Brazil Sea Kayaking – The Costa Verde

Arrive in Rio de Janeiro and you will be met at the airport by your Tofino Expeditions guide. Transfer to our hotel located on Copacabana Beach and short walk from Ipanema Beach, made famous by the Bossa Nova hit song, “Girl from Ipanema.” After freshening up, we’ll head out on a walking tour of the beaches and surrounding neighborhoods. As the sun sets, we’ll enjoy our first chilled Caipirinha (Brazil’s national drink made from Cachaca, sugar cane rum and fresh limes) and discuss trip details before heading out to a local restaurant for dinner.

We meet Professora Teresa, an art history professor, avid paddler, and lifelong Caricoa (resident of Rio). She’ll show us some of the best Rio has to offer, starting with an ascent of Corcovado Mountain to the iconic Cristo Redentor statue and the panoramic views of this sprawling metropolis from the summit. Before lunch, we’ll also tour the winding streets of the Bohemian hillside neighborhood of Santa Teresa. After dining in one of the district’s best restaurants, we’ll venture into Tijuca National Park for a walk in this remarkable 12-square-mile urban forest. It is home to hundreds of species of plants and wildlife, many of which are threatened by extinction. Dinner this evening is a classic Churrascaria-Brazilian barbeque at a famous restaurant in Ipanema.

After breakfast, we board an air-conditioned minibus for the 3½-hour drive from Rio to Paraty. The road meanders down the lush coastline and offers views of the sea as well as glimpses of rural life in this part of Brazil. Arriving in Paraty, we check into a boutique hotel in the old town (a UNESCO World Heritage Site). Located at the end of the Caminho do Ouro (Gold Road) that linked the coast with the mineral wealth of the interior, Paraty has an unrivaled range of preserved and restored 18th- and 19th-century architecture. After settling in, we’ll do a walking tour of the old town with a local guide to learn more about Paraty’s unique place in the history of the “New World.” Dinner tonight is at “Locals” restaurant in the old town.

Once luggage is loaded onto our support boat, a short drive takes us to our launch beach. After an orientation and safety demo, we start our Brazil sea kayaking trip on the warm waters of Bahia Paraty. We’ll enjoy views of the town’s white colonial facades set against a backdrop of green mountains lit by the morning sun. We cruise the coastline, pausing to survey the view from an old fort and to swim at some of the numerous sandy beaches before entering the natural splendor of Saco de Mamanguá, Brazil’s tropical fjord. Tonight, we stay at an ecolodge set on the edge of the fjord offering views of Mamangua’s Sugarloaf Peak.

Today, we continue to explore the Mamanguá by paddling to the beach at its head and then into an ecologically rich mangrove forest situated there. Returning along the opposite shore, we stop for lunch at a small village located at the base of the Sugarloaf and visit the workshop of a local canoe builder. The latter part of the day affords time to relax in a hammock and contemplate the view. After dark, the walls of the fjord frame a night sky sparkling with the stars of the southern hemisphere.

Kayaking out of the mouth of Saco de Mamangua, we pass Ilha Zeze and head south into the Bahia Cajaiba, defined on the south by Ponta da Joatinga. The waters here are less protected by Ilha Grande, and so a light swell spices up the paddling. Our destination is the picturesque fishing village of Pouso da Cajaiba. Once there, our nicely appointed beachfront guesthouse puts us in the heart of village life and furnishes us with meals of the freshest seafood imaginable.

Today’s paddle is to Praia Grande – literally, “Big Beach” – a picture-perfect arc of sand and the sort of place that dreams are made of. We’ll relax, swim and snorkel before hiking a short way inland for a dip in a tropical pool at the base of a jungle waterfall.

This morning we use our support boat to leapfrog back along our route to explore Parati Mirim, a lake-like bay of islands and part of the Caicuru Ecological Reserve. The route back to Paraty takes us past an island inhabited by rare golden lion tamarins, a species of small monkey native to this Atlantic rainforest and extremely endangered (the wild population thought to number less than 1500). For our final evening in Paraty, we have a special invitation to dine with Chef Yara Castro Roberts and her photographer husband, Richard, at their elegantly restored colonial home in old Paraty. Yara is the author of The Brazilian Table and was featured in the episode, “Yara Roberts’ Brazil,” on the PBS series Gourmet’s Adventures with Ruth. An evening with Yara is a lively and memorable blend of cuisine and culture as she relates the unique history of Brazil to each of the evening’s dishes.

After packing up, we’ll board our minibus and drive into the hills behind Paraty for a brief walk along the remnants of the Caminho do Ouro (Gold Road), parts of which are remarkably well preserved nearly 200 years after construction. We’ll also visit an Artisan Cachaca distillery before finally saying goodbye to Paraty and returning to Rio. Arriving at our hotel in the mid- to late afternoon, there will be time to relax and freshen up before heading out for an evening in the city.

Flights out are typically in the evening so we will arrange for luggage to be stored at the hotel after check-out and the day is free for last-minute shopping or relaxing on the beach until the late afternoon when transport to the airport will depart.