Brazil: Natal

Saturday, March 11, 2023, Natal, Brazil

We took the ship’s shuttle to a large craft market. Neither of us were in a shopping mood. We were advised by armed guards we could not leave the compound (except on the shuttle) as it was not safe. Many of our ship mates returned to the ship almost immediately. We decided we wanted to see the dunes that Natal is famous for.

Not the best neighborhood

The craft market itself was nice

There was a man Oceania contracted with at the craft market who spoke very good English. We asked for help with a taxi to to the dunes. The first thing I asked the driver is whether he took a Visa card. Yes. We settled on a price and off we went, across the large bridge our ship passed under when we arrived, and into a rural area near the beach.

 The taxi driver dropped us at business that had dune buggies. He would return in about an hour and a half to pick us up. We would pay him when it was all over.

We climbed into the dune buggie, sitting up on the back, and our driver took off. He spoke a little English. The dunes are such an unusual feature, they are the symbol of Natal. We told him to take it easy on us since we are senior citizens. For the most part he did.

Us in the back of the dune buggie

It was thrilling to be out in such an unusual landscape. We stopped for photos fairly often, and the first time was to look at the high rises in the city, and our ship, in the distance. We also stopped to sample fruit from a plant growing in the sand. There  were some low areas between dunes that were blocked off with rope.

We drove over this bridge to get to the dunes. The ship went under it to get to & from port.

It was windy, which is why the dunes were formed in this spot.

Another stop was at a lake in the middle of the dunes. It was down quite a ways from the hilltop we were on, and reportedly had alligators in it. There was a small refreshment stand there. Unbelievably (or not), there was a craft market in the dunes. We tried to get tapioca flat bread without butter or cheese, but they were premade so no luck there. Instead we drank coconut water from a coconut. We found this all over Brazil and it replenishes electrolytes from the heat. Definitely refreshing.

Craft market in the dunes

Next we cruised down to the beach, and drove along the beach for awhile. A great way to spend the day.

Saturday crowd at the beach

A steep decent to the beach 

When we got back to the dune buggy business, our taxi driver wasn’t there yet, but was on his way. He arrived about 15 minutes later, picked us up and took us back to the ship.

At the port, he was dismayed we wanted to pay with a credit card. It was the first thing I asked him about, so I was not amused. I think he had suddenly realized it was a weekend and the banks weren’t open. It apparently isn’t always easy to get an authorization through on a weekend in Brazil. We settled on a debit card, and it took awhile for that to be go through, but it finally did to the taxi driver’s (and our) relief.

On the way out our ship passed under the large bridge. We were up top to watch, and a couple of power poles barely made it! Here’s a photo of the pilot getting back on the pilot boat after guiding us safely through the harbor. Always fun to watch.

Pilot in yellow vest hopping off our ship back onto the pilot boat.