That national park is also a marsh - I know, I went through it in the back of a pickup truck. Brought my own mulher (actually a titled law student) from Fortaleza, just as well as there did not seem to be that much availability then. Sounds like the magic of a small fishing village I remember has gone. Getting that way in Thailand too, right before my eyes, used to go to Ko Chang but it is now being developed as a resort. As for windsurfing, big sharks come right in close after the mid size fish going after the bait fish. I saw this large shadow pass in front of me and told myself it was not what I thought it was - until I felt the daft from it swimming, then I knew it was not a shadow. That said, there is arial footage taken off the beaches in Australia showing tens of sharks inside the shark nets and hundreds of swimmers, but actually hardly ever an attack.
i just rented a house in floripa for the month of March...pria mole and traded out of there it was best time ever...traded the morning..then surfed the afternoons... go to floripa...hot chicks...great surf,,,relatively cheap..and not the fear of crime like other parts of brasil i would just go and look...TONS of places for rent near the beach highly recommended
I agree Drock, I've settled in Joinville which is the largest city in Santa Catarina state a couple of hours north of Floripa... I go to floripa on weekends. Sure thing Mgarc, like Surdo said the women on the beach in Ipanema (or even Leblon) are postcard quality, Copacabana is a bit dissapointing... some other places I thought of were Shannanigans (Ipanema) which is a pub frequented by many ex-pats and locals the good thing is many of the women will speak english. Guapo Loco (Leblon) mexican restaurant has a great happy hour/night club thing tuesdays and apparently the hot spot now is Rio Scenarium (Centro/Lapa), multi level bar/club which has live bands, mostly brazilian music but one floor has a nice mix of dance music. Good luck.
None of the above explains Jericoacoara. The national park is sand dunes. Its mostly desert. They do get standing water in the rainy season in spots, but no marsh. Its all sand. No sharks either. I was in the water every day for four months and never saw a single fish. There is maybe 100 windsurfers out each day during high season, and I never heard that any of them have ever seen a shark either. Lots of em in Salvador though. They have a big problem with bull sharks biting people. BTW, the fisherman in Jeri go WAY offshore to fish. You sure you were in Jeri? No roads there, you had to go over sand dunes to get there?
"standing water in the rainy season in spots, but no marsh. Its all sand" Could have been it, and why it seemed like marsh (was dark) They used to stand on the shoreline and wait for baitfish to come close in then throw a net over them (from the shore). Got there by boat from a small town and left via the sand dunes/marshes. There was definitely no road, not sure there was even a track. There was a road somewhere as pickups with ice came every day. Yes it was Jeri, but it was in 1987...............................
1987! Yeah it was just a fishing town then. Still not even a track to drive there. You just have to learn your way through the dunes (which I did as you still have about an hour buggy ride just o the nearest ATM. I drove it myself several times). Nothing sillier than seeing a dune buggy converted to a cop car, lights and all. They still toss nets for little bait fish, but they don't get much. No big fish anywhere near town. Maybe cause trash is no longer dumped in the ocean. The water is actually very clean, and shallow. Yeah, you seriously wouldn't recognize the place. Beachfront is nothing but shops and restaurants. The bars rage 7 nights per week. Most of the locals are dirt poor as the nice places are either owned by foreigners or previously rich Brazilians from big cities. Lots of hookers there too, sort of. They don't actually ask for money, but want you to take care of them after one night. Damn the place has awesome wind/water/waves though. Fortaleza was scary.
In what way? I was actually thinking of moving down there, thinking I would be able to handle the dirty parts.
There was roving bands of teenagers on the beach robbing tourists in broad daylight. They would cruise in a pack of like 20 kids, and just demand cameras, etc. This was on the main tourist beach too. There were cops all over the place. Not only did they do nothing about the kids, they tried to roll me for some money because I didn't have my passport with me. On the beach! I basically told them to fuck off, and they let me go. Fortaleza is a cheap, big city. High rise apt complexes as far as the eye can see. The water is great. Women hot. But the crime? No thanks.
I am thinking about going to "Jericoacoara" for some weeks/months (windsurf). If you have any information on the location (rentals, hotels, best months to go, past experience, internet speed, trading, or tips...) please post it, it would be nice I speak spanish fluently, is it ok there or its only portuguese ? Have a good week end. Michael