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Photo: via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
A large beautiful lake in the center of the island. Water sports, parcs, restaurants, colonial architecture.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
A huge area of sand dunes stretching north from Praia da Joaquina and south from the area across the bridge to the east of the Lagoa da Conceição neighborhood. Yes, it's a popular spot for sandboarding, but it's also cool just to wander around and see the natural sand formations and the way the dunes slowly shift with the wind.
A roughly two-hour hike through the forest along the side of the lagoon, passing through some small fishing villages that are only accessible by trail and boat. It also takes you past a historic building, the Sobrado da Dona Loquinha built by slaves around 1780, and near a waterfall a little ways away from the lagoon (follow the signs for cachoeira). A bit after the waterfall, you'll reach a town with some shops and restaurants serving very fresh seafood, at which point you can take a 45-minute boat back to Ponte da Lagoa (the bridge) for R$10 (pay when you get off), leaving about once an hour. On the boat ride, you can see the lovely little fishing villages on the water, followed by kitesurfers when you get close to Lagoa.
nudist beach
Sea turtle conservation center and museum. The captive turtles in tanks, which are being kept to educate visitors and not to be released into the wild, are kind of sad. But the museum has lots of interesting information in Portuguese and English about sea turtles and conservation, including a 12-minute video. Founded in 2005, it is the most visited museum in the south of Brazil. Money spent for admission and at the gift shop goes to fund research, conservation, and turtle rescue.