Brazil: Maceio

 Thursday, March 9, 2023, Maceio, Brazil

The seas were rough coming into Maceio, and we docked at the commercial quay. Thunderstorms were predicted, but instead we had wonderful weather. Before we got off the ship we watched dolphins playing around in the bay. We took a shuttle bus provided by the city to a mercado near Praia de Pajucara (Pujucara Beach). We walked from the Mercado a couple of blocks to the beach.

When we got to the beach, a small Brazilian man tried to hook us up with an umbrella & chairs at the beach. We let him know we wanted to hire a boat to take us out to the reef off the shore to snorkel. He immediately ran down the beach and hooked us up with a man with a sailboat. None of these people spoke English. 

Our sailor spoke a little Spanish, and Google translate helped with the rest. He indicated it would be about 20 minutes to get out to the reef. It was a nice ride. He threw water on the sail to make it go faster. Once there, we joined 4-5 other boats and he threw the anchor in the water with help from another man. We were probably the only tourists there—everyone else looked like locals. However, he mentioned a couple times how important tourists are to the area. We felt safe leaving our bags on the boat, and he gave us snorkel equipment. A rare time we could both go into the water together. 

Our captain



City in the background

The water was warm, and much of it was quite shallow, other parts over our heads. The sea was pretty rough, so visibility wasn’t the best but we saw some fish. It was quite a scene, with people standing waist deep in parts of the water, and others snorkeling. There was a bar boat serving drinks, and another that looked like it had food. It was a fun adventure, and we spent some time out there. Charlie got sea sick after ingesting too much salt water, and the boatman steered us back to shore, while we sang, “Yo no soy marinara” from La Bamba. We settled up and he gave us a discount for the abbreviated trip.

We sat near the beach recuperating for awhile, then found an outdoor restaurant and had French fries and freshly squeezed lemonade for lunch. Not our usual healthy fare, but what the heck.




We went back to the Mercado and found some treats for our room stewards, and for ourselves. We then found the place to catch the shuttle back to the ship and waited with others for the shuttle to arrive. It did and we made it back to the ship on time. Always a concern when you venture out on your own.


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