Hey Chad,
When you're ready to try, I'll write in Portuguese!
Sorry to hear about the rain. It hasn't much stopped in Rio, either, but I guess that won't really make you feel better! I don't know about El Nino, but whatever the guys from Elite say should be about right. They should have friends in most of the dive shops along this part of the coast, so you might want to ask them about asking friends in Ubatuba, Ilhabela, Arraial, etc.
Recife is absolutely wreck central, check out
these guys for info. By the way, the same company, Atlantis Divers, has a new liveaboard catamaran, the Enterprise, in your area.
I haven't had time yet to write up a trip report on Arraial (I could use a format, but haven't seen one around), but I can tell you there are 10-12 dive boats going out on a given weekend. Visibility was also considerably lower than I remembered it to be, and the water was COOOLD, like 65-68 degrees or so. If you're not getting good viz on the Angra side of Rio, I imagine that at least its a little warmer.
As for an SB trip, I'll put something on SB just after NYE, and let's see what we can do. Since you're already out there, I guess the easiest is to look for a discount on mid-week dives out of Angra, Paraty or Ilha Grande.
Best,
Daniel