Brazil Travel Blog

The dunas da Joaquina (Joaquina dunes) are an excellent place to spend the afternoon having fun in the sand and contemplating the near-impossible movements of the sandboard pros. Sandboarding was actually born here, at the Joaquina beach.

The dunes are on the right-hand side of the road, you will see them shortly before you get to the Joaquina beach. You can park your car on the main road, but be extra careful not to get stuck in the sand.

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At the entrance to the dunes there is a hut where you can rent boards in case you want to start dabbling in sandboarding. Not all the dunes are the same, make sure you choose a slope that matches your skills.

As radical sports are not really my cup of tea, I prefered to trade the unavoidable fall on the sand for a photo session with the sandboard pros. On the day we visited the dunes we were lucky enough to meet with Eduardo Wuntz, aka Mister, Brazilian snowboard champion (yes, snowboard, it’s not a typo). Eduardo, who is an incredibly friendly fella, also does some charity work with deprived people from the region.

Mister and his friends left us speechless with their incredibly jumps and manouvres.

You don’t need to jump on a board to have a fun time at the Joaquina. We recommend you go there at the end of the day, to avoid the blazing midday sun. There isn’t a single shade at the dunes.

More sandboarding photos here: SANDBOARDING AT THE JOAQUINA DUNES

General information on Florianópolis at: Destination: Florianópolis.

On Pântano do Sul, on the southern tip of Florianópolis [location on Google Maps] you will find one of the most unique places of the entire Brazil: the bar do Arante, Arante’s bar.

A long long time ago, don Arante Monteiro and his wife opened a grocery store for the fishermen of the village. On the 1960s the store was moved to its current location, right by the beach. As the number of visitors to the area increased, dona Osmarina Maria Monteiro - Arante’s wide - began preparing fried fish, and the store became a restaurant.

Come the 70s, Pântano do Sul became fashionable among backpackers from São Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul. To let their friends know they had already arrived to the village and were camping nearby, the backpackers began sticking notes on the walls of the bar. The practice of sticking a note became so popular than soon the walls of the bar were covered with notes. These days, you will struggle hard to find an empty space where you can stick your note. More than 70,000 of them have been counted, and even a book has been written on the topic.

From the moment you enter the restaurant, it is hard not to be impressed by the verbal diarrhoea exhibited by thousands of tourists that once made a pit stop at the bar. There are notes everywhere, but you will always find a willing waiter or waitress with a pen and a paper should you want to attempt finding a place for your own piece of writing.

Even if it’s only for a beer, do pop in, you will have a fabulous time, your eyes jumping from one note to another, while taking a break occassionaly to contemplate the beautiful view of the Pântano do Sul bay through the windows of the bar.

From its early days, the bar always presented its customers with a glass of cachaça (sugarcane spirit); the tradition goes on.

As we had just arrived in Florianópolis, we wanted to have a go at our first traditional seqüência de camarão, the contents of which I will detail next. But it should be noted that the restaurant à la carte menu contains many alternatives (including shrimps and oysters) and a full lunch for two, including fish, for R$38). Soft drinks cost R$2, and beers from R$3.

The seqüência de camarão is a shrimp-based dish typical from Florianópolis. The seqüência served at the bar do Arante is more expensive than the one you will find at the restaurants by the Lagoa da Conceição, but it is also far richer. In actual fact, the meal is so abundant it becomes an exaggeration. There is absolutely no way you will be able to eat all the food that will land on your table. To begin with, shrimps prepared in three different ways (steamed, breaded and with oil and garlic); crab meat and fish bites.

Then, two beautiful oysters au gratin.

Then and endless platter of mussels.

And when your stomach can’t possibly accept any more food, there it comes the main dish, two largish fish filets on a shrimp sauce, along with pirão (sauce for the fish), rice, fries and a salad.

The seqüência for two people costs R$72. We wouldn’t order it again. It’s far too much food and wasting food is not something we are keen on. But there is a seqüência for three people (R$86) and another one for four (R$96) where we suspect the amount of food is more balanced.

Of all the ingredients we tasted, the fish filets got the highest marks. Absolutely delicious. The shrimps were actually a bit of a let down. Regardless of what you order, the bar do Arante is an unmissable stop in any trip to Florianópolis. Do not be surprised if you find don Arante walking along the tables and enjoying his well-deserved local celebrity status. He is friendly to everyone and specially keen on getting his picture taken along all the women who come and ask.

Veteran readers of the blog might recall the fight for the title of most beautiful beach in Brazil between two oceanic giants: the praia do Forno, in Arraial do Cabo, and the praia do Sancho, in Fernando de Noronha. Well, a new contender is on the line: the Campeche island (in Portuguese, Ilha do Campeche), in Florianópolis.

The Ilha do Campeche is on the southern half of Florianópolis, on its east coast, just across the Campeche beach. As you can see on the satellite image, the beach is on the western side of the island, sheltered from the ocean winds. The east side of the island is rocky and has no beaches.

Enlarge map

There are three different ways of getting to the island:

• by boat from Armação do Sul. It takes about 40 minutes and the price during the low season was R$25 in 2008. There are several sailings during the morning. During the high season, there are afternoon boats to the island as well.
• by boat from Barra da Lagoa. A few boats reach the island from the north, the trip takes one hour and fifteen minutes aproximately.
• on rubber dinghy from the Campeche beach. The trip takes little over 5 minutes, and during the low season the return trip cost R$30. There is no fixed timetable, the service depends on the demand. The same dinghy that takes you to the island will take you back from it.

From the three options, the last one is our favourite one. As well as being much faster, there is little time left for those prone to sea-sickness..

The island is a unique place, as it is part of the natural and cultural heritage of Brazil. There are 10 archeological sites on the island, and for that reason there is a limit to the number of visitors allowed every day. It should also be noted that the island is not opened to visitation during winter. IPHAN, the Brazilian government’s body responsible for the national heritage, has a number of monitors on the island, who are always eager to help tourists with their explanations.

As soon as you land on the island it is hard not to marvel at two of the main features of the beach: whiter than white sand and turquoise waters. On the approximately four hours you are allowed to stay on the island (this time limit is enforced and your boat will leave back to the main island after those four hours) you have basically three options:

- stay at the beach. The right-hand side of the beach is wider. The places where you can swim are clearly marked by buoys separating the beach-goers from the constant traffic of boats coming and going. On the left-hand side of the beach there is a tiny beach you can reach walking across the giant rocks at that end. Bring good footwear. This is the best part of the island for snorkelling.

- do some of the treks on the island. As you will be visiting archeological sites, you can’t go on your own, you have to follow a monitor. There are two monitored treks, one lasts for an hour and costs R$5, and the other one lasts three hours and it costs R$10.

- do a snorkelling trip. You can pay R$35 to go on a shortish (one hour) snorkelling trip to a part of the island where visitors can’t get on foot. The price includes a wet suit.

With crystal-clear waters as the ones enjoyed at the island, snorkel is the most attractive option. If you have a mask and a tube (flippers are not essential), take them with you. The best part of the beach to snorkel on is on the left-hand side, right next to the big rocks.

To be honest, the transparency of the water is more impressive than the variety of fish seen there. For those new to snorkelling it will be an exciting experience; veterans might be slightly dissappointed. You can’t snorkel beyond the rocks.

There are two bars at the beach where you can order a beer or even a meal. Prices at the end of February 2008 were: mineral water, R$2; beer, R$5; caipirinha, R$5; fish with rice, fries and a salad, R$15; fried squid, R$25.

Before I forget. Once again, Sancho reigns supreme as the number one of all the Brazilian beaches. The massive presence of tourists at the island of Campeche at certain times of the day, and the presence of bars and quite a lot of litter (in spite of the efforts by the monitors to keep it clean) detracts quite a lot of points from the “unspoiled” factor. But Campeche came close. It’s time for some changes at the Brazil Travel Blog’s Top 10: beaches ranking.

For those wanting to see more photos: PHOTO ALBUM OF CAMPECHE AND THE ISLAND OF CAMPECHE

General information on Florianópolis on the following blog entry: Destination: Florianópolis.

I have put together five photo albums from our recent trip to Florianópolis. They can be seen at my Flickr page.

The first album is dedicated to the north of the island, with photos of Santo Antônio de Lisboa, the Projeto Tamar in Barra da Lagoa, and the beaches of Jurerê, Canasvieiras, Ingleses, Brava and Santinho.

The second album is dedicated to the centre and the Lagoa da Conceição, with photos of the Mercado Municipal, of the Lagoa and of the Mole beach.

The third album is dedicated to the south of the island, with photos of Armação, Ribeirão da Ilha and Pântano do Sul.

The fourth álbum is dedicated to the Campeche beach and the idyllic Campeche island.

An the fifth and final album is dedicated to the Joaquina dunes and its sandboard artists.

On the following map of Florianópolis I have identified the most important beaches on the island, as well as the main towns and other points of interest.

Ampliar el mapa

The island of Florianópolis, object of desire of Argentinians, Uruguayans, Paraguayans as well as thousands of Brazilians (mainly from Rio Grande do Sul and São Paulo), is a well-rounded holiday destination that touches on the heavenly in some places. The combination of an excellent quality of life with beautiful beaches and hills make of Floripa, as it is known familiarly, the guarantee of a succesful holiday.

The island is roughly divided in three main regions: the north, where the beaches popular among Argentinians are; the centre, where the capital of the state is found as well as the Lagoa da Conceição; and the south, with beautiful beaches that attract less visitors than their northern counterparts.

WE LIKE THE MOST: the beaches, the gentle nature of the natives, food, landscapes, affordable prices, safety.

WE LIKE THE LEAST: poor infrastructures; it seems hard to believe that a tourist destination that generates so much revenue should have a road network in such a precarious state. Going places during the high season is torture. Getting to some of the beaches, hell. We also profoundly disliked all the building work completed and in progress in environmentally protected areas.

HOW TO GET THERE: by car, bus or plane. The first option is chosen by many Argentinians, Uruguayans and Paraguayans. There are regular bus services from Porto Alegre, Curitiba and São Paulo. GOL, TAM and Varig airlines all fly to Florianópolis airport. As well as numerous charter flights from Argentina and Chile.

CAREFUL WITH: the high season: a sizeable part of the island becomes a gigantic traffic jam; water supply to the northern part of the island becomes a problem too.

FAVORITE PLACES: Campeche island, Campeche beach, the Joaquina dunes, the Lagoa da Conceição

PIECE OF ADVICE:

• around the Lagoa da Conceição, and especially in the part known as Canto da Lagoa, there are numerous restaurants popular among Brazilians where few foreign tourists venture.
• one of the traditional dishes of the island is the seqüência de camarâo, several servings of prawns [shrimps] cooked in different ways, accompanied by fish and crab. It is found all throughout the island, but the most traditional place to eat the seqüência is the Lagoa da Conceição.
• although it is not impossible to travel by public bus throughout the island, it is an exercise that demands quite a lot of patience. If you are in Florianópolis for a short stay, our advice is for you to rent a car. For longer stays, when you will only be visiting one beach per day, you can use the public transportation system.
• crime rates in Florianópolis are lower than in other big Brazilian cities; it doesn’t mean crime doesn’t exist but, in this regard, Florianópolis is much safer than São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro or Recife.
• during the coming weeks we will publish detailed information on the blog on the beaches and places of interest of Florianópolis. Links to the new material will appear here as the entries are published.

LINKS: Guia Floripa, Visite Floripa.

WEATHER FORECAST: The weather in Florianópolis for the next 10 days

WEATHER: Average temperatures and rainfall in Florianópolis across the year

GOOGLE MAPS: Florianópolis

PHOTO ALBUMS: North (Santo Antônio de Lisboa, Jurerê, Canasvieiras, Brava, Ingleses, Santinho, Barra da Lagoa), Center (Mercado Municipal, Lagoa da Conceição, Praia Mole), South (Armação, Ribeirão da Ilha, Pântano do Sul), Campeche and Campeche island and sandboard in the Joaquina dunes.

OTHER BLOG ENTRIES ON FLORIANÓPOLIS:
- Map of Florianópolis
- Brazil in pictures: Florianópolis
- Ilha do Campeche
- bar do Arante, Florianópolis

[Don’t forget to check out the list of other destinations already covered in this blog, here]