This year I had the luck of getting to travel six weeks through Brazil with my wife, who is Brazilian, and my lovely family-in-law. This is the story of Turtle Beach, the most gorgeous place my eyes have ever seen.

It all started during a 50 hour road trip up the coast of Brazil, through 3 states. Four women in an SUV : my wife Ananda, her sister Gabi and her mother Andrea. We planned the trip of 50 hours driving over the course of 16 days, sleeping in towns along the way with just me and Andrea taking the wheel. She would drive early in the morning until after lunch, and I would take over from the afternoon until dark. Andrea practically didn’t need a GPS, and as the coast of Brazil is still very wild, there were no highways. It was a zigzag one lane road straight up, through the tropical rainforest and tiny villages selling only local bananas and coconuts. We would often take breaks, stopping to buy fresh cocoa beans, fried snacks and soda’s along the way. The best part being, as we were driving up the coast, the whole trip was scattered with white sand beaches to stop and relax on. 

On about day 4 into the road trip, Andrea asked me to find us a place to stop and take a break along the road. Using Google Maps, I was able to find ‘Praia do Laboratorio’, or Laboratory Beach. A very odd name, but only speaking little Portuguese, I didn’t really think much of it, and it was only 20 minutes up the road. Before even reaching this rest spot, we run into an actual Nuclear power plant. We decided as a group to stretch our legs really quick under the promise of a clean bathroom and coffee. The parking lot was full of bushes with colourful flowers that I have never seen, one even being a burgundy colour with a velvet-like texture. Across the street was the view of the rainforest climbing up a mountain and butterflies the size of my head fluttered through us. It was honestly a magical experience yet very confusing as this is all happening in the parking lot of an apparent nuclear site. 

We enter the building that looks completely closed to the public, with black tinted glass doors, only to be welcomed by a couple of young women telling us to have a look around, enjoy the free coffee downstairs and to take advantage of the technological setup they had going on. Giant touchscreens explained how atoms crash against each other creating energy, and photo booths provided the opportunity to remember the whole visit. We got our free coffee and took wayyy too many pictures before heading to the supposed beach that should be just down the road.

Once back in the car and on the road, we quickly then turn off as the GSP tells us to take this short exit down a hill surrounded by giant branches and bushes. We stop in front of a gate, clearly warning off anyone, written ‘Private Property of the Nuclear Site’… yet the GSP assures us we need to get through this road to get to where we need to go? Thankfully, at the same time as we are questioning our choices, two men appear literally out of the overgrown bushes and branches. They assure us that if we ring the bell, the nuclear site will allow us to pass and have access to the beach. Sure enough, after a very confusing intercom conversation with the site, we manually push open this gate on wheels and drive down this very steep path through the overgrown scenery. 

Sure enough, we stumble upon an area that seems to have a beach close by. I step out of the car to slip into my bikini and find myself eye to eye with…. a monkey. Perched in a tree only two feet above my head was a tiny monkey with white fluffy ears just looking at me. Not moving, not running away, just staring. 

I BEGGED Ananda to pass me a banana that we had sitting in the car as a snack, and sure enough, little monkey dude came right up to have a snack. A few bites into our special moment together, this tiny friend starts SCREAMING. He is calling over his friends. The trees start to shake, he keeps screaming and when I lifted my head, I found myself surrounded by tiny monkeys. 

I know what you’re thinking, they are so small and so cute, honestly, they just all want a piece of the snack ! I get that. But when you are literally surrounded by them with only half a banana in your hand, you start to question your decisions. Thankfully, they all came in turns to have a tiny little bite of the snack, and once it was gone, they gave one last little scream and they all scattered. I was shaking, partially from fear but also from the adrenaline of actually getting to feed a wild monkey. I honestly was in disbelief. My wife, Born and raised Brazilian, blew off my excitement of being in a tropical rainforest and seeing monkeys before we came. `Those aren’t where I come from, the rainforest is only in the Amazon` she told me time and time again. Yet here I was, in a rainforest, feeding monkeys. It was mind blowing, and not only the fact that she didn’t realize she had been surrounded by the tropical rainforest her whole life.

Anyways, the beach. Turtle Beach. We all get over the excitement of the monkeys and slip into our swimsuits and make our way down a stonewall and find ourselves on a virgin sand beach, alone, surrounded by the sea and the forest. Mind you, this is apparently a Laboratory beach, whatever that is. I run into the water, only to find its not at all cold, the water is as warm as a bath and so clear you can see your feet no matter how deep you go. There are only the softest waves and not a soul around. It was complete and utter peace. Gabi spent her time floating, Andrea took the occasion to get pictures of her girls in the water and I swam. I tried using my sunglasses as a type of goggles to see in the water but didn’t get very far. It was so beautiful yet it was only supposed to be a quick stop on our trip. I knew I had to come back. I knew I needed to get my head under water and see what was there, it was too clear and too beautiful to be true we needed to be back, I begged for it. The entire rest of the trip, the whole 13ish days remaining, I begged to come back to ‘Chernobyl beach’ ‘Nuclear Beach’ ‘Monkey Beach’, it was almost all I talked about.

So, we bought me a snorkel and goggles. and we came back. Second to last day of our road trip, on the drive back home, we pack a picnic, we put on our swimsuits in advance, we slather on sunscreen, we make our way to the power plant, we pull up to the gate, we ring the intercom, we race down the steep bushy and overgrown road… only to find the dirt lot full of cars. People in the water with music playing on the sand. Kids jumping and splashing, a total disaster. Our virgin beach was no longer this haven to relax in but more just a common beach we could have found scattered along the road as usual. Disappointment began to sink in when I looked around in the trees or monkeys with a kiwi in my hand… Ananda proposed we check out the other beach, the one we didn’t look at last time that is just through an overgrown path past the dirt lot. So we go.

We find ourselves on this bigger beach, with about 3 different small groups of people and I grab my mask and decide to swim along the edge of this beach to meet back up with the original beach and hope to see some fish along the way. The water was a bit colder this time around but still perfect. The moment I put my head under water I am shocked to see a sea turtle. Right up close to shore along the rocks, eating algea. A second turtle! This one a tiny bit bigger. I kept going on until I see a total of seven turtles and by this point I am crying and rushing back to shore to share the news. Out of breath I tell my family the news and then to proceed to run back into the water in hopes to see more. 

Sure enough, I spent the next three hours surrounded by sea turtles, all having lunch on the rocks. Some as small as a dinner plate, others were my size if I rolled into a ball. I got as close as I could without disturbing their peace, admiring the way they just peacefully live, slowly snacking and using their fins to push themselves along. I counted at least 25 turtles. Oddly enough, there were not many fish on turtle beach, only a few pufferfish, which are thankfully more afraid of you than you are of them. Did you know that pufferfish are actually the most poisonous fish ? Their venom is 100 times more deadly than a Black Widow and 1000 times more deadly than cyanide. Andddd I got my belly wayyy to close to them by the rocks. 

It was a magical experience. I laughed and I cried and I screamed out my gratitude through my snorkel like a crazy person, but I will never forget the day that Chernobyl Beach was renamed Turtle Beach for us, or Praia da Tartaruga.

Sea turtles are currently at threat due to plastic, as they mistake the plastic for jellyfish. They also find themselves trapped in the nets used for fishing, which leads to cruel deaths. They also struggle with habitat loss, illegal trade, and the direct harvest of turtles and their eggs. To save the turtles, you can donate to www.seeturtles.org or the WWF. 

Turtle Beach location : Estr. do Laboratorio – Piraquera, Angra dos Reis, RJ, Brazil

All my love.