Joao Passoa, Cabedelo, Jacare Info

When we first heard about this place we couldn't find much information on it besides the French marina. I'm not sure if many other sailors read this blog but it might be handy if they do. We searched for Joao Passoa which is the city nearby Cabedelo which is the town and main port at the river entrance and Jacare is the fishermans village 5 miles upstream were the yachts hang out.

The Navionics charts we use were pretty acurate all the way and the channel is well marked into the entrance of main harbour  although one starboard maker (second in) was missing a light, once inside at night I think best maybe to anchor in designated quarantine anchorage area marked on the chart and head up the river at daylight although like I say our charts were acurate and the tide range is over 2m.

The anchorage (7*2.148's 34*51.547'w) at Jacare village is very nice, quiet (except from 5-7pm with tourist boats and music!) and most importantly very safe. Everyone super friendly. If you choose to go into marina there are a few options. Jacare Marina is run by a French guy named Nicholas email contact@marina-jacare-village.com. Its pretty good and very French. It has wifi, power, water laundry, restaurant ect and you can also dry your boat out alongside poles on wharf to do repairs although you will be knee deep in mud. You pick up a stern line and go bow in so do have to climb over your bow to get onto the jetty which isn't that great for older people. They quoted us on emails a lot more than when we arrived and heard what other people were paying which was strange but maybe a mistake??I think the price is about US100$ a week?? They have room for about 50 boats I would say with over 3 metres of water like the rest of the place and anchorage. You can also anchor and use there facilities and pay US$35 a week.

Then there is another Marina next door owned by a very friendly German fella Peter, he has a very nice pontoon with room for at least a dozen or more boats. He has small finger jetties to get on and off and also has wifi, he quoted us a 1000 $Brazilian a month if we left it there for a couple of months. 

Then there is the yacht club were we are. They don't normally have foreign boats on their jetty but was just Julie's good looks and our circumstances and also helped that she speaks Portuguese! They are all really super friendly and I'm sure if you ask management first they will let you use there jetty to leave your dinghy when going ashore.

Accross the other side there is a very nice young Brazilian couple called Luciano and Concita email ribeiraadventureclub@hotmail.com They have set up a little marina. They are very isolated which if you like that it's fine but it is about a 10 minute boat ride here to town. A great place to leave the boat though for inland travel. He quoted us $200US a month. Very basic pontoons that holds about 6 boats but I would be happy to leave Sunflower there no worries.

Like I say though the anchorage is great and you get the breeze and no mosquitoes! We left Sunflower alone for 3 days and I think a little longer would also be fine. Jacare Marina also have a few swing moorings but not sure how much they are. Best to come and drop your anchor and see for yourself the place before booking anything in advace I reckon.

There is also a Fella there called Brian, he arrived on a yacht flat broke from the UK 40 odd years ago and has set up a boat yard. He has pretty well retired now but still has a few guys working for him and hauls a few smaller yachts out on a jinker trailer and does or can organise repairs and help you out with most things you could need, he is a real gentleman. You will see his yard just past the yacht club.

Checking in is very casual, you could probably wait a week and they won't bother you at all.  First go online to www.edbv.receita.fazenda.gov.br and fill in the forms for customs. Then you can walk for half an hour or catch a taxi to the immigration which is actually called Policia Federal. It's up the road, accross the train tracks to the main highway turn left and the first proper turn on the right you will see a sign for it and it's just there. Get there by 10am if possible. Customs and Port Captain close at 1pm but don't take that long so if you have time go if not wait till the next day. On the highway there are heaps of buses heading north to Cabedelo so just wave one down and get off when the bus stops and actually shuts down and that's the last stop and the Customs are just there through a security check point gate, it's called Receita Federal and the Port captain just accross the road, you will see it once you are there. It is all free and they speak reasonable English. Easy;)

The Yacht club is trying to organise for the Immigration and Customs to come Tuesdays and Thursdays  to the club and do formalities which would be great so maybe in the near future that might be happening so might pay to ask around first.

The highway you walk to from the anchorage you will find 3 supermarkets, pharmacy, bakery, fuel station ect and an alright beach for swimming. 

Hope this helps :)

French Marina pontoon

The other French pontoon that you can dry out alongside to work on your boat if needed.

French Marina restaurant, bar ect

Peters Marina

Anchorage looking on to Brazilian Yacht Club

Jacare Cabedelo

I don't think we could have landed in a better spot in Brazil to leave the boat in terms of safety and friendly people, especially friendly people! It's great, we settled right in very quickly. It is a perfect anchorage about 5nm up the river from Cabedelo. Flat calm with a slight breeze and good holding and apparently there hasn't been any minor crime towards yachts for many years so we were more than happy being out on anchor with the breeze and no mosquitoes. You read a good few horror stories of crime in Brazil but it is mainly in the big cities with drugs but here there is just a few friendly fisherman, a few tourist boats and about 50 yachts, mainly French as there is a French Marina.

Checking in was reasonably easy although it did take a couple of days as their offices close at 1pm, yes Brazil is very casual! Couldn't be nicer people though and it is definitely handy that Julie speaks Portuguese as most of the locals don't speak much English. After checking in we looked for options to leave the boat while I go back to work. We didn't come all the way to Brazil to hang out with French so looked around at the other couple of small marinas and talked to the locals what they reckoned and all said it was perfectly safe on anchor with no crime so Julie called it saying she was happy with that and put the money towards our inland travels when I get back. There is a small Brazilian yacht club that mainly has small weekend power boats, they have a nice floating jetty and we asked if we could use this for our dinghy and pay a small fee. Geez they couldn't have been nicer and more welcoming and said no problem but please join us for a BBQ! Of course and then another the next day all by the pool with a few beers and great people. They all join there for the weekends bring their own food and drinks just BBQing and hanging chatting in the pool, it's great:) The next time we saw them they had decided between themselves that it would be best for Julie that before I fly back to Australia it would be best to bring Sunflower onto their pontoon at no charge. We obviously didn't feel too comfortable with that and insisted on please paying something but they were adamant and said the only thing they would like from us is to take home good memories of Brazilians, socialise with them and enjoy ourselves and share our experiences with them, WOW! Like I say they really couldn't have been nicer people and it really is so great to meet proper brazilians and not just be hanging around other yachties all the time like we so often do. So Julie is very happy right now by the pool I'm sure;)

Some other people we know on "Imagine"were also there which was great also and we did a small trip down south to a town called Olinda which was very nice, a sort of arty hippy type place that is very old and hosts a big carnival each year. It was good fun and we mainly just ate, drank and looked around and sat on the beach was great to get of the boat for a few days.

Then back to the boat and start packing up and doing a few little jobs and just riding our bikes to the local beach for an afternoon swim and a couple of coldies, was great. Everything you need is in walking distance, beach, 3 supermarkets and the rest of the basics so it's a pretty easy place to be.

Yes we like Brazil!

And now I am back working in Aus bit arriving back on Sunflower 25th of May:)