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Welcome to the
first real site on to the Coast of the Atlantic Forest (Mata Atlântica in Brazilian Portuguese), which is
also called the Southern Shores
of The State of São Paulo in Southeastern Brazil. Here you'll
find dozens of beaches, each one with its own personality. Some
of them, very large, will give you the exact meaning of this
lovely encounter: the place where the green and bluish mountains
of the Sea Mountain Rage (Serra do Mar) meet the enormous sky
and the ethereal sea. This place is the spot where there are
cities that have bloomed, that yet have not forgotten their rich
cultural heritage, preserving the nature and at the same time "sailing"
towards the future.
Cities, that even being distant from the
Capital of São Paulo, can be considered too
close to that bulging center, due to many modern roads and means
of transportation. There you'll find ancient paths, once crossed
by the Indians and the Jesuits in the 16th century, under a
tropical sun and a friendly tropical climate. Urbanized cities
or bucolic places, from Saint Vincent (São Vicente) to Itanhaém
and then to Cananéia, there's an immense big blue, an enormous
horizon, of incredible luminosity, pointed out in the background
by the heights of the walls of the Sea Mountain Range and a sky
immutably blue during daylight and deeply full of all kinds of
stars at night (you can even spot both Magellanic clouds from
there!).
Itanhaém and
its unique relief, with its sets of hills and a rocky coastline,
is the home of some of the most beautiful beaches in the region
as well as rivers and wetlands, all of them unique on these
shores. The Itanhaém River is made up of other 2 rivers, the
Black River (Rio Preto) and the White one (Rio Branco), both
very beautiful, surrounded by important wetlands what made the
region being nicknamed The Amazon of São Paulo (Amazônia
Paulista), due to many species of plants, animals and fish that
find a safe shelter there.
The waterfalls hidden in the green of
the pristine Mountain Range are true spectacles to please the
eye, that makes us remember the importance and the grandness of
the forest and the biodiversity that one day may help to heal
most of our wounds and ills. Even in the urban area you can
cross a street and find a pristine River or an Island covered
with the Atlantic Forest, full of native natural life as it
really happens with the Sapucaitava Hill, the Givurá Island and
with the set of beaches that surrounds these places.
The incredible
vastness of the Cibratel Beach contrasts on the background with
the Juréia and Itatins Mountain Ranges in Peruíbe, a city next
to Itanhaém. The Cibratel Beach is crossed by the Gaivota
River which its mouth is located right across from the Gaivota
Island, a place where the visitor will realize the exact
dimension of the infinity of vastness of the place. Juréia with
its mountains on the background, seems to fall in the sea with
its pristine beaches, home of rare endangered species of the
flora and the fauna what made the government create a State Park
there a few years ago.
The Juréia and Itanhaém with their sets of hills and
Mountain Ranges are in fact the same region, the same Southern
Littoral, part of the same shores that have the most preserved
portion of Atlantic Forest in the State of São Paulo. The region
is also linked to the Ribeira Valley, located a bit far
southwards. It's a huge region of nature preservation where
you'll find banana and tea plantations, where a train that
transported the goods used to honk in the starry nights...That
sound seems to echo until today, making us remember the past,
even after the its end at the end of the 90's.
On The Southern
Shores, the visitor will find famous beaches, some others
pristine, totally empty, still, some of great extension and some
too thin, which sands are compressed between the water and the
rocky coastline. Some other beaches have a rough sea and some
others are indicated for that soothing relax. So, there
are beaches on the Southern Shores for all moods and tastes.
Some people think that the waters on the Southern Shores are not
fit to a good diving. On the contrary, the waters can be crystal
clear and definitely good for diving and underwater fishing, but
their clarity and transparency are subject to seasonality due to
the currents that arrive from the deep South. Although there's
this seasonality of the waters, the best diving spot in
Southeastern Brazil is found in Itanhaém.
Those are the
Islands of Queimada Grande and Queimada Pequena (fishing is
prohibited - State Parks, even though you can dive around the
islands only for observation). In Queimada Grande's waters, the
blue is intense and untouched during all year long; the island
waters has the so-called "international visibility",
therefore also known as one of the best diving spots in the
world. The marine life there is abundant and untouched. Queimada
Grande is also surrounded by many shipwrecks that have become,
during the years, the home and shelter for many species of fish.
These islands and the islet called Laje da Conceição can be
easily reached by one of the boats that covers this itinerary,
leaving the Small Port (Portinho in Brazilian Portuguese) on the
bank of the Itanhaém River, near the ancient train bridge. So,
come with us to discover and get to know everything about one of
the most beautiful regions of the State of São Paulo, located in
Southeastern Brazil. Come to the Southern Shores!
SORRY FOR THE
INCONVENIENCE - MOST MENUS IN ENGLISH ARE UNDER CONSTRUCTION -
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