as this is a blog also read by non-Aussies, I have to use international English) - you can even find a pair in the supermarket for $5 a pair.

Sadly, the beaches here aren't great for swimming, thanks to great colonies of rocks implanted in the sand. It's possible to swim at high tide, when the water comes up so far it practically envelops the entire beach. There are some tracts of beach that are rock-free, but the bottom is a little muddy so the visibility isn't great. After searching for a perfect swimming spot for days we abandoned our plan to swim laps, and instead were contented to wallow in the shallows.

Luckily, there is plenty to distract you from the lack of a perfectly-formed beach. In Brazil, it seems that most of the action takes place out of the water. Morro de São Paulo offers people watching par excellence. Its most interesting mix includes locals hanging about selling coconuts, playing soccer and beach volleyball, toned young Brazilian couples in skimpy bikinis and super-small male briefs (Tony Abbott eat your heart out), middle aged women dressing as 20-somethings and the odd French or Scandinavian family on holiday. 

Brazilians have invented their own take on beach volleyball, combining it with soccer so that instead of using your hands, your feet, knees, head and even chest are used to get the ball where it's going. Instead of serving with their arms they place the ball on a little mound at the back of the court and boot it into play. There is also a steady stream of locals going around to people on the beach trying to sell a host of other activities, from boat trips to kayaking and trying out the peninsula's zip line, which runs from the lighthouse on the cliff top down to the first beach.

On Brazilian beaches, less is more

Before embarking on a beach holiday, Brazilians seem to check their inhibitions at the door. No matter what their body type (although some obviously work pretty hard on theirs), they appear totally comfortable strutting about in extremely brief swimwear. I couldn't believe how popular budgie smugglers are on the beach, especially among middle-aged men. Brazilians have adapted the humble speedo, giving it slightly more coverage, sort of a very brief bike short look, and this is what the majority of them get around in.  

At night time the local guys, after an intense beach football match, would fire up a charcoal grill and make churrasco - lump after lump of exquisitely tender beef, which is cooked medium rare, sliced up and consumed on the spot. Stalls bursting with fruit and vegetable displays line the boardwalk, offering to liquify your favourite fruit into a caipirinha, made with Brazil's version of sugar cane rum, cachaça for five reais ($3), or for a little more into a caiprioska made with vodka. 

It was often tricky to negotiate the section of the boardwalk on the second beach that was lined with restaurants, especially when you walk along as a couple. When alone, everyone assumes you are not in the market for a meal. Some of the touts were a little enthusiastic, and would bail us up with either a big diatribe in Portuguese that we could barely understand, or worse, a fog-horn style of English with all of the vowels mixed up. On the whole though they were not too pushy and you are able to say 'no' politely and easily.

Restaurants and eateries at Morro de São Paulo offer everything from cheap sandwiches and hamburgers, to buffets where they weigh your food and charge by the kilo and fancy seafood restaurants serving up giant dishes that two people can share, from lobsters, crabs and other shellfish to local favourites moqueca, a palm oil and tomato based fish stew, and bobo de camarão, prawns in a hearty cassava stew. 

There are also churrasco restaurants where you can get all the grilled meat you can handle for 30 reais - $18. We found the best-tasting and good value meals away from the over-priced beach zone. Further up the hill you can find places selling executivo meals of the day for 15 reais, where you can chose from prawns, fish, beef and chicken and sides of beans, rice, mash and salad.

Absolute beachfront

Lining the beachfront is a row of bars with plastic tables, chairs and deckchairs selling snacks such as pasties and empanadas, perfect for washing down caipirinhas and beers. To our surprise and relief, Brazilians are masters at keeping their beers super-chilly. Fridges are turned down to just above zero degrees and each drink sold is encased in a screw-on cooler that leaves the stodgy Aussie stubby cooler for dead.

We arrived with an open-ended schedule, and eventually booked a flight out of Salvador which then gave us nine days to bask in the sun (and occasional storm) and sand. We had reserved Pousada Barra Vento, on the third beach, for three nights. It was a nice loft room with a great balcony in a thoughfully-run place, but we changed after three days to the beachfront Pousada Grauça, where we scored the front room with a balcony overlooking the beach and the walkway. Our first-floor room was so close to the beach that when the tide comes in, you could stare over the balcony directly down to the waves lapping gently at the sea wall. A very difficult place to leave, needless to say!

Our first-floor balcony