Wednesday 10th May

Arraial do Cabo was my first 'proper' dive site in Brazil and where Eneida took her PADI Open Water course. We were there the week before Easter (April 06).

I had previously done one dive on a wreck off the coast of Porto de Galinhas. However for a number of reasons this was not a great dive but did have reasonable fish life and warm water.

Arraial do Cabo claims to be the centre of diving in Brazil. Although I don't fully agree with this, it is certainly the biggest centre I am aware of to date. It is located about 170km east of the city of Rio de Janeiro in the state of the same name. Fernando do Noronya is meant to be the best diving in Brazil.

The resort itself is a small town on a beautiful part of the coast with several beaches. The nicest beaches are Prainha, Praia do Forno and Prainhas as these have warmer water. Praia do Forno is particularly nice although getting there involves a 20 minute walk or a short boat trip. Praia Grande is also nice on the south side of the peninsula but the water temperature was cold. Praia dos Anjos is the beach where the harbour is located and not the most attractive. However the area around Praia dos Anjos is the 'night' spot of Arraial do Cabo with most of the restaurants. I wouldn't describe the restaurants as great but there are a few decent ones such as Estalagem do Porto and Saint Tropez. Other than eating out, going to the beach and diving there isn't a huge amount to do in Arraial do Cabo.

The water in Arraial do Cabo was on the cool side. Where we dived temperatures ranged from mid to low 20's and possibly colder in some areas. I started diving in a full body 3mm wetsuit but changed to a 5mm after first dive and felt much warmer. The water temperature was very variable with major thermoclines. We were told, but did not corroborate, that the water temperature on some beaches was 14ºC whilst on the other side of the peninsula was a much more comfortable 26ºC. I guess this vast difference is due to the geographical location of Arraial do Cabo (see this map) and the various ocean currents that affect this part of the coast of Brazil.

As regards the diving, there are many operators. We chose one of the larger outfits called Arraial Sub. They were very nice people and the hire equipment was generally in excellent shape apart from some cylinders which were regularly blowing O-rings when kitting up (not in the water though!). I would recommend them. They offer a range of PADI courses including Dive Master which I may consider taking with them next January. Another large company was called PL Divers.

The diving itself was not brilliant by my high standards. I guess that I am very spoilt having dived some of the best areas of the world (ie Red Sea, Philippines, Thailand, Great Barrier Reef and Maldives). I've also dived a few other places in the Atlantic Ocean which I have generally found to be less colourful and to have less life than the indo-pacific oceans. Arraial do Cabo however was probably the best dive resort I have visited in the Atlantic. I saw at least one turtle every dive but virtually no other pelagics. There were a reasonable selection of butterfly fish, angelfish and other reef species. My wife, Eneida, also had the privilege of seeing a group of squid and two seahorses on her first dive.

Visibility in the warm water was typically 10-20m but dropped rapidly when you went through a thermocline. Where the sea was a bit rougher visibility again dropped to 5-10m in places sometimes with strong surge. There were however hardly any currents at any of the sites we dived.

The dive guides who have worked in the area for many years say that they have never seen a shark, but I am sure they must be around. Indeed, one day after returning to the harbour, we were told that some boats had seen a whale shark that day. Unfortunately I was not one of those! Apparently Manta's are also seen during some months every year.

In conclusion I would recommend Arraial do Cabo as a dive site. Given the geography of the area I would imagine there are some really good dive sites a little further away from the main harbour than we went in our day boats. To visit these sites, I would guess that you probably need to pre-book with a group of experienced divers.

Please take a look below at some of the photos both underwater and of the beaches/resort itself.