snorkel tagged posts

Chapada Diamantina – Mucugê and Poço Azul

The driver/guide from Cirtur  picked us up  early for tour number 5. We went by car to our first stop, the Sempre-Viva Project and the Tiburtino Waterfall. Before visiting the Museum, we walked down towards the waterfalls. The path was narrow, stony and surrounded by fauna and flora characteristic of the region, especially the cactus and orchids. On the way, we dropped by to know a typical house of gold prospectors, their tools and materials used in diamond and gold mining. After about thirty minutes of the track, we are rewarded with a large waterfall in front of us. The river descends through the rocky terrain accompanying a high slope, forming at the end several waterfalls. The water was cold because of the season of the year and had a reddish hue but was quite relaxing. We were diving and massaging the back, taking advantage of the force of the water…

After the waterfall bath we went back to Sempre-Viva Project Museum...

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Refeno 2016: anchored in Noronha

We arrived in Noronha very late at night. Part of the crew disembarked in the middle of the night anyway, as they would sleep in inns on the days in Noronha. I stayed on the boat, wanted to taste the experience of living on board. It was only two days but it gave a little understanding of what life is like on a sailboat. In the morning we tried to get the anchor out, it was badly positioned. We had to change place of the boat, we were in an area of circulation. Then he organized and cleaned the boat. It was not until the end of the afternoon that we stepped ashore for dinner and go around the village. I adored small trips on the inflatable boat bypassing the sailing boats that came to Noronha in Refeno. The small bay was filled with beautiful sailboats.

The next day we went diving in the morning to see the wreck in the port bay and we also dove to clean the hull of the boat. In the afternoon – a pedal on the island – a little review of the place I had been in 1998 and 2002...

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Diving & Snorkeling post list

Fotor031704612Below I have a list of dive sites and snorkeling in Errante.

In Honduras, April 2013

In Belize, April 2013

In Los Roques, Venezuela 2012

At Great Barrier Reef, Australia 2012

In San Andres, Colombia, 2011 (soon)

In Isla Ca...

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Caye Caulker, Belize 2013

Sorry, this entry is only available in Português.

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Chapada Diamantina – Tour 1

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On my first day at Chapada Diamantina I decided to take a tour to get a broad sense of the place. It was “Roteiro1”(Mucugezinho, Poço do Diabo, Gruta da Lapa, Gruta da Pratinha, Gruta Azul, Morro do Pai Inácio) and Mel was our guide. The first stoop was at Rio Mucugezinho where we went hiking to appreciate the river landscape. We followed the trail for about 15 minutes until we arrived at Poço do Diabo, a beautiful waterfall; there we had our first bath of the day. The water was cold but nos freezing as I imagine it would be. And after the walk under the sun, it was exactly what I was waiting for. The waterfall is big, a great shower of transparent water. Stay under the fall was easy, but the stones were slippery, so one has to be careful. The water was wonderful, invigorating as any waterfall.

After Mucugezinho, we climbed up Morro do Pai Inácio in order to see the landscape of the region. The trail is easy, but steep...

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Dos Mosquices and Cayo de Agua

Dos Mosquices and Cayo de Agua are considered the far away islands; they are about one hour by boat from Gran Roque. As the landscape is beautiful, I did not notice the time pass by. The first stop was Dos Mosquices where we visited “their Tamar”, a center for research and turtle preservation. The biologists told us about the turtles in the tanks, the species we can find in the archipelago and about the preservation work they develop.

After, our stop was Cayo de Agua, considered by many the most beautiful of the archipelago (see Carlos Quintana interview). The place is actually beautiful, the paradise. There is two islands linked by thin tripe of white sand and the sea is a bluish green gradient. The day was diving, walking on the sand until the lighthouse and sleeping under the shade. Everything one deserves on vacation. The place radiated tranquility, peace, and silence. It is impossible not to go back reinvigorated after a day around there.

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Night Snorkeling


Oscar, from the beach equipment rental, invited me to a night snorkel. I accepted, I had done many night dives but never a night snorkel. A late afternoon, when coming back from an island tour, I met Oscar. We walked around the airport, passing through some airplanes, in order to get to our starting point. It was getting dark and the mosquitoes were hungry, lucky me that Oscar was prepared and had mosquito repellent.

By the time we went into the water, it got dark. It was a very interesting experience, I liked the feeling of being in the sea, in an open space, with anything around, no boat waiting for me, or a port next to me, or a beach with people. We surrounded the island on the airport site, therefore, there was no people on the beach.

Right in the beginning we saw a very big lobster, but is was fenced season, so we could not grab it for dinner. Oscar was excited but respected the rules. Our goal was to find an octopus for Oscar’s dinner...

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Noronsquí, Crasquí and Rabusquí

My first tour to the islands in Los Roques was to Crasquí. I had been in the island before on a stop from a dive. What impressed me a lot on the site was a “sea of conch sells”. Yes, in a part of the beach I could not see the sand, large conch shells, beautiful and impressive at the same time, covered the ground. It was worth it the trip only to see this surreal place.

On the way to Craqui, we stopped in Noronsqui to enjoy the beach, I stay some time observing the small lizards, they were ugly and had some strange feet. In Crasquí it was snorkel, lie on the sand, sleep and read…

The best part of the trip, in my humble opinion, was the stop in Rabusqui on the way back to Gran Roque. It was a sea of sea stars; I had never seen something like that. White sand, transparent water and dozens of sea stars spread all over the ground, it was like seeing a sky drawn underwater. Even though it was late afternoon and sunlight not so strong, it was impacting...

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Nearby islands – Francisquí and Madrisquí


transparent seawater

white sand and blue sky

mangrove

Francisquí and Madrisquí are the islands near Gran Roque, many hotels offer transport as part of the accommodation fee. Madrisquí I visited in one of the stops of a dive. We spent some time in the island enjoying the place and chatting. The sea is gorgeous, as anywhere here. There are many tourists that spend the day on the island. They bring their cooler with food, chair and umbrellas to sleep under the shade. The peace and silence are incredible, difficult to imagine when comparing to the beaches in Salvador, that are noisy and looks like people have a competition to see who has the loudest music.

Francisqui was my chosen place to “do nothing”. I spent two days laying down the sand, going for a few walks, reading and enjoying the sandbanks to be “soaking” in the water at midday.


Path to the natural pool

Natural Pool

self-portrait with sardines

The island is near Gran Roque, only a few minutes by boat...

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Galapagos – Boat Tour

The best way to visit Galapagos is doing a boat tour, to sleep aboard and each day to see a different island. I decided to get a small tour (4 days-3 nights) and then stay some more time on the last stop, Santa Cruz Island. As the Baltra airport was closed for repairing, all the boat tours departure from San Critobal Island, not so touristy but with a functioning airport.

The first day we visit Lobos Island. As the name says it, there are a lot of “lobos”, sea lions. It was a cloudy and rainy day but we could walk on the volcanic rocks and see the famous “fragatas” that fill their red throat with air to call their female. After that, we did snorkel to see the sea lions in the water. It is impressive their movements. They are like dolphins but a lot more domesticated. They play, jump, get really close by and run away. Wonderful!

During that night we sailed to the Española Island, where we saw more sea lions and marine iguanas...

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