Diving in Angra dos Reis, Brazil

[Blaine1]

My wife and I are planning a trip over the Christmas holidays to Angra dos Reis for some beach and sun time after traveling in the region. We usually spend 2 or 3 days diving during our vacations. I looked on the PADI website and found three local dive operators, Aquamaster, Elite Dive Center and Frade Diver Resort. Is anyone familiar with any of these operators (or any other local operators)? We were both certified in 1994 and dive about once a year. We have dived all over the world, from major destinations such as Cozumel to middle of nowhere places in far eastern Indonesia. Our preference is for operators that have small divemaster/instructor to diver ratios. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[whodunit68]

I was in Angra dos Reis once and my experience was with Frade Diver Resort. The only thing I'll say is make absolutely certain you know about ALL charges to expect BEFORE you go out with them. I'm sorry I don't have experience with the others.
there are some very nice dive spots around. enjoy your trip!

[Blaine1]

Many thanks.

[Himself]

Hello-

I am very familiar with Elite Dive Center. Last January I spent 3 weeks on Ilha Grande diving with them and was very impressed with them. They are very professional and the prices were fair. The equipment is in good shape and they emphasize safety.

[cariocasubmarino]

Hi Blaine1,

I'm originally from Rio and have dived in the Angra dos Reis/Ilha Grande area many times. In my opinion, you have both very good dive and terribly unsafe dive operators in the region, and unfortunately no way to tell the difference because of a lack of English-language information. I certainly wouldn't book anything until arriving, as everything in Brazil is done last minute and there is no advantage to the consumer. Go into the shop and check the company out for yourself. Ask for certifications, see if they know where there is a hyperbaric chamber (as far as I know, the nearest is in Verolme, next to Angra). These are mostly shallow dives, but you'll get a feel for their competence.

That being said, my experiences match those of the previous commenters: the Gouvea family, owners of Elite Dive Center, run a tight ship. They speak English, have decent equipment that is well-maintained, and keep a steady eye on the weather while you're diving (the ocean side of the island gets rough water). Don't expect safety briefings and diver-down checklists anywhere, though. I've also gone diving with Dive & Cia., which at that time was not affiliated with any international dive organizations as far as I know. My experience with them was frightening and I would not recommend it to anyone. I'm not familiar with Frade or Aquamaster.

Last time I was on the island, in September 2008, I ran into American Lou Servizio, a dive instructor setting up a school (Neptune College of Diving) for instructors. I didn't dive with him, but he might have some great pointers once you're there. My best advice is to find an operator heading for Jorge Grego island, where you have the best chance of running into turtles and the cold-water marine life and corals are quite different from anything you'll see in tropical waters. The Penguin shipwreck on the northwest side is also well worth a dive.

Finally, there are plenty of schools and liveaboards operating on the mainland, but I would avoid spending any time in Angra itself. If you have extra time, try hiking out to the west side of the island, the beaches are some of the most isolated/best in the world.

Hope that helps!

[Blaine1]

Thanks to all who have replied. The advice is much appreciated.

[ChadForeman]

Wow. Thank you so much. I'm planning to go to Brazil on December 5th, 2010 and this helps a ton.

Obrigada!

Chad

[GDP]

I am also from Brazil.

Im my opinion Fernando de Noronha is THE PLACE to dive in Brazil. We can find some good dives in other places like Abrolhos and Recife...and of course, if you are lucky guy you can have a good dive in southeast of Brazil (Parati, Angra dos Reis, Buzios, Arraial do Cabo, Guarapari, Laje dos Santos, etc).

I have to admit that one of my best dives was in Ilha Grande (Angra dos Reis region) at Pinguino wreck. In this wreck the main attraction usually is the seahorses but in that day I saw a Pinguin (the bird) hunting in the water. Very nice !

Usually the dive in southeast of Brazil is not very good due a lot of reasons : you don´t have the caribean visibility (7-15 m), few fish, it´s not hot temperature (around 22-24 C) with thermocline. The number of dive sites are very limited and most of the operations only run on weekends due the lack of divers in weekdays.

I would say that, in this part of Brazil, I prefer to spend more time in beaches than scubadiving. In this region try to visit Buzios (north of Rio de Janeiro) and Parati (close to Angra dos Reis, but going south) - they are both very nice cities.

[ChadForeman]

Tomorrow we will be riding on a bus from Rio to Angra Dos Reis with intent to go to Ilha Grande.

I have with me all of my scuba gear. My girlfriend is hoping to finish her certification here in Brazil. I am a photographer and videographer as well as web designer and graphic designer. I am hoping to stay in Brazil and find work. Do you think there are any dive shops that would like to have an under water videographer working for them? I am studying very hard to learn Portuguese and making progress

I have heard that Parati is a very nice city as well. Can you recommend a dive operator there?

[cariocasubmarino]

Hey Chad,

No idea on work, in Brazil everything works on the personal level and it seems you're going to have to go to each shop and ask. Not an overwhelming task in Ilha Grande, as they're all within 3 minutes of each other.

Other than by name (Adrenalina, Mister Dive), I don't personally know any dive operators in Paraty, but I've been there 3 or 4 times and can tell you that its well worth the trip. Amazing little town, with something for everyone. Dive or no dive, if you can make it out to the more isolated beaches further south/southwest, they're well worth the effort.

I imagine you can get the gist of these pages using google's translate (sorry, SB won't let me use hyperlinks yet, so just use periods where I used underscores, please).
1. Here's a list, in Portuguese from the city's website, of dive operators in town, with hyperlinks to each page: www_paraty_tur_br/radicalsports/scubadive_php
2. The same page has a list of major dive sites: www_paraty_tur_br/radicalsports/pontosdemergulho_php

Have fun! Be sure to tell us about your experiences, and when you're back in Rio, send me a PM and let's see if we can put together an SB group outing to some of the islands around here?

-Daniel