Fernando de Noronha
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Welcome to SB. FdN is a location I've been interested in for several years, but have never dived there. If you use the search function here on the board, you should be able to pull up a few older threads that discuss it.
WPBdiver
Registered
The below is a copy of my post from a 2006 thread. I hope it helps. Have a great time. I can't wait to go back.
"I dived with Atlantis Divers on Fernando De Noronha this past March. Atlantis also has an operation on the mainland in Natal, which is bit north of Recife. Check them out at Atlantis - curso de mergulho, fernando de noronha, padi, pdic, naui,. Their site is in both English and Portugues. On Fernando, all three dive outfits have fantastic reputations, but I picked Atlantis because I felt they had the better boats and I found them to be the most responsive to my initial emails. Once on the Island I knew I had made the right choice. Their boats are far superior and their customer service was exceptional. They also have plenty of English speaking crew if your Portugues is as bad as mine.
I had originally wanted to dive Recife also, but our time in Brazil was limited. I have heard great things about Recife and hope to try it someday.
As far as Noronha is concerned, you don't want to miss it. There are reasons why it is rated as one of the top fifty dive sites in the world- year round vis of 100'+++, year round water temp of 80-84 degrees F, incredible rock formations, and plenty of big and little animals. All the dives were drift dives which is easy. They put three DM's in the water and there were only about eight divers. Some sites have quite a bit of serge and can be a bit strenuous. There is only one wreck that I am aware of. It is a Brazilian Corvetta that is in about 180'. Of course, they are very restrictive of who they will take there.
There is no special approval process to visit Fernando De Noronha. As long as you can book a flight and a Posada you are in. Don't forget to book your dives in advance also. There is a per day environmental fee that you have to pay at the airport upon arrival. Most of the websites tell you to bring plenty of cash since most places don't take credit cards and there aren't any ATM's, but we found that information to be obsolete. Most places took Visa and MC and there is an ATM at the airport that accepted my card. The island is expensive, especially compared with the rest of Brazil. We stayed at Posada Barcelar which I think was $200 USD per night. I could be wrong on that, but it was close. Try Posada Do Sueste also. The diving was 200 Real for a two tank trip, which I think is about $100 USD at today's exchange rate. Nitrox is available but it was crazy expensive. Everyone on my trips were on air. The food was great where ever we went and was pretty reasonably priced. The dive shops pick you up at the Posadas so there are no real worries about transportation. We did rent a buggy for a couple days so we could see the sites.
It may not be too late for you to do Noronha. Don't give up until you have tried. You should stay more than just a few days though. Good luck and safe diving."
"I dived with Atlantis Divers on Fernando De Noronha this past March. Atlantis also has an operation on the mainland in Natal, which is bit north of Recife. Check them out at Atlantis - curso de mergulho, fernando de noronha, padi, pdic, naui,. Their site is in both English and Portugues. On Fernando, all three dive outfits have fantastic reputations, but I picked Atlantis because I felt they had the better boats and I found them to be the most responsive to my initial emails. Once on the Island I knew I had made the right choice. Their boats are far superior and their customer service was exceptional. They also have plenty of English speaking crew if your Portugues is as bad as mine.
I had originally wanted to dive Recife also, but our time in Brazil was limited. I have heard great things about Recife and hope to try it someday.
As far as Noronha is concerned, you don't want to miss it. There are reasons why it is rated as one of the top fifty dive sites in the world- year round vis of 100'+++, year round water temp of 80-84 degrees F, incredible rock formations, and plenty of big and little animals. All the dives were drift dives which is easy. They put three DM's in the water and there were only about eight divers. Some sites have quite a bit of serge and can be a bit strenuous. There is only one wreck that I am aware of. It is a Brazilian Corvetta that is in about 180'. Of course, they are very restrictive of who they will take there.
There is no special approval process to visit Fernando De Noronha. As long as you can book a flight and a Posada you are in. Don't forget to book your dives in advance also. There is a per day environmental fee that you have to pay at the airport upon arrival. Most of the websites tell you to bring plenty of cash since most places don't take credit cards and there aren't any ATM's, but we found that information to be obsolete. Most places took Visa and MC and there is an ATM at the airport that accepted my card. The island is expensive, especially compared with the rest of Brazil. We stayed at Posada Barcelar which I think was $200 USD per night. I could be wrong on that, but it was close. Try Posada Do Sueste also. The diving was 200 Real for a two tank trip, which I think is about $100 USD at today's exchange rate. Nitrox is available but it was crazy expensive. Everyone on my trips were on air. The food was great where ever we went and was pretty reasonably priced. The dive shops pick you up at the Posadas so there are no real worries about transportation. We did rent a buggy for a couple days so we could see the sites.
It may not be too late for you to do Noronha. Don't give up until you have tried. You should stay more than just a few days though. Good luck and safe diving."
VJey
Registered
I live in Brazil and I agree with every thing that WPBdiver said. Atlantis also has a live abord if you have time, with that you can dive in a lot of wrecks in recife and Natal too. See their home page.
Thank you very much. This was very helpful as I was trying to figure out in which pousada to stay. The diving with the current exchange rate comes out to be really expensive, like on Hawaii. Nevertheless, you've confirmed, it's one of these places not to be missed. We've got tickets for October of this year.
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