On Tuesday, we visited the modern city of Florianopolis, which straddles the strait between the mainland and Santa Catarina island. We visited the Centro Cultural de Marinha EM SC (Naval Museum) which used to be an old fort on the shoreline, but with modern infill, now sits about a kilometre away from the sea, and is next to the bus station.
After a delicious lunch of the local favourite of grilled octopus with mashed potatoes, we visited the Daniela beach, where it is believed Commodore Anson put ashore his sickly crew members to recover, and to reprovision. Unknown to them, they did this during the height of the mosquito season and with swampland behind the beach, many of them contracted malaria. They left Santa Catarina with more sick men than when they arrived.
Additionally, the local governor had sent advance notice to the Spanish that Commodore Anson and his fleet were now in the area. Admiral Pizarro and his fleet were waiting on the River Plate, and were now putting to sea to intercept Anson’s fleet. More on this later.
Finally, we visited one of the big urban malls where I got a haircut (no, not a Brazilian), and Kirsty and Douglas did a bit of shopping.
We were expertly guided throughout the last two days by our guide, Arnaldo, who has lived and worked around the world (New Zealand, Aspen, Pantanal, etc). We learned so much with him, and he always has a smile on his face.
Today we are hiking along the shoreline from our hotel, and tomorrow we fly off to Patagonia!
This is the first paved road on Santa Catarina island. Still preserved for tourists to wonder at.