The Brazilian Ribeira : A New Venue for Cruising Yotties
The Rio Paraiba, already a popular point of entry for visitors to Brazil, now boasts a new mooring facility intended expressly for low-budget yotties. Situated five miles from the river’s entrance and the port of Cabedelo, the Ribeira Adventure Club lies opposite the well-known cruising venue of Jacare. Whereas that one-time fishing village is now a busy place, popular with the Brazilian jet-set and notorious for its all-night music, Ribeira is nothing more than a collection of adobe cottages strung out along a rutted track. Hidden from Jacare by an island of mangroves, it is an idyllic spot. Parrots scream for the tree tops; monkeys cross the lane on a telephone cable tight-rope; and although there are no longer any alligators in the river, from time to time manatees are seen grazing in the shallows.
60km of forest and sugar-cane fields separate Ribeira from the nearest town - Joao Pessoa - but although the place is isolated it is not cut off. To get to the supermarkets and other amenities one simply hops aboard a “canoa” and crosses the river. From Jacare the city is just a 20 minute train ride.
Luciano Zinn, owner of the new mini-marina, claims that his fees are the lowest in all Brazil, and they are 40% lower than the charges in Jacare marina. Zinn is, himself, a cruising yotty and as such a member of a rare breed. (Brazilians don’t tend to cruise.) Having spent five years singlehanding in the Caribbean and Europe on a shoe-string he returned home with the aim of earning the money to set out again... and thus he is also looking for a business partner. If anyone fancies spending six months of each year in Ribeira and the other six cruising, Zinn would be glad to hear from them.
Text by Jill Dickin Schinas
