Cruising in Brazil

[kurtis king]

has anyone had any experience cruising in Brazil?

[Copacabana]

Yes. What area are you interested in? Brazil has a loooong coastline and the cruising grounds vary quite a bit.

[sck5]

many security issues anchoring out in Brazil, esp. in harbors of big cities. Some marinas are ok though.

[kurtis king]

interested in any info about cruising, laws, experiences, good locations. I've read online but interested in hearing from a cruiser.

[Tricolor]

To get valuable answers you really need to be more specific. With 7700 km Brazil has the longest uninterrupted coastline in the world.

[boatman61]

You'll find some cruisers reports here..
Brazil —

[conachair]

Originally Posted by kurtis king

interested in any info about cruising, laws, experiences, good locations. I've read online but interested in hearing from a cruiser.

1 month in Natal and 5 months in Jacare. Never had any problems but certainly a place where you need to keep your eyes open. Both anchorages seemed pretty safe, well worth getting the dinghy up on a halyard and locking the outboard. Out and about was fine if you kept your eyes open, no valuables at all, just enough money for beer and a cab if necessary.
Lots of fun though, that's a country that loves to party. Even the Caribbean seemed just a little tame after half a year down there.

Not great for boat bits, some very talented back ally guys could hand wire your starter motor for you, fab up some stainless or whatever but yacht chandlers near to non existent plus importing anything could cost a lot.

So go prepared!

[kurtis king]

Wondering about the port captains, i know in Mexico the tricks they can play

[kurtis king]

are the officials corrupt?

[barnakiel]

I have. It was horrible.

We are not going again.

b.

[conachair]

Originally Posted by kurtis king

Wondering about the port captains, i know in Mexico the tricks they can play

The officials I dealt with were all fine, decent people with no agenda.
That was only a couple of ports though.

[kurtis king]

i was considering retiring down there on my boat. Lots of coastline to cruise, north in the winter south in the summer. Portuguese isn't my forte. My Spanish has got me thru in other places, Italy of all the darnedest things.

[Tricolor]

Foreigners are allowed (EU Passports) to stay 3 month in a 6 month period. Brazil has extremely strict rules about the boat, inform your self well if you don't want your boat to be confiscated....

[Copacabana]

Kurtis, I think you'll find that port and immigration officials are friendly, honest and helpful as long as you obey the law. Often foreigners think they can bend the rules and get away with it. This doesn't go down well. There are many boats cruising here who simply don't check in. They often get away with it for months (years even).

A foreign yacht can stay 2 years in Brazil, but the owner can't (I know, it makes no sense!). If you come to Brazil with a foreign-flagged boat you are stuck in a position where you have to sail out of Brazil every six months (Uruguay or Argentina being the obvious choices), but then you have to get back to Brazil and up the coast to resume your cruising. It's not a very good option. Ideally you would buy a boat here to avoid this problem (or find a way to flag your boat in Brazil).

Cruising grounds: The filet mignon of the coast is, in my opinion, the stretch between Ilhabela and Rio (The "Green Coast"). You could spend many, many months poking around the hundreds of islands and coves, many uninhabited, and never get bored. Ilha Grande has lots of anchorages and fresh water is available everywhere.
There are no security issues along the Green Coast, but once you get to Rio it's better to stay in a marina. Otherwise, you can anchor out no problem. (I almost never lock my boat).
Other good cruising grounds include the area around Florianopolis, the Baia de Todos os Santos (Salvador, Itaparica and the giant bay itself), Camamu (amazing place) and some offshore islands like Abrolhos. The south and the northeast of Brazil have fewer anchorages (often there are very long stretches of coast with nowhere to put in). In the northeast one has to be careful when chosing an anchorage for security reasons. Ask the locals or stay in a marina.
At any rate, the people are very nice, the food, music and culture is great and the USD goes a long way right now.
If you are thinking of retiring here on a boat, I'd be looking into buying a boat here and keeping it on the Green Coast.
A final thing- it's not very easy to go up and down the coast. Further north there is the Brazil current that wants to bring you to the Caribbean. Then there are the prevailing winds. It's not easy to sail up the coast from, say, Florianopolis to Salvador in the summer (against the prevailing winds and currents) and you normally wait for the winter to ride the cold fronts north. These factors also make the six-month stay even more complicated as you have to plan on weather, currents and winds.
If I can help out, let me know!

[Copacabana]

Another cruising ground I forgot to mention- and one that almost no one visits- is the amazing maze of mangrove, islands and rivers on the border of the states of Paraná and São Paulo. The main bay where the port of Paranagua is located is just the start. One can go from Paranagua to Cananeia through this maze of rivers and channels, in one of the most pristine environments in the world. The area has the largest tracts of preserved Atlantic forest and is a Unesco World Heritage Site. The wildlife is astounding. It's hard to imagine, but the coast of southeastern Brazil has many wild areas.