Recife and Noronha help requested

[boiboy]

I had the good fortune to be able to travel to Brazil unexpectedly, but on very short notice. I am in a group of three people and we are going Nov 27 through Dec 7 2006. We all just certified PADI Open Water diver and would love to dive in Brazil.

I have located three dive shops for Recife. I would appreciate any recommendations which shop to go with. We would like to take the PADI wreck diver class and dive some wrecks. The three are Aquaticos, Projeto mar, and Seagate.

I really would like dive Noronha, but at this late date my hopes are probably unrealistic. But so I know for future reference, how do you plan a trip there? I read frequently that the park service only allows so many people on the island, but I have never heard what the process is for getting on the list or approved to travel to the island. How do you find a list of the pousadas providers? I also know about the TAM airpass, but I am not sure if this can be applied on flights to Noronha from Recife.
Any pointers on planning a trip to Noronha, either for my quick trip in a few weeks, or properly done in the future, would be greatly appreciated. Perhaps this information would also benefit others on Scubaboard.

 

[WPBdiver]

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 www.atlantisdivers.com.br. 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.

 

[Crawl79]

Nice information on Noronha, I will go as soon as I have the time and hopefully a buddy to make the trip with me. I have been diving and traveling in Rio, Buzios, and Arraial do Cabo and find the prices for diving much cheaper than Noronha around 100 reals to dive in these places. But I guess you pay for the diving you get, while I have enjoyed every dive in Brasil I have not seen the vis that I always hear is usually the norm in Noronha. Also, when I tell any Brasilian I meet that I am a diver they always recommend Noronha. I tell them the places I have dove here and they say oh that is nice but Noronha is so much better.

 

[Quero]

I just spent a week (including 18 dives) at Noronha. It was my fourth visit. I suppose I could post a separate trip report, but figure that it's just as good to put the info in this exsiting thread.

Fernando de Nornoha is widely considered the best diving Brazil has to offer. But it's far from cheap. Flights are expensive, acommodation rates are unbelievably high (for what you get), meals are pricey, dives cost about $100 for a two-tank trip, and forget adding Nitrox--that will boost the cost an additional $19 a tank. Basically everything on the island is imported from the mainland and costs about double the price elsewhere.

The marine life you will want to look out for includes sharks, rays, turtles, dolphins, giant green morays, and endemic reef fish like the Noronha damselfish. For divers experienced with other areas of the world, marine life is rather sparse and the lack of coral (and the abundance of greenish-brown algae) makes the landscapes sort of dreary. The most interesting aspect of FN to me is the underwater topography. There are areas that look like small-scale ruined cities, boulder fields full of swim throughs, sheer cliffs that become deep walls, and huge caverns. Many of the dives are quite deep, and at any depth there is generally an annoying surge (annoying to me as it makes photography especially challenging). For techies, there is an important wreck, the warship Ipiranga, which sits upright at about 60 meters; penetration is possible.

I have always dived with Atlantis, partly out of habit (they used to have the only good boats on the island when I first started going there) and partly because I know so many of the staff. But this time I decided to split my diving between Atlantis and Aguas Claras. Atlantis has become a large operation and continues to give excellent service. But Aguas Claras has a nice friendly feel about it that Atlantis seems to have lost over the years in the process of its corporate growth. Both ops have nice big cats, and there's really not a significant difference between the two as regards the operations themselves; the biggest difference--Atlantis provides drinking water and crackers or cookies between dives while Aguas Claras has only water. There isn't really a big price differential between them, either, though Aguas Claras will give a discount for more than three trips whereas with Atlantis you actually have to talk to the manager to wrangle a somewhat smaller discount. If I go again, I will give preference to Aguas Claras. There is a third dive op, Noronha Divers. They are a bit less pricey because they use converted fishing trawlers as their dive vessels--not quite as stable in the rough seas often found around the island at the best sites. I booked all my dives just hours ahead of time, and I was there during a busy week (All Saints/All Souls day holiday week).

You fly to Nornoha through either Natal or Recife, on one of two airlines: Trip or Total. If you are traveling on an international ticket, you can buy a Brazil Airpass with TAM (which will get you on the Trip flight). My round-trip ticket from Sao Paulo to FN through Recife on a TAM Brazil airpass cost $585 (taxes included), about half what TAM quotes for online purchases. I used a Miami travel agency called BROL.

As far as getting access to the island, you only need to have accommodation booked. The park service limits the number of visitors to 240 a day (if I am not mistaken), and you are guaranteed entry if you have a place to stay. This official government website lists the various "pousadas" and their relative costs.

Once you have your flights and lodging booked, you can either pay the park fee (called Environmental Preservation Tax/Taxa de Preservacao Ambiental) by filling out an online form and paying at a local bank, or by simply lining up when you arrive, filling out the forms on-site, and paying as you enter.

I could go on about nature trails, dolphin sighting, nightlife, buggy rentals, beaches to visit, and so on, but will leave that to PMs for those of you interested.

Q.