Diving in Brazil

[Homunculus]

my wife wants to visit her family in Brazil soon. I'm reluctant to go right now due to a very inconvenient flight schedule. I'm trying to come up with a "visit the family + dive a bit" plan for the next summer.
What are the best places to dive in Brazil and why. I know it's a big country but nevertheless. Since i'll be with my wife, language is not an issue. I have my own equipment but would have to rent tanks.
How is diving in Brazil, in general? Is there an advantage of going from the USA for diving to Brazil as opposed to Caribbean Islands.
I'm just trying to decide if I should just visit my wife's family and forget about extra travelling for diving or combine both. Her family lives in Belem, up north, close to Amazon River and Atlantic Ocean. I don't believe there are any diving spots there. We'd have to go there through Rio, so anything around Rio is very feasible to reach.
Thanks a bunch.

 

[drbill]

My Brazilian friends say Fernando de Noronha and Abrolhas are the best places to dive in Brazil. There is also pretty good diving south of Rio. Give us a report on where you dive as I'm interested in doing Brazil as my first South American dive site given the issues in the Galapagos.

 

[Homunculus]

i've heard of 2 places: Fernando de Noronha, as you mentioned as well, and Arraial de Cabo (south-east of Rio). i'd like to know how diving in Brazil is compared to that in Caribbean.

 

[Downsouth]

Fellow divers,

I live in Brazil and have been diving for quite some time. I hope I can help.

The best dive site in Brazil is by far Fernando de Noronha. It is an island very far from coast, beautifully conserved and simple, with caribean waters, warm and clear. Operations run intenselly all the year, with a rain season from march to june. It is fantastic, but should be book previously, as to some restrictions to the number of visitors. It is also the most expensive diving experience around here, but worth each dime.

Recife (northeastern Brazil) has got the same water, bur with marine life concentrated around wrecks. It is also very nice and much cheaper. Water is as clear and warm, people are great and they do welcome tourists.

Bahia has Abrolhos, an archipelago that provides great dives and good structure. Too bad the unlimited dives are over, but still a great experience. Water is not so good as before, but easeily comparable to Lauderdale.

Most of the northeastern coast is full of great dives, but the infra-structure is not always good. The 3 listed above are the better options.

South of Rio there is Arraial do Cabo, with great marine life, good structure and closer to major cities. Be prepared to face the coldest water in Brazil, ranging from 26ºC to 11ºC, but worth the chill.

If you are staying closer to SP, Laje de Santos is the major call. Great water, good boats and a nicely preserved park, with abundant life and now within manta rays season.

There are several other sites, but this might serve as ana appetizer. If you guys want some further assistance, please let me know. If me or the dive operator I work for can help, just let us know. We can also help advising and booking for local dive operators, hotels and flights.

best regards
Caesar

 

[Homunculus]

Hi Caesar,
thank you for such a detailed reply.
how do you compare diving in Brazil to Caribbean diving, for example. It's much much easier and closer to fly to Bonaire, Bahamas or Cayman Islands then to Fernando de Noronha. One option for me would be just to come to Belem to visit my wife's family and dive somewhere in Caribbean, instead of flying to Rio, Recife, Fernando de Noronha, then to Brasilia or Recife and to Belem, then back to San Paulo through another city and then back to the USA.

 

[Downsouth]

Yep, it's a hard decision, to decide going from Belem to anywhere else in Brazil. Belem is VERY far and hard to get to/somewhere else.

The comparison gets tough because your travelling requirements are really complex... too many connecting flights! That would make me compare mostly Noronha, our best site with commercial operations. I wrote this because there are some nice places closer to where you´ll go, but with amateur to non-existant operations.

Also, your choice to Noronha should be finding some flight to Recife or Natal, both on northeastern Brazil and then flying to Noronha, what would make your travelling easier. Considering this, you might want to evaluete Recife too. More on the sites in a few lines...

I've been to Bonaire and some other caribbean sea places. How can I compare it? well... I'll try my best!

Caribbean sea dives are usually full of corals, small fish and plenty of warm water. The 2 dive sites I wrote about are quite different. Warm waters are guaranteed, but you will sea some large marine life, sharks, turtles, open sea fish, rays and many small fish. Coral life will not be that great. Recife will be full of shipwrecks, but with less small fish. As for Noronha, it is MUCH more than the diving, the island is fantastic, an unique experience, with amazing shores, preserved areas and some cool tracking options.

Have you been to Bonaire? One dive in Noronha tends to be better, but you can dive 10 times a day in Bonaire... And all great dives! That´s hard to beat, but Noronha is worth the effort!

Well, I don't know if this helps, but you can see some pics of this dive sites on www.amigosdojoe.com, but everything is in portuguese! (http://www.amigosdojoe.com/eufui/main.php?cmd=album&var1=noronha+10.11.2005/&var2=1)

Those are quite old and not so good, but are the ones I had right now. I can send you some more if it helps. You´ll find some land pictures here (http://www.ilhadenoronha.com.br/fotos/fotos.php).

please tell me if there is anything else you´d like to know! Anyway, it is a tough call!! Even thou Noronha is an unique experience, it is quite expensive!

[ ]s

 

[Homunculus]

hi Caesar,
Thank you SO much for taking time to answer me. It was very helpful!!! I definitely want to go to Fernando de Noronha (it's also my wife's dream to go there). I don't think we'll go there during our visit of Belem. We'll have to make a separate trip to just relax and dive.
again, thanks a lot

 

[miketsp]

..snip..
The best dive site in Brazil is by far Fernando de Noronha. It is an island very far from coast, beautifully conserved and simple, with caribean waters, warm and clear. Operations run intenselly all the year, with a rain season from march to june. It is fantastic, but should be book previously, as to some restrictions to the number of visitors. It is also the most expensive diving experience around here, but worth each dime.
..snip..

I fully agree that Noronha is probably the best diving in Brazil however given the present confusion with air-flights around Brazil I would not recommend trying to combine a trip to Belem with a trip to Noronha.
Also Noronha does work out expensive. Flying from São Paulo, our last two trips there worked out at over 2000USD per head per week without meals. In comparison, also flying from São Paulo we went to Cozumel recently for 2100USD per head per week all inclusive and Cuba at 1800USD per head per week all inclusive.

..snip..
Recife (northeastern Brazil) has got the same water, bur with marine life concentrated around wrecks. It is also very nice and much cheaper. Water is as clear and warm, people are great and they do welcome tourists.


Bahia has Abrolhos, an archipelago that provides great dives and good structure. Too bad the unlimited dives are over, but still a great experience. Water is not so good as before, but easeily comparable to Lauderdale.
..snip..

Recife is one of my favourite spots, we normally dive there every December/January when the diving is fantastic, lots of dismantled wrecks in the 20m - 48m range, concentrating a lot of life. But I wouldn't recommend Recife from April to October as normally there is a lot of surface current and the vis can really drop.

Abrolhos is another place where you have to choose carefully the time of year to dive. We're coming up into the season when the whales start to visit and the vis really drops.
Abrolhos can only really be dived doing a live-aboard. There are some good ones like the Cataramans Sanuk and Horizonte Aberto or the converted trawler Titan.

..snip..
Most of the northeastern coast is full of great dives, but the infra-structure is not always good. The 3 listed above are the better options.
..snip..

We've done some great diving in the northeast but other than Recife the diving infra is very poor. For example at Joao Pessoa we literally had to sit on the doorstep of the one operator until he arranged us a boat. The diving however, on the wrecks of the Erie, Alice and Alvarenga was very good and compensated the stress.

..snip..
South of Rio there is Arraial do Cabo, with great marine life, good structure and closer to major cities. Be prepared to face the coldest water in Brazil, ranging from 26ºC to 11ºC, but worth the chill.
..snip..

Arraial do Cabo is North of Rio, not South. Depending on your skills and the thickness of your neoprene there are some great dives on the outside of the bay (where the water can be cold from the currents from the Antartic). These are not the sites that the operators will normally take you to - you have to ask and normally pay extra.
Close to Arraial is Buzios, very chique with some nice diving on the islands of Anchieta and Gravata.

South of Rio you have the bay of Ilha Grande with a good variety of sites and some wrecks although these are located in places with poor vis.

 

[Spartakus]

Hi,
could you suggest a dive shop in Buzios (keeping in mind that I don't speak Portuguese). Thanks in advance!

 

[miketsp]

Hi,
could you suggest a dive shop in Buzios (keeping in mind that I don't speak Portuguese). Thanks in advance!

I had a quick look at my log books and I saw that it's been almost 3 years since I dived in Buzios so I wouldn't be able to give you an up-to-date opinion but I had dived with all the shops there and there wasn't much difference.
I suggest you drop them an e-mail and check out their reaction to you not speaking Portuguese. Almost certainly one of them will have a DM or an instructor that speaks some English.

Casamar
Rua das Pedras, Nº 242 - Centro
Tel: (22) 2623-2441
E-mail: casamar@casamar.com.br


Mar Azul
Rua das Pedras, 275 - loja 4 - Centro
Tel: (22) 2623-4354
E-mail: info@marazulbuzios.com.br


True Blue
Rua Turibio de Farias 127 - Centro
Tel: (22) 2623-6226
E-mail: trueblue@oi.com.br

as listed on:
Búzios On Line - Travel guide for Buzios, Brazil