Enseada is Portuguese for bay

One of the beaches of Ubatuba (Brazil) is called Enseada: The Portuguese word for bay or cove. There are a few small roads to enter the beach. Almost there, the views of the sea, framed by trees and shrubs, look enchanting.

Enseada is a medium large beach. I never found it to busy. 

Out of season during the week it is quiet and almost empty.  Especially when the weather is not sunny, or even when the clouds keep hanging against the mountain wall of the Serra do Mar and the infamous rain of Ubatuba keep falling. This makes people refer to Ubataba as Uba-chuva (chuva = rain). To me even the darker weather has it's charm. 

On a cloudy day, out of season, you might be alone on the beach.

Some people just go to sit there and look at the waves....

When the weather changes and the weekend is near, the beach changes character completely.  The commerce takes over. The subdued tones of sand and sea are wiped out by the bright colors of the Brahma or Skol (Brazilian beers) chairs and tables.

 Like a ballet dancers the chairs are lined up for action. Let's hope it will stay sunny.

When you leave the beach, don't forget to look back for the last time and try to come back soon.

Birds on the beach

At the beach in Brazil one expects to find crows and seagulls. But look what comes along when people have a feeding place for birds. The food consisted of fruit: Mamão (Papaya), banana, orange, limão (lemon). The feeding table was under some trees, the weather was mostly overcast and I had to take the pictures through a window. Outside I couldn't get near without disturbing them. So the pictures are in no way perfect, but it gives an impression of the birds that were there. I had never seen any of the colorful ones on my earlier visits. After some study on the Internet I found that a lot of these birds are tanagers. 

Male Brazilian Tanager

Red necked tanager

Green headed Tanager 

Blue dacnis

I have no idea about these birds. Also a tanager?? or maybe a kind of finch??

Outside the light is so much better! These beautiful lapwings were all over the beach. 

Southern Lapwing

I love these small birds. One of the tyrant family. Masked water tyrant

This bright yellow tyrant was sitting near us in a beach hut. Probably waiting for something tasty. 

Great Kiskadee  (large tyrant flycatcher)

 There were seagulls, although not many.

Finally the scavengers... Here they call them crows, but they are  Black vultures .

This bag with garbage is waiting for the garbage truck that is arriving. The vultures are there first!! Impressive birds. This one is standing in one of the small rivers that run down form the mountains.

The end of a busy day?? Or just drying its feathers before the next job?

An empty beach in the morning.....

Do you like empty beaches? Well no problem then.... go there in the early morning. Lots of things to see....  Not so hot yet.... Peace and quiet!

The chair of the lifeguard is just waiting there for someone to take its picture.

Leftovers from the day before....

The man who sells the "brinquedos" has reserved his place already. "Respect my space - 5 meters.

And there are interesting things going on at the other end  of the beach. Fishermen pulling their boats out of the sea.

Fishermen cleaning and selling fish.

The nets are drying for the next go....

The boy is busy putting sand inside his handlebars......

A quiet beach and a lot of space......

This peace is only short-lived in the high season.... An hour later all the other people come back to enjoy the warm water and the freedom of the beach. Their holiday will end soon enough....

Spot on the Tropic of Capricorn.

Ilha das Couves

Ubatuba (state of São Paulo, Brazil) is known for its fantastic beaches but also for the fact that it is the spot where the Tropic of Capricorn enters the mainland of Latin America. I remember seeing Michael Palin on TV being there, showing a tiny plaque.  

It took some discovering to find the right spot. There is a large monument further down the road halfway the Itaguá beach. Next time we will try to visit that place. This time the heat was too “tropical”….

The plaque is just next to the river, the Rio Grande, in front of the most "grand", but derelict, building of Ubatuba; the Casarão do Porto. This was built in 1846 and used in relation to the harbor until 1890. Then it was left by the owners, who went to Rio, as the harbor of Santos took over from Ubatuba. In the 20th century it came to the state and had different functions. Now it is closed. It looked worse than some years ago. On the edge of the roof you can just see the two Majolica vases that are left. There must have been at least 6. 

Casarão do Porto

It is a pity that sometimes there is so little interest or possibility in keeping the history of the old cities of Brazil alive. 

Ubatuba has some pretty buildings, but it is hard to find them between the raging tourist trade. 

Ubatuba church and bandstand

We noticed some strange code on the little plaque - TCL114-13. Looking on the internet it refers to site about boxes (TCL114-13). When there is a box.... then the next question is: What is in there??? No answers yet.

Looking south

Looking north

Back again to the Tropic of Capricorn. North of this line are the tropics. On the 21 of December the sun turns at this spot and starts going north again. Even when I took this picture (Januari 2) the sun is still straight above our heads. There is very little shade. Look at the lamppost or at the huge pylon that holds the electricity cables.... no shade!!!

Looking south

Looking north

I took a picture of somebody walking there (north of the Capricorn)... Just a small blob of shade. Ample evidence that we are in the tropics….. 

You can imagine that around Christmas and the New Year, it is extremely hot to be in a car (without airco) in the queue to and from the beaches like a large part of the people of São Paulo that come to Ubatuba during the Christmas holidays. Yes everybody goes home at the same time!! 7 kilometers in 2 hours! At a temperature of 41 C.  

Then even south of the Tropic it sure feels like the tropics. Ahh let's stay on the beach.....

Perequê Açú  (Ubatuba - SP)