July 2025 ~ We had an unbelievably great time in the north coast of Brazil. It was so exciting to explore this part of my home country (Capt K was born in Rio)!
Unusual for Nesi, we had no co-op visitors during this period. The reason is that customs & immigration in Brazil has been very unfriendly to cruising sailboats, and left us completely unable to plan our schedule, in the face of too much uncertainty.
In exchange, we welcome 5 work-trade crew members aboard to help us with boatwork, the kids, our videos, and business development. It was a very international crew: Egypt, Madagascar, Germany/Namibia, USA, and France were represented! More on these great crew members later.
The first stop after the heavenly island of Fernando de Noronha was Galinhos, off-the-beaten path destination near Natal (read about these two places in our last post). Then we sailed overnight to Paracuru, a random little town along the coast where we had organized to pick up a package … the things that we must coordinate as sailors!
Paracuru:
Paracuru was an unpretentious, “real” town, non-touristy, just doing its thing. We enjoyed the visit but the wind wasn’t any good for kiting. Then we sailed overnight to Jericoacoara, which was the exact opposite!
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Scenes from Paracuru:
Jericoacoara:
“Jeri” as locals call it is an end-of-the-road sandy point which has attracted an impressive amount of visitors for its beautiful dune scenery, party-goers for “feet in the sand” dance clubs, and lots of kite/wing foilers in the steady trade winds. The narrow alleyways through the town are charming, creative artwork spills everywhere, but the quads and 4×4 trucks and touristy crowds are a bit hectic. The anchorage was quite rolly and the tides are extreme, we had to dinghy thru lightly breaking mini-waves, it was challenging! So we only stayed one night, before carrying on to the gem of the coastline: Atins.
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Scenes from Jericoacoara:
Atins:
“The best can also be the hardest” — this was the case in Atins, which has an infamous rivermouth to navigate. Very few sailors make it into this river due to the chaotic breaking waves. We hired a fisherman as “pilot” to guide us thru the entrance, and it was still a nail biter! But spending a week in Atins was one of the highlights of our time in Brazil, like dropping into a forgotten village with lots kitesurfing and great people.
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Scenes from Atins:
Lençois Maranhenses National Park:
We had an unforgettable lunch where we kited to the sandy peninsula, in the middle of nowhere surrounded by sand and sand alone, and had amazing shrimp pastéis. We kited offshore downwind through the surf to the Lençois National Park and met our crew and kids in the truck. Rode in butter smooth lagoons surrounded by dunes. Unreal!
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Scenes from Lençois National Park:
This coastline left such fond memories in our heart. So much adventure, challenge, fulfillment, and fun. The desert kiting and remote rivermouths in Brazil’s north coast are worth seeing!!
Up next: we sail to Ilha dos Lençois and onward into the Amazon Basin!
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