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Brazil: A Guide to Fernando de Noronha Part 4
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By Mark Taylor
Here is the fourth part of Mark‘s guide to Fernando de Noronha. To read previous parts click the relevant link at the end of the article.
Water Sports
The water sports essentially breakdown into dedicated snorkelling trips, "planasub", and SCUBA diving. As mentioned the snorkelling trips can be very worthwhile as guides know where to spot the marine life.
Planasub is an incredible experience in its own right, and involves being towed behind a slow moving boat holding a type of waterfoil made from rigid plastic. While doing this you wear a mask and snorkel, and can be accompanied by up to 3 other people also being towed alongside you. The waterfoil when inclined allows you to descend into the water, the more it‘s inclined the faster you sink, and vice versa. The experience lasts around an hour, and surprisingly it‘s very relaxing and doesn‘t tire the arms. If you‘re lucky you may well spot a turtle or two as well, but what can make the experience even more incredible are the dolphins that often accompany both the boat and you, and will often get quite close. So you get a chance to be an honorary dolphin for a few minutes in arguably one of the most incredible experiences on the island.
 SCUBA Diving
Fernando de Noronha currently has 3 dive centres: Aguas Claras, Atlantis Divers, and Noronha Divers. Aguas Claras is located outside of Vila, whereas Atlantis and Noronha Divers are located a little way down from the post office. All the dive centres have similar prices, although it‘s worth checking between them if on a tight budget. If you‘re planning to dive it‘s worth visiting the centres sooner rather than later to avoid being disappointed by full bookings, or alternatively book ahead.
Atlantis seems to be the biggest operation on the island, but not necessarily the best. My experience with Atlantis was as follows: my wife was new to SCUBA diving and booked a baptism dive. I‘m PADI certified, that is able to dive in open water to depths of 30m, but I haven‘t dived for 5 years so opted for an orientation dive followed by a second normal dive. Atlantis run a session in the morning, and also in the afternoon at least during the week (and sometimes also do night dives). Typically you have two dives per session unless doing a baptism dive, which you only do one of per session.
In our first session my wife completed her baptism dive, and I completed my orientation dive, but then we were ignored as the groups left the boat for their second dives. We weren‘t actually sure what was going on, and of course it was up to the boat and group management to have realised that I‘d been missed. Fortunately, or so I thought, I had booked a session for the next day, our last day before flying back. Feeling disappointed about the previous session I waited at the pickup point we had scheduled in the centre, Vila. Unfortunately after waiting an hour no bus had arrived to collect me, so my wife walked down to the dive centre and asked if they were coming. She was told the boat had already left, as they had gone to pick us up at the pousada and we hadn‘t been there. This was particularly frustrating after we‘d stressed to the dive centre to collect us for both dives at Vila. As we were flying the next day I couldn‘t dive, and there were no night dives that day, hence that was our last opportunity. So rather than 4 individual dives I only got in the water once.
Atlantis are clearly very popular and busy, but unfortunately less than organised. This was evident from the short staffed centre. Anyone using them should make sure that things like relocated pickup points are checked and double checked, to avoid having the same disappointment we had.
 Despite the problems with Atlantis, the single dive we did have was fun, although it was quite windy and hence the currents were quite strong and the visibility reduced to around 10 to 15m. Despite that I saw moray eels, rays, an octopus, and many other fish along the reefs. Others saw sharks and turtles, and apparently it‘s not unknown to see a dolphin as well. Atlantis at least offer plenty of extra money spinning services as well, including a photographer and cameraman that move around between the various dive groups. Photos were expensive, at around R$60 for the first photo, albeit at reduced cost for additional photos. They were worthwhile though as the quality was excellent, and you get to choose the photos you want back at the centre, which are then recorded to CD at high resolution.
Generally speaking there are 25 or so points around the island, and the secondary islands, that are used for diving. These vary from the very shallow of just a few metres, down to around 60m. One of these includes a wreck of the Ipiranga V17, a Brazilian navy ship that collided with one of the islands and sunk intact (60m depth).
Part 5 next week...
If you have a comment on Mark‘s article or would simply like to contact him then email mark@gringoes.com.
Previous articles by Mark:
Brazil: A Guide to Fernando de Noronha Part 3
Brazil: A Guide to Fernando de Noronha Part 2
Brazil: An Interview with Marcia Loebick
Brazil: 14 Bis Centenary Part 2
Brazil: Google Maps Gets an Upgrade
Brazil: A Guide to Fernando de Noronha Part 1
Brazil: 14 Bis Centenary Part 1
Brazil: Daylight Savings Time
Brazil: Carjacking and Theft
Brazil: Airport Delays Grow Among Crash Speculation
Brazil: São Paulo's International Film Festival (and The Fountain)
Brazil: Single Gringo Beware!
Brazil: The House of Coffee Comes Home
Brazil: Film Review
Brazil: The Portuguese Language Museum
Brazil: Election Time! Part 2
Brazil: Election Time! Part 1
Brazil: Torrent TV
Brazil: Book Review
Brazil: Whistle-stop Salvador Part 2
Brazil: Whistle-stop Salvador Part 1
The PCC Shows a New Level of Organisation
Brazil: Metrô-ettiquette
Brazil: Trading Places
Brazil: São Paulo's Pinacoteca
Brazil: Don't Forget, You're in Another Country!
Brazil: PCC Violence Returns to São Paulo
Brazil: A Recycled City Part 5
Brazil‘s World Cup Defeat Party
Brazil: A Recycled City Part 4
Brazil: Japanese Standard Chosen for Digital TV
Brazil: NET Petition Feedback
Brazil: A Recycled City Part 3
Brazil: Football Love
Brazil: A Recycled City Part 2
Brazil: A Recycled City Part 1
Brazil: 100 Things To Do in São Paulo Part 3
Brazil: 100 Things To Do in São Paulo Part 2
Brazil: 100 Things To Do in São Paulo Part 1
GPS in Brazil
Brazil: PCC Attacks in São Paulo
Brazil: Tips on Buying or Renting an Apartment or House
Brazil: A Critical Sensitivity
Cleanliness is next to Brazilianiness
Brazil: Manners
Brazil: No Change, No Sale
Brazilian TV
Brazil: Ubatuba
Brazil: Professional Children
Brazil: We deliver... everything!
Brazil: Terraço Itália
Brazil: A Layman's Carnival Guide
Brazil: Portunglish or Engluguese?
Brazil: Feira Food
Brazil: Bilhete Unico flexibility increases
Brazil: Finding Work
Brazil: U2 Ticket Chaos
Brazil: Finding Work
Brazil: Termites
Brazil: Queues, Queues, Queues
Brazil: Let's Go Fly a Kite!
Brazil... the Film That Is
Brazil: The Bus to Nowhere
Brazil: Piracy
Brazil: Gestures
Brazil: Proclamation of the Republic
Brazilian Film Review
Brazilian Film Review
Brazil: Finados (Day of the Dead)
Interjections, exclamations and onomatopoeia in Brazilian Portuguese
Brazil: Halloween
Brazil says "No" to banning firearms
Brazil Humour: Phone Etiquette
Brazil's Gun Referendum
Brazil: Scams
Brazil: Moby Review
Brazil: Keeping in touch via the Internet - Part 5
Brazil: Keeping in touch via the Internet - Part 4
Brazil: Avril Lavigne at Pacaembu
Moby in Brazil
Brazil: Keeping in touch via the Internet - Part 3
Brazil: Keeping in touch via the Internet - Part 2
Brazilian Film Review
Brazil: Keeping in touch via the Internet - Part 1
Brazil: First season of Lost repeated on AXN
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12/5/2006
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